Word: hajj
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...hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, may be spiritually uplifting, but it has often proved physically dangerous. The grim toll...
...cool evening hours, Saudi families once again browse in the stores, examining electronic gadgets and comparing the latest imported luxury cars. In Jidda, gateway to the Muslim shrines of Mecca and Medina, preparations are well under way to accommodate the 2 million pilgrims expected during this month's hajj. Says an adviser to a senior Saudi minister: "We feel a cloud has been lifted from over our land...
...stories they recount in the refugee camps in the Iraqi town of Safwan are appalling. "Iraqi troops sent a tank to knock down the door of the holy shrine of Najaf," recalls Hajj Hattin. "Then they began looting all the deserted homes. They shot people at random in front of the crowds." Hajj Mohammed remembers a helicopter gunship shooting at civilians in the streets of Najaf. Iraqi soldiers "went into schools to threaten small children into giving the names of relatives they could accuse of being rebels," he says. "If the child did not answer, they shot...
...escape, hundreds were crushed under the frantic feet of their co-religionists; others collapsed in the airless heat. "It was terrible," an Arab survivor told Saudi television. "When one stumbled, scores trampled him and hundreds fell on top of them." According to Islamic teachings, to die while on the hajj ensures immediate ascension to heaven. On that day 1,426 Muslims earned the privilege...
Certainly, managing the hajj is a formidable exercise. Despite Saudi efforts to regulate where and how believers travel, some, particularly the elderly, perish each year attempting to complete the long hikes in the desert sun required by the pilgrimage, which is a must for any Muslim who is physically and financially able to make it. In recent years the month-long hajj season has become more unmanageable as the Islamic revival and the increased affordability of air tickets have swelled the annual ranks of pilgrims to 2 million or more. To handle the deluge, the Saudi government is investing...