Haj pilgrims start stoning after Saddam death

Mena (Saudi Arabia), Dec 30: More than two million Muslim pilgrims began the symbolic stoning of the devil today, putting to the test new safety measures at a stage of the haj that has seen tragedy in the past.

But the rites were overshadowed by the news that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, a hero to many Sunni Arabs because of his anti-US stance, had been executed at dawn by the US-backed Shi'ite government.

Security fears were already high during this haj season because of sectarian strife between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims in Iraq and elsewhere in the region.

Many Sunni Arabs were angered by the news but some Iraqi pilgrims were celebrating both Saddam's death and the Eid al-Adha, or Feast of Sacrifice, that began today.

''Congratulations, this is like two Eids! I hope God will not have mercy on him,'' said Iraqi pilgrim Nadir Abdullah.

The stoning ritual at the Jamarat Bridge, when pilgrims symbolically cast out the devil, begins on Eid al-Adha, the third day of the gruelling 5-day haj which is a duty for all able-bodied Muslims who can afford it.

With such large crowds, Saudi Arabia deploys more than 50,000 security men to try to avoid deadly stampedes, as well as attacks by Islamists opposed to the US-allied Saudi royals.

The authorities are also worried over political protests which security forces have broken up by force in the past.

''The haj rites are not the place for slogans, postures and name-calling,'' top Saudi cleric Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh warned in a sermon at Mount Arafat yesterday.

ELATED PILGRIMS

Overnight, an elated mass of pilgrims, clad in white robes symbolising equality and selflessness, chanted prayers in Arabic as they slowly moved along a vast floodlit avenue towards Muzdalifah and then to Mena, where they stay for three days.

Yesterday Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah visited the site to look at construction work meant to allow 250,000 pilgrims to pass over the bridge in safety each hour.

In the worst haj tragedy in 16 years, 362 pilgrims were crushed to death in January as crowds surged across the bridge to throw stones at three large walls representing the spot where Islam says Satan tried to tempt the biblical patriarch Abraham.

''This is a symbolic gesture that reminds you of the historic animosity between Satan and human beings, and this stoning is something that the Prophet showed us to do,'' said Habib al-Wazzani, a pilgrim from Tunisia.

Many clerics of Saudi Arabia's hardline Wahhabi brand of Islam insist the stoning must take place in the afternoon, raising the prospect of a surge of pilgrims at one time. But government-backed clerics have approved stoning at any time.

''Religion should be easy,'' said Saudi pilgrim Mohammed Suleiman, who chose to observe the rite in the morning. ''There should be no hardship for the Islamic nation.'' Pilgrims have walked about 35 km in the first two days of the haj, one of the world's biggest displays of mass religious devotion.

A record 1.65 million pilgrims have come from abroad, a 6 per cent rise on the last haj. Several hundred thousand people inside Saudi Arabia usually receive permits too.

But anecdotal evidence suggests total pilgrim numbers this season have swelled to more than the record of 2.6 million, as local residents sneak into Mecca without official permits.

REUTERS

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