MECCA, Saudi Arabia -- Nearly two million Muslim faithful on Monday set off from Mecca in Saudi Arabia to the valley of Mina as the annual hajj pilgrimage got under way amid strict security arrangements.

The pilgrims, wearing white robes, walked or boarded buses to Mina, five kilometers (three miles) east of the holy city, to begin tracing the journey made by the Prophet Mohammed more than 1,400 years ago.

Most of the pilgrims are expected to spend the day known as "Yawm at-Tarwiya" at Mina, an optional ritual, while others will head straight to Mount Arafat.

On Thursday and Friday all the pilgrims will return to Mina for the ritual of stoning the three pillars that represent the devil and evil.

Those staying in Mina on Monday will spend the day praying and meditating, sleeping at night in tents before heading farther south to Mount Arafat.
The official Saudi news agency SPA said security teams had been deployed to control and guide the moving mass of people, with ambulances and medics on standby.

Saudi Arabia has made huge efforts to try to smooth the path of pilgrims during the hajj which has seen periodic catastrophes created by the crush of humanity anxious to perform one of the pillars of Islam.

Mina was the site of the deadliest toll in July 1990, when a total of 1,426 pilgrims were trampled or asphyxiated to death in a stampede in a tunnel.
And last year in Mina, 364 people were killed in a stampede at the entrance of the Jamarat Bridge, from which the stoning of the pillars takes place.
This year, a third level has been added to the bridge to ease the flow and Saudi officials say the crossing can now handle more than 200,000 people every hour.

So far the final number of the pilgrims is not known, but SPA said 1,685,637 pilgrims have come to Saudi Arabia from abroad. A further 200,000 people from within the kingdom usually also take part.

On Tuesday at Mount Arafat the faithful will spend the day praying and asking for God's forgiveness at the summit, in a symbolic waiting for the last judgment.

Among this year's pilgrims is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was invited by Saudi King Abdullah and who is the first president of the Islamic republic to take part.

"If I made a mistake or in one of my speeches or said something that was not in line with interest of the nation and has hurt the nation or I was not able to defend its rights, then I ask people to forgive me," Ahmadinejad said in a speech late on Sunday before he left Iran, state media reported.
He will join other pilgrims in carrying out a series of sacred rituals, which includes walking counter-clockwise seven times around the Kaaba, the cube-shaped structure at the Grand Mosque in Mecca towards which Muslims pray, wherever they are in the world.

An Iranian hajj official said Ahmadinejad had arrived in Medina and would pray in the Prophet Mohammed's mosque before heading to Mecca.

Ahmadinejad's pilgrimage has an added significance because of the sometimes rocky relations between largely Shiite Iran and Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia.
An Iranian demonstration during the hajj in July 1987 led to Tehran and Riyadh breaking diplomatic relations the following year. Security forces tried to break up the protest and 402 people, including 275 Iranians, were killed. Iranian pilgrims then stayed away from the hajj until 1991.

In recent years, the two countries have given an impression of unity, vowing to work together to end the political crisis in Lebanon and bring stability to Iraq.

The pilgrimage, which ends on Friday, is one of the five pillars of Islam and is an obligation for all able-bodied Muslims at least once during their lives if they can afford it. The others are fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, praying five times a day, the Shahadah (the profession of the faith), and the Zakat, or giving of alms.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakin...n_Saudi_Arabia

Haj Reflections: Is It a Bridge or Is It a Complex?

Contrary to all forecasts, Mina is hot, not cold. The sun is out in full force and one can see beads forming on the wrinkled faces of many elderly pilgrims. This city of tents was a quiet refuge from the hustle and bustle of Makkah on Sunday night. It was not to last. By dawn the trickle of incoming pilgrims had become a flood. Sadly, many wore an air of confused desperation. Many pilgrims were unable to locate their camps amid the sea of white tents. They kept asking uniformed men for the way to their temporary lodgings. All the camps are numbered, but the exact division of the tent city is not clear. Knowing just the camp number is not enough to be able to find a specific location.



