worldatnet.com · Technology & Society · May 31, 2026
Every year, the holy city of Makkah stages an event that has no true parallel anywhere on earth. The Hajj pilgrimage draws over a million and a half people from more than 180 countries into a small cluster of sacred sites — the Grand Mosque, the plains of Arafat, the tent city of Mina, and the rocky valley of Muzdalifah — within a narrow window of days defined by the Islamic lunar calendar. The density of humanity in those corridors and courtyards would strain the most advanced urban systems on the planet. For Saudi Arabia, managing it safely is a matter of both national obligation and global religious responsibility. In 2026, the Kingdom has chosen to meet that challenge with the most ambitious deployment of artificial intelligence, drone technology, biometric systems, and smart infrastructure ever assembled for a single recurring human event.
The scale is staggering. Saudi Arabia's Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) confirmed that more than 1.5 million international pilgrims had arrived in the Kingdom by late May 2026, with the figure set to climb toward two million as the peak ritual days approached. Every one of those pilgrims has to be processed, moved, monitored, fed, medically covered, and safely routed through sequences of rituals that overlap in time and space. That requires not just infrastructure, but intelligence — the kind that can process thousands of camera feeds simultaneously, detect a crowd surge before it becomes a stampede, and redirect thousands of people in real time. That is exactly what Saudi Arabia has built.
SDAIA and the Smart Makkah Operations Center
At the organizational heart of Hajj 2026's technological effort sits the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority, known as SDAIA. The authority is running an integrated ecosystem of AI-powered platforms and digital services that follows every pilgrim from departure in their home country through to exit from Saudi Arabia. Its Smart Makkah Operations Center functions as the central nervous system of the entire operation — a high-tech command hub from which analysts and algorithms monitor movement, safety, transport, and environmental conditions in real time.
SDAIA's work this season included operating and supporting 75 sites across the holy areas and 14 sorting and security control centers. It also supported Hajj operations at air, land, and sea ports across the Kingdom in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior, running technical systems and platforms at every chokepoint where pilgrims arrive, transit, and depart. The stated goal, as one SDAIA spokesperson put it, is for AI to operate quietly in the background — making the pilgrim journey safer, smoother, and more efficient at every stage.
The Ministry of Interior and its security sectors upgraded their operational infrastructure by integrating AI-powered systems and advanced data analytics into centralized command and control centers, enabling continuous monitoring of public safety operations, fire protection systems, and civil defense activities across the holy sites. The combined architecture now enables faster emergency response, improved real-time decision-making, and proactive risk prevention across the densely packed pilgrimage zones.
Baseer and Sawaher: The Eyes of Hajj
If SDAIA is the brain, then Baseer and Sawaher are its eyes. These two platforms, developed in partnership with the Ministry of Interior, use computer vision, thermal imaging and AI-driven analytics to monitor crowd density and movement patterns in real time. They analyze live video feeds and surveillance data, identify congestion points, predict crowd surges, and support faster decision-making by authorities on the ground.
Baseer, specifically, uses computer vision tools to allow authorities to pinpoint overcrowded zones — such as the Tawaf area around the Kaaba — moment by moment, providing highly accurate real-time data that supports mobility planning and enables swift action to prevent overcrowding or stampedes. The platform was developed using AI technologies including large language models and advanced computer vision algorithms. It monitors crowds, supports their safety, and helps smooth movement as pilgrims enter the Two Holy Mosques during the Hajj season.
Sawaher and its companion platform Sawaher Qiyada complement Baseer's crowd-monitoring role with a broader security intelligence function. Both platforms deliver intelligent analytics of live security camera feeds across the holy sites and access points, enhancing situational awareness and operational efficiency by analyzing vast amounts of live surveillance data. The system groups indicators and crowd behavior using advanced algorithms to measure density and track crowd numbers across the entire pilgrimage geography — from the outer gates of the Grand Mosque to the narrow valley paths of Mina.
"Our goal is to ensure that AI operates quietly in the background while making the pilgrim journey safer, smoother and more efficient at every stage."
— SDAIA Official Spokesperson, May 2026What makes Baseer and Sawaher remarkable is not just their technical capability but their integration. These are not stand-alone surveillance tools — they feed directly into the command and control centers where human operators make decisions, giving field commanders a live picture of where the crowds are thickening, where flows are being blocked, and where emergency resources need to be pre-positioned. The Baseer platform also assists in locating missing persons, a critical function in a gathering of this scale where individuals can easily become disoriented.
