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Saudi Readies Safety Measures For Muslim Pilgrimage
DUBAI, Feb 18 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Saudi Arabia has assured Muslim pilgrims that they have completed safety measures to ensure that this year's Hajj, starting next week, will be free from the tragedies of the past.
Saudi newspapers Sunday quoted official statistics as saying that 577,559 pilgrims had so far arrived by land, air and sea for the Hajj (pilgrimage), one of the five pillars of Islam and a must for every able Muslim at least once in a lifetime.
Saudi Arabia, the current state incorporating the birthplace of Islam, has the monumental task of receiving up to two million pilgrims every year.
Two weeks ago, Islamic authorities carried out the symbolic washing of the Kaaba, to which direction Muslims pray five times a day. It was given a new cover costing 17.7 million Saudi Riyals ($4.5 million). Saudi authorities use parts of the older cloth as presents to dignitaries and religious figures.
The Saudi health minister said his country has already spent $6.6 million to prepare Menna, where pilgrims perform part of their rituals and often camp, and an area where they are expected to slaughter their sacrifices (usually sheep).
The country imposes bans on all sorts of imported water and food in order to preempt any spread of epidemics. The oil-rich country distributes at least 10 million bottles of Zamzam water - water thought to be blessed in Islam - to Hajj goers.
Saudi authorities said they have already lined up some 16,000 drivers to work on buses and trucks that will ferry an expected two million Muslim pilgrims who come to the country from different parts of the world.
As many as two million Muslims from around the world gathered on the sacred Mount Arafat in Saudi Arabia last year, where the pilgrimage reaches its pinnacle.
Pilgrims spend their days praying for forgiveness on the mountain where the last passage of the Qur'an was revealed to the Prophet Mohammed (SAW) fourteen centuries ago, as he gave his last sermon.
Officials have said the oil-rich kingdom had spent 700 million Riyals ($187 million) this year alone to improve facilities, including fireproof tents and water storage tunnels dug in mountains to help fight fires that had plagued previous pilgrimages.
"I want to assure you that the government has made available all the services the pilgrims need from the moment they arrive till they leave the country,'' Mecca Governor Prince Abdul Majid recently told a group of pilgrims on arrival at Jeddah port.
The pilgrims usually arrive in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah and are transported on more than 10,000 buses to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina where authorities have deployed thousands of doctors, cleaners, postal workers, police and other people to serve them.
With up to two million people on the move over the next two weeks, the biggest headaches for Saudi officials will be to prevent fires, ensure water supplies and avoid stampedes.
A blaze in 1997 killed 343 pilgrims, while up to 119 people died in a stampede in 1998. The last two years witnessed trouble-free Hajjes.
Half the pilgrims, both Saudis and foreign residents, come from inside the kingdom and the other half from abroad.
Habib Mustafa Zein al-Abideen, undersecretary at the Public Works Ministry, told the official Saudi Press Agency Sunday that the ministry had spent 700 million riyals on Hajj projects this year, including finishing a fireproof tent project in the plain of Menna near Mecca. Abideen said the tents could now accommodate up to 1.6 million pilgrims.
Health Minister Osama Shubokshi said earlier this week that the health situation of the pilgrims was excellent and no contagious diseases had been reported so far.
Saudi officials have also assured pilgrims that there will be no shortage of sacrificial livestock this year despite a ban on imports from several countries due to various diseases.
Last year, more than 637,000 sheep, cattle and camels were slaughtered during the Hajj, which culminates with the Eid al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice). Muslims have a religious duty to offer sacrifices during pilgrimage and the meat is donated to the needy.
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