Mina is a small city; it is a valley and as far as your eye can see, tents cover every open space. They have been neatly arranged, row after row. The entrances to many of the tents are decorated and festooned with colorful banners. This helps pilgrims identify their temporary residences from among so many that all look the same. Huge balloons of different colors hang in the sky over certain locations to help pilgrims find their tents. Security officers are everywhere: on every bridge, street and crossing. They will not allow any vehicle to park, even for a minute, on the roadsides.



Is it a bridge or is it a complex? That is the question that journalists have been asking themselves since they first landed here on Sunday night. In the past, the road leading to the Jamrat, the place where Satan is symbolically stoned by pilgrims, was indeed a bridge in the conventional sense. It was more like a flyover. But now it is a huge concrete complex with multiple entry points and exits. Nearly SR4 billion has been spent on the third phase of the project. The first and second phases were inaugurated by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah last year. The complex’s foundation has been designed for 12 stories. When complete, it will be able to accommodate five million pilgrims. Right now, ground plus two floors are complete and will be in use this year. The dense crowds and stampedes that had become a routine Haj story will now be history. That is for sure.



First timers are naturally awed by the arrangements and logistics. Everyone is talking about the wonderful job done by Saudi authorities for this Haj. Even those of us who have been here before are finding this pilgrimage to be the most highly organized ever seen. The area is clean. Transportation is very organized. There are no queues for toilets or ablution facilities. Even frayed tempers are at a minimum this year. Very few illegal squatters and even fewer plastic tents are under the bridges. With the logistics under control, the pilgrims are feeling increasingly confident that their journey of a lifetime will be a success.



When the pilgrims arrive in Mina, they come with mixed feelings of trepidation, joy and reflection. They think of the rituals they must perform so there is trepidation. They count themselves lucky to be in the tent city on this day of the lunar month. Their joy is unequaled. And the whole exercise reminds them of life gone by, the wrongs they committed and the time they wasted. So it is natural to reflect on the past and pray for inspiration in the future. On Tuesday on the plains of Arafat they will bare their hearts to God and beseech Him to forgive them and bless them with the fulfillment of their fondest desires.



Once again many pilgrims from former Soviet republics such as Dagestan are in Mina this year. These Muslims take as long as six months to reach Makkah. They move in a caravan and sell goods at numerous markets in countries on the way to Saudi Arabia. One is reminded of the three main caravans that set out to Makkah until the 19th century. According to an article in the highly reputable and respected Saudi Aramco World magazine, the Egyptian caravan set out from Cairo, crossed the Sinai Peninsula and then followed the coastal plain of western Arabia to Makkah, a journey which took from 35 to 40 days. It included pilgrims from North Africa, who crossed the deserts of Libya and joined the caravan in Cairo. The other great caravan assembled in Damascus, Syria and moved south via Madinah, reaching Makkah in about 30 days. After the capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453, this caravan began in Istanbul, gathered pilgrims from throughout Asia Minor along the way, and then proceeded to Makkah from Damascus. The third major caravan crossed the peninsula, coming from Baghdad.



One improvement from the pilgrims’ side is that the Haj awareness campaigns launched by individual nations appear to be paying off. There is more of an understanding that Haj is a duty that should be completed as early in life as possible. In the past, most of the younger pilgrims were from Malaysia and Indonesia. This year many young pilgrims from India and Pakistan are present as well. Improved economies in those nations have allowed more people the opportunity to perform Haj and it is good to see younger Muslims making the effort to put their improved finances to good use.



