Organizers Tout Record Crowd as Hajj Is Ending

Hundreds of thousands of Muslim pilgrims in Saudi Arabia on Friday threw pebbles at three pillars in a ritual symbolizing the stoning of the devil on the eve of the end of a disaster-free hajj season.

The pilgrims, many of whom had slept in the open air or in fire-resistant tents, packed the mile-long Jamarat bridge in Mena and pelted the pillars with pebbles to chants of “God Is Greatest!”

Today is the fifth and last day of the hajj.

“Thank God, we have approached the end of a safe and secure pilgrimage,” said Ahmed Abdullah, a Somali. “I hope my hajj is accepted by the Almighty.”

Crowds were moving smoothly under the watchful eyes of hundreds of police as loudspeaker announcements in eight languages guided the pilgrims, who were given free chilled water as temperatures reached 99 degrees.

The massive effort by Saudi authorities to ensure a safe pilgrimage appeared to be paying off. An official was quoted as saying that the hajj was proceeding “without any unpleasant incident.”

In 1998, 119 people were killed during the stoning ritual in a stampede at Jamarat. A year earlier, 343 pilgrims died in a blaze that ripped through tents at Mena.

The authorities have introduced safety measures at huge cost to ensure that such incidents would not be repeated.

The Planning Ministry said the number of pilgrims this year was nearly 1.74 million: a record 1.27 million from outside the kingdom and 466,000 from within.

Traffic jams blocked roads as thousands of pilgrims rode buses heading to nearby Mecca for prayers at the Grand Mosque, Islam’s holiest site.

The pilgrims prayed Wednesday at Mt. Arafat, the high point of the hajj, and on Thursday began the devil-stoning ritual and sacrificed hundreds of thousands of cattle at the start of the four-day Eid al-Adha, or Feast of Sacrifice.

Before starting for home today, the pilgrims return to Mecca for another round of circling the cube-shaped Kaaba, which Muslims around the world face when they pray five times a day.

The hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam that must be performed by every able-bodied Muslim who has the financial means.

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PILGRIMS’ PROGRESS

Muslims in the Southland recall the hajj as a memorable, life-changing journey. B2