Thread: Haj Pilgrimage

It is one of the greatest examples of human devotion on Earth - a sea of white robes as hundreds of thousands of Muslims perform the evening prayer at the Grand Mosque in Mecca.

The pilgrims, including Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, started the week-long religious event at the Saudi Arabian city with a three-mile walk to the holy site of Mina.

They have travelled to the holy city in preparation for the haj, the largest annual pilgrimage in the world.



Pilgrims make the journey to Mecca in the second week of Dhual-Hijjah - the twelfth month in the Islamic calendar - and perform prayers and rituals in the days before the haj begins.



It is the duty of every able-bodied Muslim to make haj at least once in their lifetime.

In a display of solidarity and faith, the pilgrims walk seven times around the Kaaba - the cube-shaped structure at the centre of the picture - touching the sacred black stone at its corner.

They wear sacred robes called ihram and are forbidden to use cosmetics, shave or cut their nails while dressed in these. They are also not allowed to swear, argue, kill a living creature or have sex.

Over the five days of haj, more than two million Muslims, 25,000 of whom are British, will pass through the Grand Mosque.

The vast number of people and atmosphere of religious fervour has meant that techniques in crowd control have become increasingly important.

Previous years have seen stampedes - in January 2006, 346 Muslims were crushed and a further 200 were injured on an overcrowded bridge. This year, more than 35,000 security staff are on hand to ensure that this show of unity is a peaceful one.

It is an epidemiologist's nightmare.

Great opportunity to dust off an atomic bomb and use it ;-)

Originally Posted by Tchiowa

Great opportunity to dust off an atomic bomb and use it ;-)

That's not nice. You have to make allowances for alternative cultures. Besides, the backlash would be WW3 and advance global warming by 300 years.

Another round of nice pix SO. I honestly thought it was a photoshop'd footie stadium till I saw the people.

Could blame the whackjob, he's shia after all and they really don't mind the temporary loss of a few hundred million muslims if it means pissing off the infidel along the way.

Thanks, SO. Those were amazing pictures. Having no strong religious feelings myself, it's always a source of wonder & awe to me to see pics like those or ones of Vatican Square at Easter or Christmas.

"Previous years have seen stampedes - in January 2006, 346 Muslims were crushed and a further 200 were injured on an overcrowded bridge. "


"one of the greatest examples of human devotion on Earth"

It's an amazing spectacle. Quite an act of piety too- rich man rubs shoulders with poor man, everyone dresses the same, there is no favouritism. Or so they said on CNN.

With that many people in close quarters, I can imagine that the personal hygiene standards must be very high.

Congrats to all who can survive that.

amazing photos.

If the muslims are right then god really lives in that box.

It might be more ecumenical if there were three boxes; one for the Christians, one for the Jews and one for the Muslims and you had to guess which one god was in and then somebody could slide them around really quickly while you try to keep your eye on the right one and then you got to guess again.

Originally Posted by chitown

"Previous years have seen stampedes - in January 2006, 346 Muslims were crushed and a further 200 were injured on an overcrowded bridge. "...

Not enough!

Clearly they're not doing enough to protect the mob from itself.

Thay only recently had the idea to all walk in the same direction around it

What I don't understand, is if it's every Muslim's duty to attend at least once in thier lifetime, how did they get there before boats & planes were invented?

I know they use to run massive caravans through palestine in the 19th century for the Haj. I assume other parts of the Moslem world had similar arrangements.

^ Yep, the devout are supposed to pray, facing Mecca, several times a day. On a long flight, that shows them which way Mecca is. All airlines originating from Muslim countries have the facility (well, Etihad, Gulf & Emirates do, so I assume, they all do)

Originally Posted by Silent Orchestra

Thay only recently had the idea to all walk in the same direction around it

What I don't understand, is if it's every Muslim's duty to attend at least once in thier lifetime, how did they get there before boats & planes were invented?

Could've been it was made a compulsory act of faith by the Mecca Tourist Board.

No one has addressed the most important question here: where do they all go when they have to pee?

Originally Posted by Silent Orchestra

It is one of the greatest examples of human devotion on Earth

That is the problem.

Imagine if this sort of of effort was put into solving the world's problems - there wouldn't be any.

Originally Posted by floorpotato

No one has addressed the most important question here: where do they all go when they have to pee?

Friend once mentioned that all approaches are lined with tupperware and colostomy-bag and other innovative wallahs, though it may have been in jest.

Can't see access to eternal bliss being confirmed whilst peeing into a bag on one's 4th trip around the meteorite.

Originally Posted by floorpotato

where do they all go when they have to pee?

Knowing the high hygiene standards in the Arab world, wherever they happen to be standing when they need to pee is probably the answer.

fantastic pictures like

can someone photoshop a set of cross-hairs on them please

I can't be the only person who feels the world would be a nicer place if Islam was wiped off the face of this planet.

It is a horrible oppressive religion that treats our favorite subject (women) like absolute shit.

Yeah all religion is some sort of wacky mind control and John Lennon sang it so eloquently with the simple phrase "and no religion too".