Here is an interesting Haj nugget worth mentioning: It seems that one of the most spectacular pilgrimages ever made was that of Mansa Musa, the King of Mali. In 1324, he set off across the Sahara with 500 assistants, each carrying a golden staff weighing six pounds. He was followed by 100 camels, each carrying a load of gold weighing 300 pounds. Mansa Musa was truly pious and very generous — so much so that 12 years after his stay in Cairo, the price of gold had still not recovered. He distributed the bulk of his fortune to charity in Makkah and Madinah, returning home practically a pauper, but having assured himself of the praises of posterity.


http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1&sect...18&m=12&y=2007

Apex of Hajj Wuquf-e-Arafat is being performed today

MAKKA MUKARAMA: Over 3 million Muslims are performing the topmost part of the Hajj rituals Wuquf-e-Arafat today.

Arab TV said that the millions of pilgrims drawn here from all across the world, passing yesterday’s night in Mina valley and after offering the Fajar prayers today, started arriving Arafat, where they would perform the apex of Hajj rituals. Mufti-e-Azam, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah al Sheikh would deliver Khutba-e-Hajj in Masjid-e-Nimrah and would lead Zuhar and Asar prayers combined and shortened, at Zuhar time.

The pilgrims at sunset, without offering Maghrib prayers, would leave for Muzdalifah, where they would offer Maghrib and Isha prayers together at Isha time, while during the rest of the night they would collect pebbles for Rami Jamarat.

Eid-ul-Azha will be celebrated in Saudi Arabia tomorrow on Wednesday . The pilgrims, after offering Fajar prayers tomorrow at Muzdalifah, will return to Mina valley. On reaching Mina, they would perform stoning Jamarat ul Aqba and offer animal sacrifice (Qurbani).

The pilgrims, thereon, would leave for Makka al Mukarrama, where they would perform Tawaf-e-Ziarat in Masjidul Haram and, thereafter, shaving their heads would put off Ehram. Later on, the pilgrims returning to Mina would perform Rami Jamarat during the next two days. Lastly, the pilgrims arriving Makka Mukarrama will perform Tawaf-e-Wida in Masjidul Haram, which is required from every pilgrim and with this the Manasik-Hajj will come to its end.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=34151

Over 2m hajj pilgrims seek mercy at Arafat

More than two million Muslim pilgrims from across the globe gather around Mount Arafat, southeast of Makkah, to perform hajj yesterday. Photo: AFP
More than two million Muslims from across the globe gathered yesterday around Mount Arafat near Makkah, the birthplace of Islam for the annual hajj.

At Arafat, in western Saudi Arabia, a massive crowd of the faithful spent the day praying and asking for Allah's forgiveness, in a symbolic wait, or "wuquf", for the final judgement.

Among this year's pilgrims is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, invited by Saudi King Abdullah to become the first president of the Islamic republic to take part.

Ahmadinejad was due to have joined Iranian pilgrims at Arafat but an announcement at the gathering said that "due to the heavy traffic, the president was not able to make it."

Men wearing two pieces of unstitched white cloth, called the Ehram that Muslim tradition says will serve as their shrouds, and women entirely covered apart from their face and hands tirelessly repeated the formal refrain.

"I am here in response to your call, Lord, I am here," they cried, many of them in heavily-accented Arabic, gathered on a plain dotted with hills.

"This is the first time I am doing the hajj. I registered with the hajj organisation five years ago," said an elderly woman called Fatemeh, accompanied by her husband.

It was on Mount Arafat -- also called Jebel ar-Rahma, or Mount Mercy -- that the Prophet Mohammed gave his final sermon more than 14 centuries ago.

A total of 1,707,814 pilgrims from 181 different countries have travelled to Saudi Arabia for the hajj, Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz said, joined by hundred of thousands of Saudis and other residents of the kingdom.

Ahmadinejad was to join other pilgrims in carrying out a series of other sacred rituals, such as walking counter-clockwise seven times around the Kaaba, the cube-shaped structure at the Grand Mosque in Mecca.

His pilgrimage has an added significance because of the sometimes rocky relations between Shiite Iran and Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia.