Drones, Aircraft, and the Sky Above Makkah
On the ground, SDAIA's platforms provide intelligence. In the air, a fleet of drones and fixed-wing aircraft extends that intelligence into three dimensions. Saudi Arabia has launched one of the most technologically advanced Hajj security operations in its history for the 2026 pilgrimage season, deploying artificial intelligence, drones and facial recognition systems to coordinate crowd management, regulate access and enhance safety across the holy sites.
Drones equipped with high-resolution cameras and thermal imaging operate across key corridors of the pilgrimage route, relaying real-time data to centralized command centers. These aerial assets help security teams quickly detect and respond to unauthorized access attempts and potential safety hazards. The thermal imaging capability is particularly valuable in the extreme summer heat of Makkah, where the ability to detect heat signatures in dense crowds can alert medical teams to pilgrims showing signs of heat exhaustion before they collapse.
Beyond surveillance, drones are being used for logistics. Aerial drones are able to reduce the time it takes for necessities to reach pilgrims from over an hour to just minutes. In a medical emergency context, that reduction in delivery time can be life-saving. The drones are also tasked with crowd congestion detection, helping security officials redirect pilgrims and prevent overcrowding before situations become dangerous.
Fixed-wing aircraft have also been deployed above the holy sites, part of the "No Hajj without a permit" enforcement framework. Drones are being used to track and apprehend violators of Hajj regulations, alongside fixed-wing aircraft tasked with monitoring illegal entry attempts, while drones allow security forces to cover large areas quickly and send immediate alerts to field teams about suspicious movements and infiltration attempts.
Key Technologies Deployed — Hajj 2026
- Baseer Platform — AI computer vision for real-time crowd density mapping at the Grand Mosque and Tawaf area
- Sawaher & Sawaher Qiyada — Intelligent analytics of live security camera feeds across holy sites
- Thermal & HD Drones — Aerial surveillance, crowd detection, medical supply delivery
- Facial Recognition Systems — Biometric permit verification at entry points and holy site access gates
- Manarah 2 AI Robot — Multilingual second-generation pilgrim guidance robot at the Two Holy Mosques
- Nusuk & Tawakkalna Apps — 1,300+ digital services including digital permits, navigation and emergency response
- Al-Mashaaer Metro — Fully electric metro transporting 2M+ pilgrims between Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah
- Satellite AI Environmental Monitoring — AI processing of daily satellite feeds across 31 locations
- Banan Biometric Device — Identity verification capturing biometrics in under 40 seconds at border points
Facial Recognition and the Digital Permit System
One of the most significant shifts in Hajj 2026 management is the deep integration of biometric technology throughout the pilgrimage journey. Saudi Arabia has moved away from document-based processing toward a system where a pilgrim's face, fingerprints, and digital profile move ahead of them, accelerating every checkpoint from departure to the heart of Makkah.
The integrated Hajj processing system completes key pilgrim procedures before departure rather than on arrival, using facial recognition, biometric screening and mobile processing counters designed to reduce congestion during peak travel periods. This means pilgrims in Jakarta, Lagos, or Istanbul are already enrolled in the Saudi system before they board their flight, eliminating bottlenecks at Jeddah's King Abdulaziz International Airport and Medina's Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz Airport.
On the ground, facial recognition technology plays a targeted role at controlled entry points, integrating with digital permit verification to screen individuals against authorized pilgrim registries. This system is central to the "No Hajj without a permit" enforcement framework, which Saudi authorities have described as critical to upholding both safety and regulatory compliance. Unauthorized entry into the holy sites has historically contributed to dangerous overcrowding, and biometric fencing of the perimeter is one of the most direct tools to prevent it.
The hardware behind this system is worth noting. The Banan device, which enhances identity verification using biometric features, can capture biometrics, take a facial image and read a pilgrim's passport data in no more than 40 seconds, ensuring a smoother and safer experience at departure and entry points. SDAIA has also deployed its technologies across 12 international airports in eight countries, creating a fully integrated digital system backed by real-time analytics and advanced algorithms — so the Saudi AI infrastructure effectively extends beyond the Kingdom's borders.
The Nusuk App, Tawakkalna, and Manarah 2
Saudi Arabia's crowd management strategy is not purely about control and restriction. An equally important dimension is helping pilgrims navigate confidently, so they flow naturally toward the right places at the right times rather than clustering in uncertainty. This is where the Nusuk and Tawakkalna digital platforms come in.
