A pilgrim lifts his hands in prayer on the plain of Arafat near the city of Makkah. PHOTO: REUTERS
The grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abdulaziz al Sheikh, urged Muslims to avoid divisions, chaos and sectarianism, without explicitly speaking of the turmoil unleashed by the Arab Spring.
“Your nation is a trust with you. You must safeguard its security, stability and resources,” the cleric, who heads Saudi Arabia’s highest religious body, said in his Hajj sermon on Monday.
“You should know that you are targeted by your enemy... who wants to spread chaos among you ... It’s time to confront this.”
The cleric said Islam strictly forbids terrorism and aggression. “There is no salvation or happiness for the Muslims of the world without adhering to the teachings of Islam.”
Some 1.5 million Muslim pilgrims on Monday thronged Mount Arafat in Saudi Arabia for the high point of the Hajj, praying for an end to disputes and bloodshed.
Helicopters hovered overhead and thousands of troops stood guard to organise roads flooded with men, women and children.
Chanting “Labaik Allahuma Labaik” (I am responding to your call, God), many of them camped in small colourful tents and took shelter under trees to escape temperatures of around 40 degrees Celsius. Special sprinklers were set up to help cool the pilgrims.
Attendance is sharply down from last year, due to fears linked to the MERS virus and to multi-billion-dollar expansion work at the Masjid-e-Haraam to almost double its capacity to around 2.2 million worshippers.
Governor of Makkah province and head of the Central Hajj Committee Prince Khaled al Faisal said 1.38 million pilgrims had arrived from outside of the kingdom while only 117,000 Hajj permits were issued for domestic pilgrims.
This puts the total number of pilgrims this year at almost 1.5 million, less than half of last year’s 3.2 million, after Riyadh slashed Hajj quotas.
The pilgrims arrived at Arafat from nearby Mina where most of them spent the night following the traditions of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), who performed the rituals 14 centuries ago.
On reaching Arafat, they crowded onto the hill and the vast plain surrounding it to pray until sunset, when they are due to set off for Muzdalifah for a ritual on Monday symbolising the stoning of the devil.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 15th, 2013.
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I heard the sermon and it moved me to tears, but when are we going to learn ? everything opposite is being done in all Muslím countries, consecuently, majority of muslíms are the sufferrers. Name one muslím country living in peace.