Editorial: Stampede at Holy Sites
4 February 2004

Sunday's Haj tragedy has generated a wave of shock and
concern around the world. The fact that pilgrims carrying
out what should be a supremely emotional and fulfilling
event had their lives snuffed out by others intent on the
same goal seems the very antithesis of a holy undertaking.

Inevitably there has been some criticism of the
authorities. Much of that, however, is unfair. This
disaster was largely caused by the presence of illegal
pilgrims and pilgrims who did not follow the rules. Some
had taken baggage with them onto the Jamrat Bridge causing
people to trip; others tried to walk against the flow of
the crowd to get back to their camp site as easily as
possible.

Nonetheless there is much that the authorities can and
should do to try and prevent another such tragedy. They
should insist that visiting pilgrims undertake a Haj course
prior to coming here, one approved by the Saudi
authorities. Malaysia does this. Other countries should do
so. No one should be given a Haj visa without proof of
having completed the course.

Communications also have to be improved. Although pilgrims
were warned not to proceed to the stoning after disaster
stuck, they continued to do so. That is because they did
not understand the instructions. Announcements in Arabic
and English are not enough. Most of those who come to
perform Haj know no colloquial Arabic, let alone English.
The authorities need to consider adding a number of other
languages — Malayalam, Swahili, Hausa and perhaps many
others.

Then there is the issue of illegal pilgrims. Despite
instructions against Haj being performed more than once
every five years, there are people who go every year. This
paper knows of one man who claims to have performed Haj 42
times. Such action is grossly selfish. People who do so
prevent other pilgrims from performing this Pillar of Islam
in safety and tranquility. Does someone returning from his
18th Haj think he is in a more blessed state than someone
who has performed it only once in his life? The authorities
need to clamp down — and hard — on these pilgrims who
perform Haj without a permit. Any expatriate breaking the
rules should be expelled; any Saudi, heavily fined. Illegal
operators, too, need to be dealt with. They exist .

Last of all, the authorities need to look again at the
current quota system — 1,000 Haj visas per million Muslims
in a country. This number may have to be reduced. Because
of birth rates, the number of Muslims in the world is
increasing by 32 million a year. That means 32,000 extra
pilgrims every year. And with Muslims more affluent and
more mobile, the number of Hajis is increasing
exponentially. But even if all this is carried out, no one
can guarantee there will not be another tragedy, given the
massive numbers involved and the constraints of the
terrain. There is no perfect system. Only God is perfect.

 The Questions Raised by the Jamrat Tragedy
Raid Qusti

MINA, 4 February 2004 — The fact that another stampede
occurred this year claiming the lives of 251 pilgrims must
be addressed in the most urgent manner by every
organization directly or indirectly involved in Haj
operations. The waves of pilgrims who walk on the bridge
approaching the Jamrat area are numbered in the hundreds of
thousands. Despite explicit instructions given by the
authorities to the mutawwif organizations not to send their
pilgrims to the Jamrat simultaneously, the tragedy still
happened.

What happens every year is that the throngs of pilgrims
come to the Jamrat. They circle around it, remain there for
a few minutes and throw their pebbles. And while thousands
are doing that, additional thousands behind them are
pushing and shoving in order to get close and throw their
pebbles. The first group usually finds itself going against
the flow in order to leave the area, pushing through the
crowds of people coming forward with their pebbles. Any
weak or elderly pilgrim who slips, falls, or suddenly
faints will cause panic or be trampled as thousands keep
moving forward.

The stampede in Mina on the Jamrat Bridge has almost become
a regular phenomenon. A couple of years ago a stampede on
the bridge occurred and two years before that, some
pilgrims died when they fell from the bridge. The tragedies
continue to happen and the bridge stays there in spite of
all changes of time, place, and capacity as if it were
forbidden to alter it in any way. Like many others of our
buildings, the bridge was built decades ago according to
the knowledge and standards of that time. Many writers in
the local press have suggested that something must be done
to prevent such tragedies from happening. Some said that it
would be better to have a moving electronic belt which
pilgrims stand on. The belt would move around the pillars,
enabling pilgrims to throw their stones and pebbles. If
that were done, there would not be pushing, shoving, or
panic. Others suggest that another floor be added to the
bridge to lessen congestion — currently there is only one
floor. Despite differences in opinion, all have agreed that
the current method of stoning the Jamrat is out-dated.

