Tehran Times - This year, some 86,550 Iranians will travel to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, for performing hajj pilgrimage, deputy director of Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization, has said.

Performing hajj is compulsory on every Muslim at least once in their life time. It is one of the largest annual gathering of human beings on earth, with approximately three million people gathering each year for three to five days between the eighth and 12th of Dhul-Hijjah, the last month of the Muslim calendar. The pilgrimage has been occurring annually since 630 CE when the prophet Muhammad (PBUH) led his followers from Medina to Mecca.

The first group of pilgrims will leave Iran for Mecca within the next two weeks on July 8, IRNA quoted Akbar Rezaei as saying on Wednesday.

A week later after the first group of pilgrims are dispatched to Mecca, other groups will head to Medina, he further noted.

All pilgrims will travel to Mecca from August 5, and will be back to the country by September 8, he added.

He went on to conclude that the number of women pilgrims is more than men.