Over Two Million Pilgrims Arrive at Mecca for Hajj
Muslim pilgrims pray around the holy Kaaba at the Grand Mosque, during the annual hajj pilgrimage in Mecca September 27, 2014. (Photo: REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed)
Published 3 October 2014
This year's pilgrimage is marked by the participation of four Arabic nations on the anti-IS coalition and Ebola threats.
Hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, gathered close to two million believers on a vast plain in Saudi Arabia on Friday, the largest Islamic in the world, summoning hundreds of thousands of pilgrims at Arafat mount to a huge white tent city that accommodates each and every one of them.
The pilgrim’s clothing covers the of Mount Mercy hill in white, as they walk with umbrellas to protect from the sun rays at the place where ProPhet Mohammed made his final sermon 14 centuries ago.
The white on their clothes symbolizes a state of purity and emphasizes unity, although they come from very different backgrounds or nationalities.
"Sometimes we have difficulties understanding each others' languages, and mostly the elderly can't understand what we are saying," said Ali al-Shemmari, a soldier stationed at the hill.
"The pilgrims believe that they should climb up, although this is not necessary... But things are going well," he said.
This year's pilgrimage comes just after five arab nations accorded to join the United States led coalition to fight Islamic State rebel militias and the atrocities through which they have seized Iraqi and Syrian territories.
Nigerian pilgrims were allowed into Saudi Arabia despite the Ebola threat, although the three most affected West African countries were denied hajj visas to prevent any possibility of the disease spreading.
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Over-Two-Million-Pilgrims-Arrive-at-Mecca-for-Hajj-20141003-0033.html