By Souhail Karam

MECCA, Saudi Arabia, Dec 26 (Reuters) Divided in their troubled homeland, Iraqi pilgrims who made the perilous journey to Mecca for haj this week are united in their prayers for peace, stability and the loved ones they have lost.

''What other motivation would I have than to pray for the unity of our country. Only unity can bring back security and safety,'' said Zohra Um Mohammed.

''We pray for the Americans to leave. They are the ones who have torn us apart,'' added the 54-year old accountant, who braved dangerous roads on a five-day journey from Iraq's ancient city of Babel to Islam's holiest sites in Mecca.

At least 2 million Muslims, from dozens of sects and around 160 countries, begin on Friday an exhausting five-day ritual that all able-bodied Muslims are required to make at least once in a lifetime.

But this haj takes place amid escalating violence between Sunnis and Shi'ites, members of Islam's two main branches, that has taken Iraq to the brink of civil war.

Violence is at an all-time high in Iraq and sectarian fighting is killing around 100 Iraqis every day.

Sunni-Shi'ite tension is also high in Lebanon and fears that sectarian splits will spill over at the haj have added to existing worries of al Qaeda-linked militant violence.

Asked if he was worried about meeting fellow Iraqis of other sects, Kadhim Manwar al-Adhari, a 52-year old public servant said: ''I'm from Amara, where both Shi'ites and Sunnis live.

Sunnis are married to Shi'ites and vice versa''.

Muslims start flocking to Mecca for haj at the end of the month of Ramadan, which sees the start of a three-month period during which Islam prohibits any sort of bloodshed. Even killing a fly inside Mecca can annul the pilgrim's haj.

For many Iraqi pilgrims, haj was a time to reflect and to pray for their country.

''What a pity. We need to pray for Iraq, you must pray with us for our homeland,'' said Ruqaya, her eyes welling up with tears as the 45-year-old Iraqi woman recalled the state in which she had left Baghdad for the pilgrimage.

On their way to the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Ruqaya and her husband Jabbar Abu Tariq said they would be praying for dozens of relatives, neighbours and friends killed in violence that has torn the Iraqi capital apart since US-led invasion in 2003.

''We have suffered so much grief that Satan plays with the minds of some of us and gets them to start questioning the most important thing in life, faith in Allah,'' Abu Tariq said.

''That is why we came here, to renew our faith in Allah, to pray for the deceased, and to pray for peace and stability for Iraqis,'' the retired public servant said.

Asked if he was a Shi'ite or a Sunni, Abu Tariq said: ''We are Muslims''.

REUTERS MS HT1612