The Tawakkalna and Nusuk applications are playing a central role during Hajj this year, offering more than 1,300 digital services designed to support pilgrims. Services include digital Hajj permits, navigation tools, weather updates, emergency assistance, ambulance requests, Qibla direction services, and digital identification through the Nusuk Card, which contains medical records and emergency contact information. The breadth of that service list reflects a philosophy of total digital accompaniment — the app as a personal Hajj guide that speaks to the pilgrim in their own language, knows their health needs, and can summon help at a tap.
Physical AI assistance is also being provided on the ground. Saudi Arabia has deployed an AI-powered multilingual robot at Mecca's Grand Mosque and the Prophet's Mosque to provide religious guidance, instant translations and smart services for pilgrims. This is the Manarah 2 robot — the second generation of an AI platform introduced specifically for the holy sites.
The operational plan for Hajj 2026 also includes multilingual smart screens stationed at key locations to provide real-time information and assistance, complementing the robots and apps with physical touchpoints that require no device ownership. For the tens of millions of pilgrims from lower-income countries where smartphone penetration is lower, these physical interfaces are a crucial part of the accessibility strategy.
For the first time, an interactive digital map has been introduced to streamline navigation and service access for pilgrims at the Prophet's Mosque during the 2026 Hajj season. The platform serves as a pocket guide enabling visitors to pinpoint essential services including entry gates, restrooms, and Zamzam water distribution points — practical information that in the past could only be learned through memorization or asking strangers in a foreign language.
Al-Mashaaer Metro: Moving Two Million People by Rail
No crowd management system, however intelligent, can succeed without the physical infrastructure to move people. Saudi Arabia's most dramatic mobility investment is the Al-Mashaaer al-Muqaddasah Metro — a fully electric elevated rail network built exclusively to serve the Hajj pilgrimage.
The Al-Mashaaer Metro is preparing to transport more than two million passengers during the pilgrimage season through what officials describe as one of the world's highest-capacity transport systems, connecting the holy sites of Mina, Muzdalifah and Arafat. Operated by Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR), the metro trains operate at speeds of up to 80 km/h, enabling pilgrims to travel from Arafat Station 1 to Mina Station 3 in about 20 minutes — a journey that traditionally required hours of walking or long waits in congested bus queues.
Stretching approximately 18 kilometers on an entirely elevated line strategically placed between 8 and 10 meters above ground to avoid surface traffic and pedestrian interference, the network connects nine stations — three each in Mina, Muzdalifah and Arafat. The elevated design is itself a crowd management tool: by physically separating the rail corridor from the pedestrian and vehicle flows beneath, the system prevents the dangerous mixing of transit modes that can create lethal pinch points.
The Al-Mashaaer Metro has helped eliminate roughly 50,000 bus trips annually within the holy sites, easing traffic pressure and reducing carbon emissions through reliance on electric-powered transit. For Hajj 2026, this year's operating plan aims to move more than two million passengers through approximately 2,000 train journeys. The scale makes it one of the most specialized mass-transit operations in the world — an entire railway system engineered around a single annual event.
The Smart Transport system also extends beyond the metro to encompass the broader movement of pilgrims across the holy sites. Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, in coordination with other government bodies, manages pilgrim flow using the Holy Sites Metro and advanced scheduling and tracking systems, with pilgrims advised to follow assigned routes and time slots to reduce congestion. Time-slotting — assigning specific windows for different groups to perform rituals — is one of the oldest and most effective crowd management tools, but it only works when compliance is high and monitoring is real-time. AI makes both possible.
Satellite AI and the Heat Risk Challenge
The summer heat of Makkah is itself one of the greatest threats to pilgrim safety. Temperatures regularly exceed 45°C during peak Hajj days. Managing the health risk of heat exposure across hundreds of thousands of people spread across open plains and valley floors requires environmental intelligence at a scale that has not previously been attempted.
The National Center for Environmental Compliance, in partnership with King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, deployed satellite imagery and AI modeling for the first time during Hajj 2026 to monitor environmental conditions across Makkah and surrounding holy sites. The system processed daily satellite feeds and used AI analysis to detect environmental changes and violations across large geographic areas. According to officials, more than 50 percent of environmental alerts this season were generated through this platform, which analyzed 176 satellite images covering 31 locations.
This is not just temperature monitoring. The satellite AI system can detect unauthorized structures, improper waste disposal, ground-level pollution events, and encroachments on regulated zones — all factors that can compound crowd safety risks. By automating the detection of these environmental violations, authorities can respond before they escalate into threats to the broader gathering. The fact that the majority of environmental alerts this year came from the AI rather than human inspectors marks a genuine operational shift toward autonomous environmental governance.
