MAKKAH
MUKARRAMA: Pilgrims completed their final Hajj rituals in the Saudi city
here on Monday as the annual pilgrimage came to a close without any
major incidents.
The Saudi authorities congratulated
the pilgrims, who officially numbered 3.1 million, on a "successful"
Hajj season, despite a large number having entered holy sites without
proper permits. "Everything went very well," said the MAKKAH Governor
Prince Khaled al-Faisal told reporters on Sunday. He said that this
year's pilgrimage was "the most successful Hajj season ever."
Last
year, nearly three million Muslim pilgrims went on the Hajj, one of the
five pillars of Islam which must be performed at least once in a
lifetime by all Muslims who are able to do so. Officials said about
120,000 police were deployed throughout the five-day pilgrimage, along
with an equal number of health and sanitation employees, in what is
considered the largest annual human gathering on earth.
According
to Saudi Health Minister Abdullah al-Rabia, the Hajj passed without the
spread of any major illness or epidemic. In September, the UN health
agency confirmed a mystery illness from the same virus family as the
deadly SARS had caused the death of a Saudi national, though Saudi
health authorities at the time downplayed the chances of an outbreak of
the illness at the Hajj.
The last remaining Hajj pilgrims
performed the stone-throwing rituals on Monday in the Mina valley where
they hurled rocks at three pillars representing Satan. They then headed
to Makkah to perform the farewell circumambulation of the Kaaba, the
cube-shaped structure at the Grand Mosque towards which Muslims
worldwide pray, before leaving the kingdom.
Though
marred in the past by deadly incidents including floods, stampedes and
fires, the Hajj has become nearly incident-free in recent years because
of multi-billion dollar projects. This year alone, the kingdom spent
more than 1.1 billion riyals ($293.3 million) on development projects in
the holy sites of Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah, all outside Makkah.