Mount Arafat — Muslim devotees holding white umbrellas against the scorching sun clambered up a rocky desert hill for prayers Thursday during the annual hajj, following a day of hammering rains that killed at least 77 people.Perhaps it’s the non-christian communities and particularly the pagan ones that lose pilgrims each year in religious fervor.
Inundation from the uncommonly heavy downpours hit hardest in the Red Sea coastal city of Jiddah, a little away from the holy city of Mecca and its surrounding sacred sites where the 3 million Muslims from across the world were performing the Muslim customs.
Most of the deaths occurred in Jiddah where a lot of loss to civilian life and property was reported as per the what the Civil Defense officials said.
Wednesday’s downpours snarled the opening day of the hajj, drenching pilgrims and knocking out roads that caused epic traffic jams as the faithful tried to make their way to the holy sites. The rains, if they continue as meteorologists predict, could raise safety hazards — particularly the perpetual danger of deadly routs, since a trip-up on slippery walkways could lead to people getting trampled in crowds.
However, skies cleared for most of Thursday, and the heat rose..
The site where the incident occurred is where Islam’s Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H)delivered his farewell discourse. The faithful devotees climbed up the Mountain of Mercy, a rocky hill at Arafat, and prayed for God’s forgiveness of their sins in what Muslims consider the spiritual high point of the pilgrimage.
There is a particular custom of Muslim devotees pelting stones at the walls, symbolic of the denial of the devil.
Saudi Arabia’s biggest worry for months ahead of the hajj has been swine flu. The pilgrimage is one of the most crowded in the world, with the masses of Muslims from every corner of the globe packed shoulder to shoulder in prayers and rites — a perfect incubator for the virus, according to epidemiologists.
The Saudi government has been working with the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to set up clinics and take precautions to stem any outbreak.
This was the most colossal thunderstorm in several years. Jiddah was swamped with 7 centimeters (2.76 inches) of rain, more than it would normally get in an entire year, a senior meteorologist mentioned.
