Riyadh: The General Authority for Awqaf (GAA) harnesses endowment disbursements to serve pilgrims through an integrated system of endowment projects and initiatives that help facilitate their journey and improve the quality of services provided to them, in implementation of endowers' conditions and in line with the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030.
According to Saudi Press Agency, the authority's efforts to serve pilgrims began before they arrived in the Kingdom through support for organizational and awareness initiatives and services that facilitate their journey from the time they leave their countries until they perform the rituals with ease and tranquility. Among the most prominent of these initiatives is the Makkah Route Initiative, which aims to facilitate pilgrims' journey from their countries to the Kingdom by completing their procedures in advance at airports in their home countries and transporting them directly to their accommodations.
Under its strategic partnership with the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, the authority also supported the launch of 13 awareness guides for pilgrims in 14 international languages, featuring religious, health, and organizational instructions to raise awareness among pilgrims and visitors. During the Hajj 2026 season, the authority's efforts were reflected in qualitative figures and indicators demonstrating the scale of endowment impact and the wide scope of services provided to pilgrims and visitors.
The translation services supported by the authority benefited more than 350 million people in multiple languages, helping deliver religious, guidance, and awareness messages to pilgrims from various nationalities. The authority also supported the translation of sermons at the Grand Mosque and scholarly lessons through advanced multilingual translation solutions, enabling worshippers to follow sermons and lessons and benefit from religious and guidance content in their various languages.
In educational and knowledge services, beneficiaries of educational programs exceeded one million, while those of the Grand Mosque and Prophet's Mosque institutes exceeded five million, as part of scholarly and enrichment programs aimed at spreading Islamic knowledge. More than 172,000 trainees and beneficiaries received awareness materials and participated in programs supported by the authority during the Hajj season.
owment efforts also extended to comprehensive service centers, which served more than 15 million beneficiaries through an integrated operational and field system providing organizational, guidance, and support services to pilgrims and visitors. In crowd management, the authority supported dispatching services and the organization of visitor movement at Al-Rawdah Al-Sharifah with support exceeding SAR40 million.owment projects also contributed to supporting and preparing miqats, with the number of beneficiaries exceeding two million through support services for pilgrims at miqat locations. The services also included supporting transportation initiatives for the elderly and persons with disabilities in 2025, benefiting more than 1.5 million people through dedicated transport servicesThese efforts were integrated with water-supply projects, smart guidance, digital services, crowd organization, and awareness and translation initiatives, reflecting the growing role of the authority in supporting the Hajj system. T he GAA works to strengthen, govern, preserve, develop, and raise awareness of the endowment sector by launching innovative endowment products and services for beneficiaries, enabling the sector to become a leader in sustainable development locally and globally.