Home  Web Resources Free Advertising

 Home > International News

Change Your Life!

Over 20 lakh pilgrims perform Haj

News
Sports
Chat
Travel
Dhaka Today
Yellow Pages
Higher Education
Ask a Doctor
Weather
Currency Rate
Horoscope
E-Cards
B2K Poll
Comment on the Site
B2K Club

 

 March 16, 2000

Mount Arafat, (Saudi Arabia), Mar 15: More than two million Muslim pilgrims, hands raised to the sky and many in tears, prayed for forgiveness and mercy on Mount Arafat today at the climax of t he annual pilgrimage, says Reuters.

Pilgrims in seamless white clothes chanted: “Here I am, oh Allah, here I am, associate no one with thee…” at the site on Saudi Arabia where Prophet Mohammed (SM) delivered his final sermon 14 centuries ago.

The Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam that must be performed by every able Muslim. Most pilgrims are often so moved by the spiritual experience that they weep openly.

“I am tried but very happy,” Andrew Ingram, from Landover, Maryland in the United States, told Reuter. “This is a great lesson in patience and humility.”

Men and women of all races, social standing and ages, stood in the baking sun holding umbrellas or sat under a tree or makeshift tents as temperatures his 37 Celsius (99 Fahrenheit).

Saudi authorities distributed more than 2.6 million bottles of drinking water as sprinklers sprayed water on the pilgrims.

When calls rang out across the plateau for Eid prayers, most pilgrims faced Makkah and joined in-group prayers. Others listened attentively to words by preachers.

Before dawn row after row of pilgrims had made their way slowly to Mount Arafat on foot and on buses. The trickle from the Mena Plains where the believers spent the night in 43,000 fireproof and air-conditioned tents turned into a flood of pilgrims in seamless white clothes after sunrise.

The tents were erected to avert a recurrence of the fire that killed more than 340 people in 1997. Some pilgrims slept on street corners and under bridges.

The Emir of Makkah Prince Abdel Majeed told the official media told the official media that the ascent of Mount Arafatr was completed just before midday and that no security or health incidents were reported.

“The security and health situation among pilgrims is excellent and no incidents have been reported,” he said.

The oil-rich kingdom has spent millions of dollars to ensure a safe Hajj. Fires and stampedes have marred the pilgrimage in past year.

The pilgrims form 100 countries jostled for good spots on the top of Mount Arafat. Jabal al-Rahman (Mountain of Mercy), a rocky hill on top of Arafat, was quickly packed.

Policemen on foot, riding motorcycles and traveling by car were organizing traffic and helicopters hovered overhead to report on any emergencies or possible congestion.

The official media said more than 13 million international phone calls were made form holy sites on “Tuesday as well as half a million calls form cellular telephones.

They said the number of pilgrims coning form abroad this year reached an all-time record 1,276,555. Of the more than two million pilgrims performing Hajj every year half come form abroad and the rest from the kingdom.

Pilgrims are due to leave Mount Arafat at sunset. They come down to Muzdalifah to pick up pebbles. They then go to Jamraat in Mena where they start a three-day ritual of stoning three pillars, imitating Abrahm’s stoning of the devil that Muslims believe appeared three times to Abraham and Ismail.

On the first day of the stoning ritual, pilgrims and Muslims around the would celebrate Eid at Adha and slaughter sheep, cows and camels as a symbol of sacrifice.

The pilgrims then return to the holy city of Makkah to again circle the cube-shaped Kaaba, which Muslims around the world face when praying – at the Grand Mosque.

Male pilgrims have their haircut or shaven to mark the end of ihram, which started at the beginning of the Hajjj when men put on a seamless two-piece outfit and women, with their hair covered. Wear modest clothes.

Source: The Bangladesh Observer


Copyright © Bangla2000. All Rights Reserved.
About Us  |  Legal Notices  |  Contact for Advertisement