An Iranian demonstration during the hajj in July 1987 led to Tehran and Riyadh breaking diplomatic relations. Security forces tried to break up the protest and 402 people, including 275 Iranians, were killed.

Iranian pilgrims stayed away from the hajj until 1991.

They have since held peaceful anti-US demonstrations inside their hajj compound, during which a message from Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is read out.

Khamenei this year urged Muslims to stand united against world "arrogance," Tehran's reference to the United States.

"All the Islamic nations and especially their scholars and intellectuals should create a united front against the world arrogance and solidify it day by day," Khamanei said.

At the Grand Mosque, the massive Kaaba monument was being draped in a new "kiswa", its silk cover adorned with Koranic verses embroidered in gold and silver-plated thread, costing more than five million dollars.

Muslims face the Kaaba when they pray five times a day.

At sunset on Tuesday, the faithful were to move toward Muzdalifah valley, several kilometres (miles) from Mount Arafat, to spend the night and collect pebbles to cast at columns in Mina symbolising the Devil.

On Wednesday morning, pilgrims flock Mina for the last part of the hajj -- the ritual stoning of Satan.

Later the same day, the pilgrims will sacrifice a beast, generally a sheep, in remembrance of the sacrifice Allah asked Abraham to perform by giving up his son to prove his devotion.

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=16074

Saudi Police Arrest 100 Pickpockets during Hajj

Saudi police dressed as pilgrims seized around 100 pickpockets similarly disguised who were mingling with the two million Muslims performing the hajj, Saudi media said on Wednesday.
"Around 100 pickpockets wearing ihram clothing (two pieces of white fabric traditionally to be used later as a shroud) were arrested by security services around Jebel ar-Rahma," (Mount Arafat) reported the Okaz daily.

About 1,000 police also dressed in the traditional white robes and moving among the pilgrims on Tuesday arrested the thieves caught red-handed, the newspaper added.

The massive crowd of faithful had gathered at the site in western Saudi Arabia to spend the day praying and asking for God's forgiveness, in a symbolic wait for the final judgment.(AFP)


http://www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/Ne...2573B6005AB209

Iranian hajj pilgrims shout "Death to Israel" and "Death to America"

Shi'ite pilgrims in Mecca commit the Islamic sin of bid'a -- innovation -- by calling for the destruction of Israel and America at Islam's holiest site. After all, Muhammad couldn't have called for the destruction of Israel and America when he made the hajj, could he?

"Disavowal of Pagans ceremony in Arafat Desert," from IRNA (thanks to Sr. Soph):

Quote:

Disavowal of Pagans ritual started in this sacred desert on Tuesday attended by a huge group of Iranian pilgrims.

The pilgrims chanted anti-US and anti-Zionist slogans during the ceremony also attended by the Supreme Leader's representative for Hajj affairs, Hojatoleslam Mohammad Mohammadi Reyshahri.

"God is Great," "There is no Deity but Allah," "Death to Israel" and "Death to America" were among the slogans chanted by the masses in unison as they gathered in the Desert of Arafat, 20 km (12 miles) from Mecca, for a day of prayer and meditation.

The faithful -- men clad in two-piece seamless white shrouds and women all covered except for their hands and faces to symbolize equality -- converged on Arafat by bus and on foot from the tent city of Mina, where they spent the night.



"...men clad in two-piece seamless white shrouds and women all covered except for their hands and faces to symbolize equality..." To "symbolize equality." That's rich.

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/019227.php
http://www.freedominion.ca/phpBB2/vi...113962#1113962

Iranian Officials Attempt to Inject Anit-U.S. Politics into Annual Hajj Muslim Pilgrimage

MOUNT ARAFAT, Saudi Arabia — Millions of Muslims marked the zenith of the annual hajj, praying for God's forgiveness on a rocky desert hill here where in Muslim tradition Adam and Eve were reunited after leaving Eden.

The ritual of standing at Mount Rahma is the most spiritual moment of the pilgrimage, when Muslims believe God will grant whatever prayers they make.

