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Pilgrims, estimated at near two million, will climb Mount
`Arafah on Wednesday, January 19, marking the peak of the hajj.
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RIYADH,
January 15 (IslmOnline.net & News Agencies) – Saudi Arabia
announced Friday, January 14, that `Eid Al-Adha (feast of sacrifice)
falls on Thursday, January 20.
Some
two million Muslim pilgrims who flocked to the kingdom from the four
corners of the world will climb Mount `Arafah on Wednesday, January 19,
marking the peak of the hajj, reported Reuters.
An
earlier statement by King Abdel Aziz Science and Technology City
calculated that the four-day `Eid would start on Friday, January 21.
The
spiritual pilgrimage takes place in the 12th month of the Islamic year,
which began on Wednesday. Islamic years are lunar and thus dates depend
on sighting of the moon.
Saudi
government plans were already in
full swing to head off potential tragic stampedes and make the
holy rituals easier for the faithful.
A
giant project to develop the Jamrat bridge where pilgrims amass to stone
pillars symbolizing Satan is near completion.
Every
able-bodied adult Muslim who can physically and financially afford the
trip must perform hajj, one
of the “five pillars” of Islam , once in their lifetime.
Hajj
consists of several
ceremonies , meant to symbolize the essential concepts of the
Islamic faith, and to commemorate the trials of Prophet Abraham and his
family.
50,000
Security Men Deployed
Saudi
Arabia has deployed more than 50,000 security men for hajj, an interior
ministry spokesman said Saturday,
January 14.
“More
than 50,000 security men are taking part in (implementing) the plan to
secure the hajj,” Brigadier Mansur al-Turki told Agence France-Presse
(AFP).
He
said their task is “primarily concerned with traffic control and
ensuring the safety of pilgrims.”
More
than 10,000 officers are "to deal with any developments related to
security matters," he said.
Saudi
Arabia has been battling a wave of violence by Al-Qaeda-linked militants
who have carried out attacks that have left more than 100 people dead,
including many foreigners, since May 2003.
“We
have dealt with terrorist attacks in the holy city of Mecca before”
Turki said.
“We
only increase manpower during the hajj season to cope with the increase
in the numbers of pilgrims.”
Official
figures put the total number of pilgrims performing last year's hajj at
1,892,710, with 1,419,706 from abroad and 473,004 Saudis and other
Muslim residents of the kingdom.
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