Showing posts with label Mecca. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mecca. Show all posts

10 September 2016

Muslim pilgrims begin hajj, but this year without Iranians

Muslim pilgrims make their way at the Grand Mosque in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Friday, Sept. 9, 2016. Muslim pilgrims have begun arriving at the holiest sites in Islam ahead of the annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
Close to 2 million people from around the world began performing the first rites of the Islamic hajj pilgrimage on Saturday, which calls for entering into a state of physical and spiritual purity and circling the cube-shaped Kaaba with their palms facing upward in supplication and prayer.
Notably absent this year are Iranian pilgrims. Last year, some 64,000 Iranians took part in the hajj, but disputes with the Saudi government prompted Tehran to bar its citizens from taking part this year.
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26 September 2015

Saudi Arabia accused of neglect over deadly disaster at hajj

Pilgrims walk by the site where pilgrims were crushed and trampled to death during the annual hajj pilgrimage in Mina, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2015. The crush killed hundreds of pilgrims and injured hundreds more in Mina, a large valley on the outskirts of the holy city of Mecca, the deadliest tragedy to strike the pilgrimage in more than two decades.
Saudi Arabia faced new accusations of neglect Friday in the hajj disaster that killed over 700 people, the second tragedy at this year's pilgrimage overseen by the kingdom's rulers who base their legitimacy in part on protecting Islam's holiest sites.
Leading the criticism was regional Shiite powerhouse Iran, which always seeks an opportunity to undermine its Sunni adversary.
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