Among the faithful this year is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who on Tuesday stopped by the vast tent city where pilgrims are housed on the plateau called Mount Arafat to visit with Iranians there, Tehran's state broadcasting company.

However, Ahmadinejad stayed away from a brief rally held by several hundred Iranian pilgrims, calling on Muslims to unite against the U.S. and Israel, which they said "dominate the Muslim world."

The rally is an annual occurrence at hajj, arranged by the Iranian government. An envoy read a statement from Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to the faithful, telling them that hajj requires them to show love for God and to "expel, fight and stand up to Satan" — lessons Muslims "have to learn all over the world."

"They are hatching plots in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan and pitting one section of Muslims against the other," Ayatollah Mohammadi Reyshahri said, reading the statement.

A few at the gathering shouted "Death to America!" and "Death to Israel!" and called the two nations the enemies of God. But there was none of the fist shaking that marks such chants at rallies back home in Iran — a nod to the hajj's traditional lack of aggressiveness, arguments and disputes.

The protest, directed by Iranian security officers, stayed strictly inside the encampment, following Saudi rules. In the fervent early years after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, Iranian pilgrims held public protests outside their camps during hajj rituals, leading to friction with Saudi authorities that climaxed in 1987 when a protest in Mecca turned into a clash with Saudi police that killed several hundred Iranians, Saudi and others. In recent years, Iran has put less effort into the small yearly rally inside the camp.

On Tuesday, most of the Iranians paid little attention to the envoy's speech.

Azam Rahimi, 44, a teacher, said she didn't listen.

"We've heard these slogans for so many years that we know them by heart," she said. But she added, "Of course we don't want America to impose its culture on us. It's the duty of all Muslims to stop this from happening."

Saudi pilgrim Ali Saadi and his friends sat on a plastic mat on a sidewalk nearby.

"This is not the place for politics," said Saadi, a 58-year-old businessman. "Hajj is when you get close to God. I guess they have their own justification. As their hosts, we can't stop them."

Mainly Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and mainly Shiite Iran are regional rivals, with Saudis concerned over the increasing influence of Iran in the Middle East. The two countries back opposing camps in the crises in Iraq and Lebanon.

Around 3 million Muslims from around the world are attending this year's hajj. They flooded into Arafat late Monday and early Tuesday. Lines of buses with pilgrims on the roofs packed highways leading into the site, while others on foot swarmed between the vehicles.

They climbed Mount Rahma, the rocky hill on Arafat where it's believed Adam and Eve were reunited after leaving Eden, and sought God's forgiveness of their sins. They performed noon prayers at the Namira Mosque, where the Prophet Muhammad gave his last sermon.

Young children and old women begged for money as the crush of people pressed ahead on their way to Mount Rahma. Some spread out prayer beads, bags, umbrellas, and cookies on the pavement for sale.

Most pilgrims stay in the sprawling tent city, which is divided by country. But thousands of others slept in the open on blankets, in small makeshift plastic tents.

The Arafat rituals end at sunset Tuesday, after which the faithful move to the nearby Muzdalifah and spend the night there. They collect stones that they will take with them to Mina the next day with which to pelt the devil. This ritual commemorates Abraham's stoning of Satan when he tried to tempt him to disobey God.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,317547,00.html

Saudi security arrest 28 Al Qaeda suspects over hajj attack plot

RIYADH (AFP) - Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday the arrest of 28 Al-Qaeda linked suspects for planning attacks in the oil-rich kingdom, following an alleged plot to commit a "terrorist act" during the hajj season.

"Since December 14, 28 members of the deviant group (the term used by the Saudi authorities for Al Qaeda) have been arrested, including one foreign resident and the rest Saudi nationals," an interior ministry official said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.

The statement said the suspects were "linked to elements abroad and were planning criminal acts in the kingdom." Saudi authorities, who have been battling a wave of deadly violence waged by militants since 2003, use the term criminal acts to refer to Al Qaeda attacks.

