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Indonesian pilgrims departing for Saudi Arabia to perform hajj.
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RIYADH,
January 1 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – With at least
435,000 pilgrims already in the kingdom for the hajj, the Saudi
authorities do not expect the tsunami disaster that devastated several
Asian countries last week to affect the overall number of pilgrims.
The
majority of pilgrims arrived by air while just over 4,000 traveled
over land, and some 1,350 by sea, reported the official news agency,
SPA, Saturday, January 1.
Meanwhile,
preparations for the hajj season continued non-stopped across the
kingdom.
Brig.
Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, official spokesman for the Interior Ministry,
said more than 15, 000 security forces will help maintain security in
the holy sites during the hajj, reported the Saudi Gazette Saturday.
Of
these, 10, 000 personnel will organize traffic in the holy sites while
between 5,000 and 7,000 will organize the movement of pilgrims whether
on roads or at the Jamarat (three symbolic places where pilgrims stone
the devil).
Al-Turki
said the overall number of security officials during the hajj season
would be 15 percent less than in previous years.
Suspected
Al-Qaeda militants have killed more than 100 people and wounded
hundreds more in Saudi Arabia since May 2003.
Last
week, Saudi security forces killed 10 suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen in two
days of clashes in the capital last week, including a Yemeni thought
to be the group's leader in the country.
As
part of the hajj preparations, Mecca governor Prince Abdul Majed bin
Abdul Aziz oversaw last week the washing of the holy Kaaba at the
Grand Mosque.
The
Kaaba, a giant 14-metre (42-feet) cube, is washed twice a year, once
for Ramadan and once for the hajj, with water from the nearby Zamzam
spring, mixed with rose water.
The
kiswa, a 658-square-meter black cloth made of some 450 kilograms of
silk and 15 kilos of gold thread to cover the Kaaba, is also replaced
every year before the hajj.
The
hajj is one
of the “five pillars” of Islam, and thus an essential part
of Muslims’ faith and practice under the condition of physical and
financial ability.
It
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.
Tsunami
Impact Unlikely
In
a related development, Saudi Hajj Minister Iyad Madani did not expect
the tsunami disaster, which claimed more than 125,000 lives so far, to
affecte the number of pilgrims, reported the Arab News newspaper
Saturday.
“Judging
from previous experiences when natural or man-made tragedies struck
some parts of the world, it seems this year hajj will not be affected
by such developments,” he said after touring the holy sites in
Madinah.
“Last
year and because of wars in the region, we were concerned the inflow
of pilgrims might be affected. But the opposite happened,” said the
official.
Indonesia,
the world’s most populous Muslim country and the worst affected by
the Asian natural disaster, announced earlier that more than 200,000
people would be performing hajj this year.
Some
297 Turks have arrived in Saudi Arabia as the first
batch of 120,000 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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