Mina, Muzdalifah, and Arafat have also seen major improvements in facilities, services, canopies, and cooling infrastructure to cope with high temperatures — physical investments that work in tandem with the digital monitoring systems. Mobile medical units staffed by specialized clinical and nursing teams are positioned at high-traffic thoroughfares for rapid emergency response, and the General Directorate of Civil Defence has deployed drones capable of detecting chemical and radioactive materials across the holy sites, adding a CBRN detection layer to the broader safety architecture.
Hajj as a Living Laboratory for Vision 2030
Saudi Arabia's technological investment in Hajj 2026 cannot be separated from the Kingdom's broader national transformation agenda. Vision 2030, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's ambitious blueprint for economic and social modernization, places AI, smart cities, and digital infrastructure at the center of Saudi Arabia's future. Hajj provides an extraordinary proving ground for those ambitions — a real-world stress test conducted annually at scales that no technology company could manufacture in a lab.
Saudi Arabia has re-engineered the holy sites into a permanent, world-class smart city testing ground driven by modern GovTech architectures, rather than treating Hajj logistics as a traditional seasonal event. The platforms, algorithms, and operational protocols developed for Hajj are not discarded at the end of the season — they are refined and scaled. Baseer and Sawaher, for example, were already being tested at the Grand Mosque during the year-round Umrah pilgrimage before being scaled up for Hajj.
The international dimension matters too. By deploying its AI infrastructure across airports in eight countries and running biometric processing for pilgrims before they even board their flights, Saudi Arabia is extending its smart governance model beyond its own borders — a form of soft infrastructure export that positions the Kingdom as a global leader in AI-powered public administration. The Nusuk platform, the smart accommodation IoT monitoring, and the digital Hajj permit ecosystem all represent exportable models for managing large-scale events anywhere in the world.
The 2026 Hajj season illustrates how technology is reshaping large-scale event management, blending aerial, computational and biometric systems to support both security and the traveller experience. As the Kingdom continues to refine its digital infrastructure, similar technologies are expected to become standard in future pilgrimage cycles, further enhancing the interplay between travel logistics, airline coordination, and crowd safety. Every iteration of Hajj — with its pressures, its edge cases, and its rare catastrophes — teaches the system something new. In that sense, Hajj is not just an occasion where AI is deployed. It is an occasion where AI learns.
The Quiet Revolution in the World's Largest Gathering
There is something profound about the intersection of ancient ritual and cutting-edge technology playing out in Makkah in 2026. The Hajj has been performed for over 1,400 years, its essential rituals unchanged since the time of the Prophet Muhammad. And yet the management of that ritual — the logistics of getting millions of people safely through the same sacred geography within the same sacred hours — now relies on satellite AI, computer vision platforms, thermal drones, biometric fences, and multilingual robots.
For the pilgrims themselves, this technology is largely invisible. They walk, pray, circle the Kaaba, stand on the plain of Arafat, and throw their pebbles at the Jamarat — just as every generation before them has done. What has changed is the network of intelligence operating around them: the algorithms watching for the crowd surge before it becomes a crush, the drone relaying a medical emergency to a response team three minutes away, the facial recognition gate that waves them through in seconds where once there were hour-long queues.
Saudi Arabia's combined systems have enabled faster emergency response, improved real-time decision-making, and proactive risk prevention across densely crowded pilgrimage zones. The country has moved from reactive crowd management — responding to incidents after they occur — to predictive crowd management, anticipating and dissolving risks before they materialize. That shift, quiet as it may seem from inside the Tawaf, represents one of the most significant advances in public safety management in a generation.
The model being built in Makkah has implications far beyond Islam's holiest sites. Every major city, every stadium, every airport, every mass gathering event in the world faces versions of the same challenge: how to keep dense human crowds safe, flowing, and informed. Saudi Arabia, with its unique combination of obligation, resources, and political will, has been forced to solve that problem faster and more completely than anyone else. What the Kingdom is learning from two million pilgrims this month may well shape how the world manages crowds for decades to come.
Saudi Arabia has re-engineered the holy sites into a permanent, world-class smart city testing ground — and Hajj is where its AI learns.
— World@Net Analysis, May 2026The quiet revolution unfolding in the world's largest gathering is, in its own way, as remarkable as the gathering itself.
Sources include Al Arabiya English, Asharq Al-Awsat, Arab News, New Arab, Middle East Monitor, Travel and Tour World, GCC Business News, The Islamic Information, Gulf News, Saudi Future Tech, Kashmir Life, and official statements from SDAIA and the Saudi Ministry of Interior.
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