SAUDI ARABIA: Muslim pilgims make their way to Mina to take part in the Stoning of the Devil.

Record ID: 189074

  • Title: SAUDI ARABIA: Muslim pilgims make their way to Mina to take part in the Stoning of the Devil.
  • Date: 26th October 2012
  • Summary: MINA, SAUDI ARABIA (OCTOBER 26, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SUNRISE OVER THE CAMPS OF PILGRIMS IN MINA VARIOUS OF MINA PILGRIMS CAMPS AND PILGRIMS WALKING TO STONE THE BIG DEVIL VARIOUS OF PILGRIMS WALKING OVER ONE OF THE BRIDGES LEADING TO JAMARAT-DEVIL STONING AREA VARIOUS OF MEDICAL EVACUATION HELICOPTER LANDING OVER ONE OF THE TOWERS AT THE JAMARAT - STONING AREA MECCA TRAIN MOVING WITH PILGRIMS WALKING TO THE JAMARAT AREA VARIOUS OF MECCA TRAIN ARRIVING TO JAMARAT STATION AT MINA BIG SIGN READING ARABIC AND ENGLISH: JAMARAT (MINA 3) PILGRIMS COMING OUT OF THE TRAIN STATION PILGRIMS WALKING TO THE JAMARAT TO STONE
  • Embargoed: 10th November 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Saudi Arabia
  • Country: Saudi Arabia
  • Topics: Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA5Q8ZFPJ9UWXYBA8ZZCKAQNOFI
  • Story Text: Thousands of Muslim pilgrims made their way to begin the last Haj ritual of Stoning the Devil in Mina on Friday (October 26). The last ritual lasts for three days.
    The haj pilgrimage is one of the faith's so-called five pillars and a religious duty for all Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime if they are capable of it.
    Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of Islam and its ruling monarchy derives much of its legitimacy from its guardianship of Islam's holiest sites.
    Saudi Arabia's king is formally titled Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.
    The Saudi authorities have spent billions of dollars in recent years improving haj infrastructure to avoid a repeat of accidents which have killed hundreds of people. But with nearly three million Muslim pilgrims descending on Mecca, disaster is a constant fear.
    The last big accident was a stampede in 2006 at Jamarat causing 380 deaths. Two other stampedes at the same place in 1994 and 2004 killed more than 500. In other years, the pilgrimage was marred by deadly fires in the massive camp city.
    Hundreds of cameras and other monitoring devices are fixed around the main sites of the haj, including the Grand Mosque, Mount Arafat and Jamarat Bridge, to monitor crowd levels.
    At Jamarat, the authorities built extensive new facilities to ease the flow of pilgrims seeking to hurl pebbles at three pillars representing the devil.
    They replaced the pillars with long walls and built a multi-storey bridge around them, creating far more space for the pilgrims to stand on the bridge levels and perform the rite.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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