Fears at the occasion of hajj heightened.

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Yesterday, about two million Muslim hajj pilgrims crowded on to mount Arafat near Mecca. The mercy mount (jabal el raham) where prophet Mohamed (May peace and prayers be upon him)  gave his last sermon (hujat el wada) 1,400 years ago was trekked at down to the rocky out crop, all pilgrims were wearing white robes, a sign of equality, selflessness while women were all covered only their face and hands could be seen.

 

In one of the world's biggest displays of mass religious devotion, pilgrims spend five days following a route around the mountains of the ancient city of Mecca. The gruelling ritual is a once-in-a-lifetime duty for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford the trip. An important increase of pilgrims number has been noticed this year, there is a raise of 6% since a record of 1.6 million persons came from abroad.

 For the security of pilgrims, Saudi Arabian authorities deployed more than 50,000 security men to avoid stampedes that occur each year and kill hundreds of people, it also improved infrastructures for a broader space so that the place would be enough large for all, the government also took precautions if any terrorist attack happens against the royal family who backs the U.S government who invaded Iraq since 2003 and the execution of Saddam Hussein might be a good reason as well.

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