(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Two million pilgrims began leaving the holy city of Makkah yesterday, concluding the annual Haj during which Saudi leaders lashed out at extremism.
The pilgrimage passed off without any cases of Ebola or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) after Saudi authorities engaged thousands of health workers to make sure pilgrims were protected from two deadly viruses, the acting health minister said. The faithful symbolically stoned the devil for a third day in the Mina Valley before many moved to nearby Makkah.
There, they were to circumambulate the holy cube-shaped Ka'aba before returning home, having reached the spiritual peak of their lives.
The Haj, one of the world's largest religious festivals, this year drew believers from 163 nations.
Some of the faithful will remain until today, officially the last day of Haj. "I wish I could always stay here and not return home," said an Indonesian pilgrim who gave her name only as Umm Mohammed, 58, speaking in Arabic.
This year's Haj attracted over two million domestic and foreign believers, including almost 1.4 million from abroad, according to the official SPA news agency.
The numbers are roughly the same as last year.
The Haj drew a cross-section of humanity, from presidents to commoners, including a wounded Syrian rebel war veteran.
The pilgrimage came as Saudi Arabia and four other Arab states took part in or gave support to US-led air strikes against Islamic State group militants in Syria.
Saudi ruler and the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz told leaders of groups of pilgrims from Islamic countries on Sunday that extremism must be eradicated because it "has nothing to do with Islam".
On Friday, the Sunni kingdom's top cleric, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al Sheikh, said Muslim leaders must strike the enemies of Islam with "an iron hand".
He made the comments during the peak of Haj from the holy site of Mount Arafat, where the Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) gave his final sermon 14 centuries ago.
Authorities deployed thousands of health workers to protect pilgrims from Ebola and MERS.
They did not allow pilgrims to come from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the West African states hardest hit by Ebola.
There were also improved crowd-control measures, and an unprecedented crackdown on pilgrims without the required permits.
More than 70,000 security force personnel were assigned to assist the pilgrims, commander of the hi-tech Command and Control Centre for Haj Security, Major General Abdullah Al Zahrani, told reporters in Mina on Sunday.
The centre features a network of screens linked to thousands of surveillance cameras across the holy sites. Sensors count the flow of pilgrims moving through a four-storey structure for the devil-stoning ritual.
"There were no security gaps during Haj," said Zahrani, who added that more than 380,000 people without permits were sent back after they attempted to join the pilgrimage. Roads in Arafat and Mina, usually blocked by illegal pilgrims sleeping on the streets, were clear this year, reporters observed. "No camping on roads, Haji. Move on," security men in Mina reminded pilgrims caught resting in the open.
Saudi authorities have spent billions of dollars on safety projects for the Haj, which has been almost incident-free in recent years after earlier stampedes and fires.
A rockslide in Mina on Sunday left 14 pilgrims with "medium and minor" injuries, SPA reported, but no major trouble was reported during the rituals which began on Thursday. Haj is one of the five pillars of Islam, which all able Muslims must perform once in their life if they have the means to do so.
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