However, the Jamrat Bridge in Mina is not the only thing
authorities need to have in mind when it comes to improving
Haj facilities. Transportation between Makkah and Arafat
and Arafat and Mina should be evaluated. At present, we do
not have a railway to take pilgrims from Makkah to Arafat
or from Arafat to Muzdalifa and from there to Mina. All
pilgrims travel to the holy sites in buses, SUVs, or other
vehicles capable of carrying more than seven passengers.
Some 8,000 buses fill the streets of Makkah, Arafat, and
Mina every year. When a bus breaks down in the middle of
the road, not only does it cause traffic congestion but it
also delays thousands of other buses, cars and vehicles
from reaching their destinations on time. And because a bus
is so big, it cannot be towed by a normal tow truck and
often has to wait for hours until a special tow truck
arrives. Narrow roads, already filled with people walking
back and forth mixed with cars honking impatiently do not
need broken-down buses in their middle to make everything
come to a standstill. For years, we have been pleading in
local newspapers that we need a railway in Makkah. Not only
would it solve many transportation problems for pilgrims
and locals but it would also be much kinder to the
environment.

The other annual problem facing the city of Makkah and the
holy sites is the large numbers of people who spread their
mats and sleep under the Jamrat Bridge. They constrict the
areas for pedestrians walking to the bridge and cause great
inconvenience. This year, however, for the first time, I
saw pilgrims spreading their mats and occupying up to
two-thirds of the street space on King Abdul Aziz Bridge
leading to Mina. So what was built originally as a
ten-meter road for vehicles ended up as only a two-meter
road, barely wide enough for one car at a time to use. As
one journalist said, the entire Haj from beginning to end
should be filmed on video. Everything should be captured on
film, looked at and analyzed — the crowded Makkah streets
where cars mix with people walking; the Jamrat Bridge;
broken-down buses that obstruct the flow of traffic; and
pilgrims spreading mats on streets and narrowing them. If
everything were on film, a thorough scientific study could
be made on how to improve Haj. Without that, specialists
will continue presuming and planning without any real
impact on the overall situation, mainly because they did so
during ordinary times when Makkah’s roads and streets were
comparatively empty.


  Pilgrims Head Home En Masse
Siraj Wahab, Arab News Staff

MINA, 4 February 2004 — Hundreds of buses and cars streamed
out of Mina and Makkah, packed with pilgrims heading home
after what for many was a once-in-lifetime journey of
faith. After living in austere conditions for the past
week, the devout traveled to Jeddah to catch flights back
home or to the holy city of Madinah to offer prayers at the
Prophet’s Mosque, the second holiest site in Islam.

“Thank God, I completed the pilgrimage. I hope I live long
enough to come back here again,” Maroof Abdali of
Afghanistan said upon leaving Mina. Abdali, his head shaved
in a tradition dating back to Prophet Muhammad’s pilgrimage
1400 years ago, exchanged congratulations with friends and
relatives as they left the tent city.

“I pray to God to give every Muslim a chance to do this. It
has been even better than I expected,” said Sudanese
pilgrim Yassin Tahir. Nigerian Muhammad Ahmed, who was on
his third pilgrimage, said: “I thank God. It has been a
great religious experience for me. It gets better and
better each time.”

Most pilgrims were relatively unfazed by Sunday’s stampede
that cost 251 lives. The incident did nothing to quell the
fervor of the faithful who jostled for the best positions
from which to throw their pebbles on the third and last day
of the pilgrimage.

“The two million faithful who gather every year at the holy
sites for the pilgrimage hope to have the honor of being
buried in this sacred soil,” said Libyan Muhammad Taylamun.

Feelings of loss about those who die are balanced by
certainty that they have been chosen to go to Heaven. “When
our ancestors left for the pilgrimage to Makkah, they bid
farewell to their friends and set off by camel or boat for
a journey which often lasted several months each way,” said
Abdullah Muhammad, a Senegalese.

