The Hajj (or pilgrimage) in Mecca is an arduous (and expensive) journey all Muslims aspire to undertake one day. However, hundreds died this year due to the violent heat and KPRC 2 digital producer Ahmed Humble's mother, was one of the fortunate survivors.

More than 1,300 people died during this year’s Hajj pilgrimage as the faithful faced soaring temperatures at Islamic holy sites in Saudi Arabia.

Muslim pilgrims have converged on a vast tent camp in the desert near Mecca, Saudi Arabia, officially beginning the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

Muslim pilgrims have been streaming into Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca for the Hajj, as the annual pilgrimage returns to its monumental scale.

Once a year, Muslims coming to Saudi Arabia unite in a series of religious rituals and acts of worship as they perform Hajj, one of the pillars of Islam.

Hundreds of thousands of Muslim pilgrims have walked in the footsteps of the prophets beneath a sweltering sun as contracted cleaners in lime-green jumpsuits held out matching plastic bags to collect their empty water bottles.

Muslim pilgrims are casting stones at pillars representing the devil during the final days of the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

Hundreds of thousands of Muslim pilgrims are braving intense heat to perform the symbolic stoning of the devil during the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

Muslim pilgrims gathered on the rocky hill Mount Arafat outside Mecca for a day of prayer on the second day of the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

The Hajj pilgrimage has officially started in Saudi Arabia.

Over 1.8 million Muslims are making the Hajj pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi officials say close to 1.5 million foreign pilgrims have arrived in the country so far for the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

This year’s Hajj is a landmark: the first full pilgrimage after a daunting period of three years when the COVID-19 pandemic sharply reduced the scale of one of Islam’s holiest rites.

Hundreds of Muslim pilgrims circle the Kaaba, the cubic building at the Grand Mosque, as they keep social destination to protect themselves against the coronavirus ahead of the Hajj pilgrimage in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Wednesday, July 29, 2020. During the first rites of hajj, Muslims circle the Kaaba counter-clockwise seven times while reciting supplications to God, then walk between two hills where Ibrahim's wife, Hagar, is believed to have run as she searched for water for her dying son before God brought forth a well that runs to this day.

General view showing the Grand Mosque, at the Muslim holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Monday, July 27, 2020 ahead of the Hajj pilgrimage. Anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 pilgrims will be allowed to perform the annual hajj pilgrimage this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Right now, technology is our black horse to developing the whole hajj journey, said al-Maddah, an electronics engineer with a Ph.D. in robotics and artificial intelligence. Typically, the hajj can cost thousands of dollars for pilgrims who save for a lifetime for the journey. Al-Maddah, who sits on the hajj planning committee, said allowing people to enter Saudi Arabia from abroad would have posed a global health risk.