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Hajj Rituals Begin

1.4m gather in Makkah

AFP, Mount Arafat, Saudi Arabia
Muslims began a mass movement yesterday out of the holy city of Makkah towards nearby Mina and Mount Arafat in western Saudi Arabia, beginning the annual hajj pilgrimage.
A pillar of the Islamic faith, this year's hajj comes with Saudi authorities striving to protect pilgrims from two deadly viruses, Ebola and the MERS coronavirus.
It is also taking place against the back-drop of widespread revulsion among Muslims towards ISIS jihadists.
Saudi Arabia and four other Arab nations have joined Washington in air strikes in Syria against the militants, who have declared a "caliphate" straddling that country and Iraq where they have
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committed a spate of atrocities.
Authorities say close to 1.4 million believers have come from 163 nations to follow the 1,400-year-old tradition of Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (SM), alongside pilgrims from Saudi Arabia.
"It is a beautiful feeling," said Aziza Yousfy, 60, from Algeria, before leaving Makkah.
Seeing the nearby Mina Valley and Mount Arafat "has always been a dream forme1', she said.
Mount Arafat is where Prophet Muhammad (SM) gave his final sermon after leading his followers on the hajj.
Perhaps a few hundred had already reached Mount Arafat yesterday evening.
They carried suitcases and other luggage among thousands of white tents which stood ready on a vast plain to provide temporary homes for the multitude.
Men arrived wearing a seamless two-piece white garment, ihram, symbolising a state of purity and emphasising their unity regardless of social status or nationality.
Women also generally wear white, exposing only their faces and hands.
Many pilgrims set up their own colourftil tents while small children in ihram ran about. Others simply placed rugs among the shrubs and slept after
their journey from Makkah.
Idris Abdul Malik, who reached Mount Arafat after a 24-hour journey from battle-scarred Benghazi, Libya, said "the privilege of visiting this holy land" made the difficulty of his journeymeaningless.
” We are very lucky that we will be on Mount Arafat on a Friday... We hope God accepts our prayers.
"Prophet Mohammed (SM) has said that Friday is the best day the sun rises on."
COMMANDOS, HELICOPTERS STAND BY
Pilgrims were moving a few kilometres from Mecca to nearby Mina by bus or on foot yesterday, before continuing to Mount Arafat for the climax of the pilgrimage rituals today, Arab News reported.
The passage to Mina marks the official start of the hajj on the eighth day of the Muslim calendar month of Dhul Hijja.
Security has not noticeably increased around the holy sites, but an AFP reporter observed three checkpoints between Jeddah and Makkah, where security officers verify that visitors hold hajj permits.
Officials say they have intensified efforts to stop people attending hajj without authorisation, as part of safety measures for such a large gathering
with massive logistical challenges.
The official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said more than 145,000 unauthorised pilgrims have been turned away.
Eighteen aircraft and Black Hawk helicopters will patrol and be on standby for emergencies including "terrorist attacks", Arab News reported.
"The aircraft are equipped with thermal cameras and shooting platforms, " the newspaper quoted General Mohammed Eid al-Harbi as saying.
Saudi news channel Al-Ekhbariya has broadcast footage of commandos rappelling from helicopters and performing other exercises to demonstrate their readiness.
Supplementing the 85,000 security and civil defence officers who are reportedly deployed for hajj are thousands of health workers.
While Ebola has hit West Africa, killing more than 3,000 people, most MERS cases worldwide have been in Saudi Arabia itself, home to Islam's holiest sites.
No Ebola cases have yet been found in the desert kingdom.
And "no infectious cases have been recorded among the pilgrims, including coronavirus (MERS)," said Acting Health Minister Adel Fakieh in a statement carried by SPA.