JEDDAH, 6 January 2007 — More than two million faithful including a large number of foreign pilgrims attended Friday prayers at the Grand Mosque in Makkah and the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah yesterday, and prayer leaders called on the worshippers to lead a new life drawing inspiration from the Haj.

Osama Khayyat, imam of the Grand Mosque in Makkah, urged pilgrims to be thankful to God for having fulfilled their religious duty in good health and security. He also advised them to pray for goodness in this world and the hereafter.

“Your prayers should not be restricted to achieving worldly gains,” he said, while delivering his Juma sermon.

Khayyat hoped that pilgrims who have sought forgiveness while standing in prayer at the plains of Arafat and throughout the rituals of Haj would not return to do sins and would lead a clean life, engaging in righteous deeds for the benefit of themselves and society at large.

“Paradise is the reward for an accepted Haj,” Khayyat said quoting a Hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him).

Sheikh Abdul Bari Al-Thubaithy led the prayer at the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah, which was crowded with worshippers, especially by pilgrims who came on a visit to the mosque, the second holiest in Islam, after Haj. In his sermon, Thubaithy urged the faithful to obey and fear God.

“Society will benefit greatly by individuals who obey God as they keep away from evil and corruption. Obedience to God purifies hearts and reforms nations,” the imam said and urged pilgrims to maintain the spiritual inspiration they have gained from Haj throughout what is left of their life.

The Makkah-Madinah Road was full of buses packed with pilgrims who were on their way to pray at the Prophet’s Mosque and pay last respects at the Prophet’s grave inside the mosque complex.

About 1.7 million pilgrims had come from different parts of the world this year to perform Haj, one of the five main pillars of Islam.

Pilgrims were unanimous in their opinion that this year’s Haj operation was the most successful in recent years as it was free of major accidents. “Stoning at Jamrat is the main challenge of a pilgrim. With the establishment of the new Jamrat Bridge this has become an easy task,” said Moroccan pilgrim Idrees Boulaan.