 Raising their hands to the sky, about 2 million Muslim pilgrims prayed for salvation Wednesday at Mount Arafat, where Saudi Arabia's top cleric said the greatest test for the nation of Islam comes from its sons who are "lured by the devil," a reference to violent Muslim militants. | Funny, I thought we were the "devil"? Oh, that's right, we're the "Great Satan". I keep getting them mixed up. |
Many pilgrims' eyes welled with tears as they prayed on the most critical day of the hajj, the annual pilgrimage the faithful believe will wipe away their sins. While speaking at a mosque on the plain of Mount Arafat, Sheik Abdul-Aziz al-Sheik, the kingdom's grand mufti, referred to the violent campaign waged by Muslim militants affiliated with the al Qaeda terror network against targets in the kingdom, attacks Saudi authorities have been battling the past two years. Al-Sheik said the greatest test for the Muslim nation is its own sons gone astray, and he warned them not to be used by enemies of the nation to weaken it. "The greatest affliction to strike the nation of Islam came from some of its own sons, who were lured by the devil," he said. "They have called the nation infidel, they have shed protected blood and they have spread vice on earth, with explosions and destruction and killing of innocents." He pointedly asked of Muslim youth: "How would you meet God? With innocent blood you shed or helped shed?" | "You're supposed to be shedding infidel blood, not pure Saudi blood. We're protected, see!" |
Al-Sheik also said that campaigns were being waged against the people of Islam -- "military campaigns, thought campaigns, economic campaigns, and media campaigns. | That would be us, I believe |
"They are all against this religion. The nation was described as a terrorist nation, that we are terrorists and backward," he said. "Conferences have been held and conspiracies have been woven ... all unjustly and unfairly." | Yup, he's been reading Rantburg again |
Al-Sheik urged worshippers to abide the words of God and his prophet and not be "fooled by a civilization known for its weak structure and bad foundation." |