On Friday, the interior ministry said that security forces had arrested an Al-Qaeda-linked group planning a "terrorist act" during the hajj, which this year attracted about 2.5 million Muslims from across the globe.

The pan-Arab newspaper Al Hayat reported on Saturday that seven non-Saudi Arabs had been arrested over the plot.

It said the arrests had not been announced earlier to avoid creating panic among the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to Islam's holiest sites in and around Mecca in western Saudi Arabia.

Interior ministry spokesman General Mansur Turki said on Friday as the hajj was winding down that the militants "planned to carry out a terrorist act aimed at harming security and damaging the hajj." However he said the attack did not specifically target holy sites in Mecca or the pilgrims.

The authorities were on high alert this year because of the participation of Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the first president from the Islamic republic to take part in the hajj.

Interior Minister Prince Nayef Ben Abdul Aziz said in early December his forces had foiled "more than 180 terrorist operations" since a wave of bombings and shootings by the Saudi branch of Al Qaeda erupted four years ago.

The Muslim kingdom also said it arrested 208 suspected Al Qaeda militants over the past few months who were plotting assassinations and an attack on a logistical oil facility.

The militants, who are followers of Saudi-born Al Qaeda chief Osama Ben Laden, espouse the ideology of "takfeer" - branding other Muslims as infidels in order to legitimise violence against them.

The hajj, in which all Muslims are expected to take part at least once in a lifetime if they have the means, has been hit by a series of disasters over the years, mostly caused by stampedes or fires.

There were no major incidents reported during this year's hajj.

However, in December 1979, 151 people were killed and 560 wounded after Saudi security forces stormed the Grand Mosque in Mecca to rescue pilgrims held hostage by militants for about two weeks.

And in July 1989, one person was killed and 16 were wounded within the Grand Mosque sanctuary in a double attack blamed on 16 Kuwaiti Shiites who were executed later the same year.

Four hundred and two people were killed, including 275 Iranians, according to official Saudi figures, when security forces tried to break up an anti-US demonstration by Iranian pilgrims during the hajj in July 1987.


http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=4531

Saudi officials foil plot on hajj sites

Police arrested a group of men planning to attack holy sites around Mecca during the just-completed annual Muslim pilgrimage, the Saudi Interior Ministry said Friday.

"Security forces have foiled a plot to carry out a terror attack on holy sites outside Mecca with the aim of confounding security forces," Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki told The Associated Press.

Nearly 3 million pilgrims came to Saudi Arabia for the annual hajj that wound up Friday with a final visit to Mecca after days of performing rituals in the surrounding hills.

"The group was arrested three days before the hajj season," he added, meaning that the men were taken into custody approximately a week earlier.

Al-Turki gave no further details on the number or identity of those arrested, but Saudi-owned satellite television station Al-Arabiya described them as Saudis.

Three weeks before the hajj began, the Saudi government announced a massive security sweep that netted 208 suspects in six different cells who had allegedly plotted to carry out attacks against the kingdom's oil infrastructure.

At the time, a Saudi security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said the large sweep was intended to send a warning to those looking to disturb the hajj and "damage the image of a forgiving Islam."

The official said the arrests included the capture of 18 suspects led by a Yemeni missile expert who allegedly planned to smuggle eight missiles into the kingdom to carry out terrorist operations.

The largest previous sweep by Saudi authorities was announced in April. It netted 172 militants, including pilots allegedly trained to carry out attacks on oil refineries using civilian planes.

The kingdom, which is the birthplace of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, has been waging a heavy crackdown on the group's militants since a 2003 wave of attacks on foreigners here.

The recent arrests indicate that al-Qaida and other Islamic extremists are still actively attempting to destabilize the monarchy, which holds a quarter of the world's proven oil reserves.


http://news.muzi.com/news/ll/english...shtml?cc=10001