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Millions of Muslims seek forgiveness at haj
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-08 07:39

 


An aerial view of Muslim pilgrims on Mount Mercy outside Mecca December 7, 2008. More than two million Muslims began the haj pilgrimage on Saturday, heading to a tent camp outside the holy city of Mecca to follow the route Prophet Mohammad took 14 centuries ago. [Agencies] 

The haj retraces the path of Prophet Muhammad 14 centuries ago after he removed pagan idols from Mecca, his birthplace, and years after he started calling people to the new faith, now embraced by more than 1 billion people worldwide.

At Arafat, Muslims pray for forgiveness and for their own and fellow Muslims' welfare. The pilgrims will later move under the night sky to Muzdalifa to collect pebbles to stone walls symbolising the devil at the Jamarat Bridge over a period of three days. "It will be sudden, at one moment everyone is sitting or standing then the sun starts to go down and they all will move in the same direction," said a prayer leader.

Some pilgrims said they would also pray for an end to the global financial crisis. "The economic crisis is on the mind of most pilgrims. They are going to pray to God to alleviate the problem ... It's an unexpected crisis and the only solution is mercy from heaven," said Muhammad Fateh, who works for a brokerage in Egypt.

"The Arab and Muslim worlds are going to be affected by this crisis. I'll pray to God to lift this scourge," he said, adding that many had asked him to offer prayers on their behalf.

Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul-Aziz Al al-Sheikh said in a sermon that straying from Islamic sharia law was behind the global financial collapse and other problems.