Muslim pilgrims perform the ritual 'stoning of the devil' in Mina, in Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2007

MINA, December 18, 2007 - More than 2.5 million pilgrims are expected to converge today on Mount Arafat, about 15 km to the east of Makkah, at the climax of this year’s Haj after spending a night of meditation and introspection in the tent city of Mina yesterday.

Chanting “Labbaik Allahumma Labbaik (Here I am answering Your call, O God),” the pilgrims, wearing white robes, walked or boarded buses to Mina yesterday at the start of the annual pilgrimage, the largest gathering of Muslims in the world.

It is already being described as one of the best organized pilgrimages ever. Millions of pilgrims moved into the tent city of Mina yesterday in an orderly and smooth fashion. Some were on foot, others in cars and yet others on buses. They came from all corners of the globe, but their destination was one: Mina.

The traffic jams that marked the flow of pilgrims into Mina in the past was not encountered this year. Traffic moved out of the holy city of Makkah at a slow and then a brisk pace. Pilgrims faced little difficulty getting into Mina where hundreds of security forces are manning bridges, roads and underpasses. Pilgrims without permits who formerly pitched their plastic tents everywhere obstructing the flow of people were not allowed to do so this year. The only problem that some pilgrims encountered was in locating their tents.

Maj. Gen. Saad Al-Khilaiwi, assistant commander of Haj security forces, said the trek of pilgrims from Makkah to Mina took place in a smooth and orderly fashion without any major accidents. “Most pilgrims reached Mina in the early hours of the day,” he told Arab News.

He said police had prevented pilgrims from squatting in places where it was banned, especially west of Al-Khaif Mosque and the Jamrat and the Pedestrian Road. He thanked pilgrims for cooperating with security officers.

Muslims pilgrims walk to perform ritual 'stoning of the devil' in Mina, in Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2007

Muhammad Baghdadi, supervisor of the water department in the Makkah region, said the pilgrims consumed 50,000 cubic meters of water yesterday. “We have made sure water reaches all pilgrim camps and an estimated 30,628 toilets in Mina.” He said reserve water tanks have been established in Arafat and Mina to meet emergency requirements.

Mina, which was a virtual ghost town until Sunday, was transformed into a sea of pilgrims dressed in white Ihram by noon prayer yesterday. Pilgrims were seen resting under bridges, in the open luggage compartments of buses, and all over the rolling hills of Mina. Food sellers were pushing their carts through the masses of people.

The center of activity was, of course, Masjid Al-Khaif. Every space in the huge mosque was filled with the faithful. After a tiring morning, pilgrims were in high spirits in the evening. From every corner of the valley, one could hear the Talbiyah.

“Alhamdullilah, I made it to Mina,” said an emotional Shah Zaman Siddiq from Peshawar. “I couldn’t sleep the whole of Sunday night. I was excited and tense. I wanted to walk all the way from Makkah to Mina but my friends advised me against it. They said I should instead conserve my energy for the trek to Arafat tomorrow,” he said, crying all the while. “I can’t believe I have made it.”

Idris Zanny from Nigeria was in a very cheerful mood. “This is my fifth Haj. The last time I was here was in 2002. As a businessman, Allah has given me and my family resources to undertake this journey again and again,” he said, while his young son looked bewildered by the huge number of oncoming people. Idris was all praise for the Saudi government and the excellent arrangements.

“They deserve huge accolades. When there was a stampede in 2000, I wondered what could be done to stop it. And here they have come up with an unbelievable solution. God bless them. God protect the leadership of this country,” he said and insisted that God had bestowed on them the custodianship of the two holy mosques because they rightfully deserved it.

Indian Consul General Dr. Ausaf Sayeed, who has been making Haj arrangements for his countrymen for the last few years, said: “This is a very well-organized Haj. Ask anybody and they will say the same. Our pilgrims made it to Mina in record time and with no great difficulty. This was not the case earlier. This time things are excellent. And I congratulate the Saudi leadership and the Tawafa Organization for South Asian Pilgrims for a job well done.”

Shahid Khan, the director general of Haj in Pakistan, said things were improving every year. “Our pilgrims had no problem in reaching Mina,” he told Arab News.

The guests of God will leave Mina for Arafat this morning at the peak of the pilgrimage. In Arafat, they will stand in prayer, seeking God’s forgiveness and blessings. They will cleanse themselves of their sins by admitting them before God in order to return to their homes and native places like newborn babies as stated by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has arrived to perform Haj as a guest of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah. The king has invited 1,000 foreign dignitaries to perform Haj this year as his guests. “If I made a mistake in one of my speeches or said something that was not in line with the interests 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 leaving Tehran for Madinah.

The Haj, which ends on Friday, is one of the five pillars or tenets of Islam and is an obligation for all able-bodied Muslims at least once during their lives if they can afford it. More than 1.6 million pilgrims have come from abroad and have been joined by nearly one million others from within the Kingdom.

Saudi authorities have given top priority to the security and safety of pilgrims and have deployed more than 50,000 security forces in Makkah, Mina and other holy sites. They have also established the high-tech Jamrat Bridge in Mina to help pilgrims perform the ritual stoning of the devil safely without stampedes or other potentially fatal accidents.

The health of pilgrims is another major concern. “We have to raise (health) awareness among pilgrims from some countries,” Health Minister Dr. Hamad Al-Manie told Al-Jazeera television channel. “Some of the pilgrims coming from outside do not know Arabic. With different languages and peoples coming, of course, there are difficulties,” he said from Makkah.

The government has taken precautions against bird flu, after recent cases of the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus killing birds in the Riyadh region.

The Health Ministry announced yesterday that the pilgrims were enjoying good health condition. “No infectious or communicable diseases have been detected among pilgrims so far,” said Dr. Khaled Al-Mirghalani, spokesman for the ministry.

He estimated the total number of pilgrims at around three million. “It is a top priority for us to maintain the safety of pilgrims and make the Haj free of all infectious and communicable diseases,” he said.

Pilgrims view the Haj as an affirmation of Muslim unity and solidarity, bringing together people of different languages and ethnicities, united only by faith in a single God. On a personal level, many of them say they are also seeking forgiveness for sins of which they have repented.

“A good Haji (pilgrim) will go home like a newborn child. All his sins are forgotten,” said Nigerian sociology professor Baffa Aliyu Umar, who is on his fourth pilgrimage.

— With reports by Siraj Wahab, Samir Al-Saadi, Faisal Ali, Badea Abu Al-Naja, Galal Fakkar, Ali Hawash and Saeed Al-Khotani

Source: Arab News