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Saudis treat pilgrims with kid gloves

Other News Materials 21 December 2007 04:04 (UTC +04:00)

"Move along, pilgrim, move along," say the Saudi policemen, trying to clear a path for ambulances or cleaning squads during the world's biggest gathering that is the annual haj pilgrimage to Mecca.

They are probably the harshest words millions of Muslim pilgrims will ever hear from the Saudis, who manage the crowds and the traffic with kid gloves in the belief that they are dealing with what they call "the Guests of the Merciful".

Tradition has it that God chooses who will come as a pilgrim, and when their journeys are complete the pilgrims go home with newly acquired status and prestige.

These days many of them also go home as goodwill ambassadors for the Saudi government, which has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into making the pilgrimage as comfortable and safe as possible for the millions of visitors.

"The Saudis are doing an excellent job, taking care of new challenges which come up every year," said Nigerian pilgrim Baffa Aliyu Umar, this year on his fourth haj.

Numerous pilgrims said they saw the Saudi police and other authorities, such as civil defense and the Red Crescent society, as a benign and unobtrusive force in the pilgrimage.

This year they turned a blind eye to practices which they have formerly tried to discourage, especially camping on roads by pilgrims without official permits.

The government is spending more than $1 billion just on the Jamarat Bridge, a complex crowd management project which enables more than two million people to pass through a narrow corridor once a day for just three days of the year. The rest of the year the walkways are deserted.

With just hours of danger to go, the project has been a resounding success, with none of the crowding of the kind which led to the death of 362 people in January 2006.

The Saudi government has largely been responding to criticism of its previous efforts. But it is also keen to improve its image and expand its influence throughout the Islamic world, where one of its main tasks is to protect and manage the holy places.

King Abdullah and his recent predecessors have sought legitimacy and prestige by using the title Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques -- a reference to the mosques in Mecca and in Medina, where the Prophet Mohammad set up the first Muslim administration in the early 7th century.

But the costs are enormous. They charge no fees for any of their services -- providing drinking water, toilet facilities, medical and security services, as well as maintenance and expansion of the massive Grand Mosque complex around the Kaaba, the shrine which all Muslims face when they pray.

The plain of Arafat, for example, has a sprinkle system which provides a fine cooling spray over the heads of pilgrims across an area of 1.3 sq km (0.5 sq mile), for use on only one day a year, the 8th of the month of Dhul Hijja.

To the west of the Jamarat Bridge, in an area where pilgrims come and go between Mina and Mecca, the whole valley is paved to a width of some 400 meters (1,310 feet), divided into lanes and channels to make sure the pedestrians move freely.

Seen from the ridge above at any time of day or night, the scene is of tens of thousands of people on the move, backwards and forwards. At night it is lit up.

The rubbish can accumulate quickly, to alarming levels, but on several occasions I returned to the same place a few hours later to find the ground swept spotless.

Cold water is on tap at every corner and medics turn up within minutes when someone collapses. With so many elderly and handicapped people, in grueling conditions away from home, the casualty rate is higher than in a normal city of the same size.

The efforts pay off in the positive message that pilgrims take home, quite different from the image the Saudi government has in Europe and North America.

"Everyone is very happy with the Saudis. They make everything work smoothly and they are not severe with the pilgrims," said Bangladeshi pilgrim Hussein Jahid. ( Reuters )

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