MIDDLE EAST: More than two million pilgrims began arriving at Muzdalifah near Mecca yesterday, praying for a safe Haj after a hostel collapse and warnings of a possible spread of bird flu.
After a day of prayer at Mount Arafat, the site of Prophet Muhammad's last sermon 1,400 years ago, a mass of pilgrims in white robes, meant to erase differences of class and culture, moved on foot chanting prayers.
Today, the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, the pilgrims must return to the Grand Mosque in Mecca and then complete three days of throwing stones in Mena at pillars on the spot where Islam says the devil appeared to Abraham.
Saudi Arabia has deployed 60,000 security men in an effort to avoid deadly stampedes, which often occur during the stone-throwing ritual, or attacks by Islamist militants.
Some 250 pilgrims died in a 2004 stampede during the pillar-stoning. The government has reorganised access to the area and promised to remove pilgrim squatters who camp there.
Health experts have warned that the huge crowd could create the conditions for a pandemic strain of bird flu to emerge.
Pilgrims also yesterday remembered the 76 people killed when a Mecca hostel collapsed last Thursday. The tragedy was embarrassing for Saudi Arabia, whose legitimacy in the eyes of many Muslims rests on its ability to host some 2.5 million Haj pilgrims every year. - (Reuters)