MAKKAH, 25 February — Security officials have arrested a European pilgrim for allegedly stabbing a Yemeni pilgrim inside the Grand Mosque, Al-Watan newspaper reported yesterday.
Police said the European, a 20-year-old youth studying at the Islamic University in Madinah, had been following the Yemeni for nearly an hour prior to the dawn prayer. Then he stabbed the Yemeni from behind shouting, “Antichrist, antichrist”.
The Yemeni, in his 40s, was taken to hospital immediately where a team of physicians removed the knife thrust into his back.
During police questioning, the European pilgrim kept on insisting that the Yemeni was the antichrist and that he deserved to be killed.
He further stated that he had a dream before he traveled to Makkah that he would meet the antichrist there. He said the features of the antichrist he saw in his dream — a one-eyed man sporting a long beard — fitted the Yemeni.
The antichrist is believed to be an impostor who will appear by the end of time, spreading evil on earth. He will be overpowered by the Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him) in his second coming.
