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| Arabia |
| Saudi urges Haj pilgrims not to cause trouble |
| 2004-01-21 |
| EFI Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd has urged some 900,000 pilgrims [there are country by country quotas; with 1 billion moslems in the world, the quotas effectively prevent over 90% of moslems from carrying out one of the 5 top commandments of Islam] who have already converged on the kingdom’s Muslim holy cities to take part in this year’s Haj to abide by local rules, newspapers reported Tuesday. "The kingdom has taken the necessary measures to ... provide the conditions that would enable the pilgrims to perform rituals in peace," [lots of non Saudi guards have been hired] Fahd told the cabinet on Monday. The Saudi monarch urged the faithful not to violate Saudi laws and regulations and to "avoid anything that might desecrate the pilgrimage or undermine the pilgrims’ security." The daily Arab News said some 900,000 faithful had already arrived in Mecca and Medina ahead of the Haj, which begins on January 30. More than two million pilgrims, including 1.3 million foreigners, are expected this year, it said.... Saudi authorities, who have rounded up hundreds of suspected extremists since the bombings blamed on sympathisers of the al-Qaeda militant network, have also stepped up security in Mecca. Riyadh has warned pilgrims against causing trouble every year since 1987.... Meetings or the raising of political slogans are firmly banned. [just like every day in the Kingdom] |
| Posted by:mhw |
| #5 Well, if there is trouble I got the answer right up here in my pocket. We'll nip it, nip it, nip it. There will be no peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, repeat no peanut butter and jelly for them what piss off allen. |
| Posted by: Ole Barn 2004-1-21 4:28:46 PM |
| #4 I stand corrected. Must have put the decimal point in the wrong place. You're right of course, a billion is a thousand million. (Begining to sound like G. Gordon Liddy.) Wonder how the keepers of the faith are going to solve this problem since it is a pillar of Islam. |
| Posted by: Gasse Katze 2004-1-21 3:06:48 PM |
| #3 gasse katze here is the arithmatic 1.3 non Saudis are allowed in per year so in, say, 70 years, that's about 100 million but the current non Saudi Islamic population is about 1 billion. So even if the population stays at 1 billion, only about 10% of the population will do the haj. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2004-1-21 12:38:12 PM |
| #2 ....the quotas effectively prevent over 90% of moslems from carrying out one of the 5 top commandments of Islam....mhw It may be an inconvenience for some, but since they are obliged to complete only one Hajj in a life time, there will be other opportunities to discharge this duty. |
| Posted by: Gasse Katze 2004-1-21 11:29:42 AM |
| #1 What's a jihadi to do ? Supposed to blow us up on February 2, but don't want to miss the Haj. Damn. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2004-1-21 10:47:35 AM |