RIYADH: If Hajj were not a mandatory pillar of Islam, would Muslims still go through the trouble of performing it, year after year? The unfaithful might say no, why bother? But once you sit with Muslims, just for a short while, and hear a few of the Ummah’s stories, you realize that the faith that most of them carry does not come from obligation, but hope. “Hajj is a refuge for all Muslims,” 33-year-old Hassan Al-Dawood told Arab News. This will be his first time performing Hajj after circumstances beyond his control prevented him from doing so last year.

RIYADH: If Hajj were not a mandatory pillar of Islam, would Muslims still go through the trouble of performing it, year after year? The unfaithful might say no, why bother? But…

Once a year, large numbers of Muslim pilgrims converge in Saudi Arabia, uniting in religious rituals and acts of worship as they perform the Hajj. While...