SAUDI TOP CLERIC TO SKIP ANNUAL HAJJ SERMON – Pilgrims converge on Arafat; Muslim faithful begin Hajj

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MOUNT ARAFAT, Saudi Arabia, Sept 10, (Agencies): Close to 1.5 million Muslims from around the world converged on a rocky hill known as Mount Arafat on Saturday night to prepare for the climax of the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

The pilgrims will mark Sunday with day-long prayers and recitals of the Quran holy book at the spot in western Saudi Arabia where they believe their Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) gave his last Hajj sermon. The numbers are down because of the absence of 64,000 Iranians over tensions between their Shiite nation and the Sunnidominated kingdom. Last year’s Hajj stampede which killed roughly 2,300 people, many of them Iranians, magnified those frictions.

Masses of Iranian faithful held an alternative pilgrimage on Saturday in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, south of the Iraqi capital. After preliminary rituals this week in Makkah at the Grand Mosque, the pilgrims in Saudi Arabia moved east Saturday to the tent city of Mina and then several kilometres (miles) further to Mount Arafat.

They are following in the footsteps of their prophet who performed the same rituals about 1,400 years ago. “It’s marvellous. I’m here closer to God. It’s an indescribable feeling,” said an Egyptian pilgrim who gave her name only as Louza, 45. The Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam, which capable Muslims must perform at least once, marking the spiritual peak of their lives. “People come from every country of the world, talk every language of the world, and meet here in one place under one banner, the profession of the Muslim faith,” Ashraf Zalat, 43, from Egypt, said in Makkah. Okaz newspaper reported that, for the first time in 35 years, Grand Mufti Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh, Saudi Arabia’s top cleric, will not deliver a sermon to the Arafat crowd on Sunday.

The paper cited health reasons for the absence of the grand mufti, who has waded into the Saudi-Iranian row over the Hajj. After Makkah, Mina becomes the pilgrims’ base, where an expanse of solidly built white fireproof tents can accommodate 2.6 million people in a valley beneath bare mountains. Last September 24, Mina was the scene of the deadliest disaster in Hajj history, when the stampede broke out as pilgrims made their way to the Jamarat Bridge for a stoning ritual. This year’s “Stoning of the Devil” will start on Monday.

Although Riyadh stuck with a stampede death toll of 769, figures compiled from foreign officials in more than 30 countries gave a tally almost three times higher — at least 2,297. Saudi Arabia announced an investigation but no results have ever been released, although a number of safety measures have been taken. Among the changes, government facilities have been moved out of Mina to free up space, and roads in the Jamarat area expanded, Saudi newspapers reported.

Officials have also been issuing pilgrims with bracelets that digitally store their personal data. Authorities aim to give bracelets to each of the 1.3 million faithful from abroad, who are joined by more than 100,000 Muslims residing in Saudi Arabia. Interior ministry spokesman General Mansour al-Turki spoke of “great efforts being exerted by the kingdom, not only in  maintaining the security and safety of the pilgrims, but in facilitating performance” of the rites in comfort. Pilgrims appeared satisfied. “Everything is well organised,” Nasser Benfitah, 54, from Morocco, said in Makkah. “We feel safe,” added Nigerian pilgrim Hafsa Amina, 26.

Saudi Arabia has invested billions of dollars in Hajj infrastructure and safety projects over the years. The Hajj draws rich and poor, whose common humanity is emphasised by the white garment that each man wears. Women wear loose dresses, typically also white.

Despite the safety and security measures which Saudi Arabia says it has taken, Iran has questioned the kingdom’s custodianship of Islam’s holiest places. The two countries do not have diplomatic relations and are at odds over a string of regional issues including the wars in Yemen and Syria. Iran reported the largest number of stampede victims, at 464, and its pilgrims are excluded for the first time in decades after the regional rivals failed to agree on security and logistics. Many of the Iranians who would have travelled to Mount Arafat wound instead in Karbala to visit the Imam Hussein shrine.

An official in Karbala said one million pilgrims were expected, mostly from Iran. Close to 2 million people from around the world began performing the first rites of the Islamic Hajj pilgrimage on Saturday, which calls for entering into a state of physical and spiritual purity and circling the cube-shaped Ka’aba with their palms facing upward in supplication and prayer. Notably absent this year are Iranian pilgrims. Last year, some 64,000 Iranians took part in the Hajj, but disputes with the Saudi government prompted Tehran to bar its citizens from taking part this year.

Saudi Arabia has blamed Iranian officials for the decision and suggests it was politically motivated to publicly pressure the kingdom. Iran says Saudi “incompetence” caused a crush and stampede during last year’s Hajj that killed more than 460 of its citizens. On Friday, thousands of Iranians marched through the streets of Tehran and other Iranian cities to protest Saudi Arabia, chanting prayers against the kingdom’s Sunni rulers after midday prayers. The Hajj is one of the world’s largest pilgrimages.

It draws the faithful to the holy city of Makkah and areas around it for five intense days of rituals and prayers aimed at erasing past sins and drawing Muslims closer to God. The pilgrimage is required of all Muslims to perform once in their lifetime. To begin the Hajj, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims circle the Ka’aba in Makkah’s Grand Mosque. In a sign of humility and equality before God, the pilgrims shed symbols of materialism, entering a state of “ihram.” Women forgo makeup and perfume and wear loose-fitting clothing and a head covering, while men dress in seamless, white terry cloth garments.

Since arriving in Makkah over the past several weeks, hundreds of thousands have chanted, “Labayk Allahuma Labayk,” or “Here I am, God, answering your call. Here I am.” While following a route the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) once walked, the rites of Hajj are believed to ultimately trace the footsteps of the Prophets Ibrahim and Ismail, or Abraham and Ishmael (PBUH) as they are named in the Holy Bible. The Interior Ministry says more than 1.3 million people from 160 different countries have arrived to the kingdom to perform the Hajj this year. Most pilgrims will spend the evening outside Makkah in a valley called Mina that houses more than 160,000 tents. They will head to an area called Arafat on Sunday for the pinnacle of the pilgrimage, an emotional day of repentance and supplication.

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