“The death of a pilgrim, which would be known only when the
caravan returned, was met with respect and piety because of
the honor accorded to those who breathed their last in
Makkah,” he said.

“I wish I were among the pilgrims who died on Sunday,”
Kamal Shahada, an Egyptian pilgrim, said.

“Those who died will be missed by their families and
friends but they have a chance no one else can have by
dying in the holy land of Islam where they are then
buried,” said a Bangladeshi.

The Council of Senior Islamic Scholars, the highest
religious body in Saudi Arabia, announced it would meet on
Thursday in Makkah to seek a solution to halt the
stampedes. The Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh,
stressed that while the stampede was an act of God, the
council intends “to seek by all means to avoid similar
accidents” in the future.

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd issued a royal
decree on Monday for modernizing the holy sites, including
Mina, in a 20-year project to be organized by ministers and
senior government officials.

Most pilgrims begin their journeys home today. A sense of
fulfillment gripped many though others were sad at the
thought of departing the holy land. “I feel that I have
been totally purified,” said Haya Mahmoud from Pakistan.
She said she was happy, “I got the chance to come here in
the first place.”

But for Egyptian Ahlam Abdel Aleem the thought of leaving
was hard to face. “We have almost finished the stoning and
our group will be heading to Makkah to bid farewell to
God’s House.” Once back in Makkah, the pilgrims perform the
Tawaf Al-Wida of the Holy Kaaba that ends the Haj.

— Additional input from agencies

‘Manifestation of God’s Unity’
Saeed Haider, Arab News Staff

MINA, 4 February 2004 — It was “the journey of a lifetime”.
That is what Hassan of Johannesburg, South Africa, said
after completing Haj. Along with his daughter Shamima, a
fresh graduate in medicine, they are part of a very small
contingent of South African pilgrims this year.

Hassan, a businessman, has been thinking of performing Haj
for the past seven years. Every year, however, something
made him put it off.

“This year once again, I was not sure that I would be able
to perform Haj. But God made my dream come true and here I
am, along with my daughter, among millions of our brothers
and sisters in faith. It is a unique experience,” he said.

His daughter considers herself fortunate to have performed
Haj at 24. “I am luckier than my father. He waited for
seven years to fulfill his dream while I wished this year
and God granted me what I wanted.”

In his tent beneath the King Khaled Bridge, near the
Jamrat, Hassan said Haj was the manifestation of God’s
unity.

“For a person who grew up in an apartheid culture, such a
gathering of so many nationalities of diverse cultures and
languages is a novel experience and it reinforces my faith
in Islam. In South Africa many people, including whites,
are embracing Islam because it preaches equality and unity
and professes respect for other beliefs.”

Another South African, Ihsan from Cape Town, was unable to
get his Haj visa in South Africa. He refused to give up his
plan and decided to come by road. “I contacted a tour
operator and he suggested that a group of mixed
nationalities, but mostly Indians, were leaving on Jan. 28
for Haj and I should talk to them. The group leader, Ali
Imam, agreed to let me join the group and here I am.”

Ihsan says that his journey to the House of God has changed
his life.

“I have been reborn. My whole life is being redefined. The
sheer presence of so many believers chanting “God is Great”
is amazing. I am going to dedicate my whole life to the
service of Islam,” said Jassat, an engineer.

Yousuf, from Cape Town, arrived in Makkah on Jan. 10 and
now he wants to live here. “Please help me. I just want to
live here and clean the Holy Haram every day,” said an
emotional Yousuf.

He said he was completely overwhelmed by the grandeur of
the House of God. “It is an experience beyond belief and
could not be explained in words. For a black like me who
lived much of his life with apartheid, such equality and
oneness is pure ecstasy.”

He was impressed with the hospitality of the Saudis and
pained by the Jamrat tragedy.

“For a country which has spent billions of dollars for the
glory of God and His Messenger that such a tragedy occurs
frequently is a matter for embarrassment. Some solution
must be found.”

He said he wanted to perform Haj every year but knew that
it is impossible and that he should give others a chance to
perform Haj and have the same experience he had.













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