JEDDAH, 5 February 2004 — The Grand Mosque in Makkah yesterday overflowed with pilgrims as they came to perform Tawaf Al-Wida or farewell circumambulation of the Holy Kaaba on the last day of the annual pilgrimage.
The Tawaf Al-Wida is the last ritual of the pilgrimage.
Despite Sunday’s Jamrat stampede that claimed the lives of 251 pilgrims, the overwhelming feeling was one of spiritual renewal. “I have been cleansed,” said Maha Hassan, “thank God, thank God.”
A Syrian woman in her late 60s, she was catching her breath after walking around the Kaaba.
“I feel I have been born anew,” said Iman Ahmed of Nigeria after completing the Haj.
Due to humanitarian considerations, Interior Minister Prince Naif has instructed security authorities to allow overstaying Umrah pilgrims and violators of iqama rules to receive bodies of their relatives who died in the stampede.
According to Col. Ali Al-Shaabi, commander of the emergency center in Muaisem, most of the unidentified pilgrims who died in Sunday’s tragedy were overstayers who came to perform Umrah. He requested the relatives of the dead to come forward and identify them even if they do not have valid iqamas.
Deputy Haj Minister Hatem Qadi said the government would coordinate with foreign embassies to send home the bodies of the stampede victims and bury them in their countries. “Officials at the Haj Ministry are very concerned with the victims’ bodies and give the issue their top priority,” Al-Eqtisadiah quoted Qadi as saying.
Dozens of pilgrims queued in front of a line of taps to fill plastic containers with holy water from the Well of Zamzam, a short distance from the Kaaba. “I want to fill it with holy Zamzam water to take back home to my children and relatives,” said Ahmed Bilkasem of Algeria. “I want them to share the blessings.”
“We always watched this on television, but to actually be here has been so different. When I arrived here, it was not only my eyes that cried, but my heart too,” he added.
The pilgrims flooded the shopping streets in the holy city to purchase souvenirs. “I am buying presents such as traditional Arab clothes to give relatives and friends but also toys for the children,” said Bawa Enujah from Ghana.
A dozen Nigerians were stocking up on household goods, ranging from teapots to coffee cups and plates, at a neighboring store. “Business is good,” said Said Zeid, a Yemeni at the till of a small shop in the heart of the city.
Communication is often difficult between Arabic-speaking shopkeepers and the pilgrims from the four corners of the world. However sign language and electronic calculators ensure the tradition of bargaining is maintained.
Five pilgrims from Chechnya haggled over 50 Muslim skullcaps and managed to get the price down 50 percent. “These are gifts and the client is not a businessman,” shrugged the stallholder. Beads and prayer mats as well as white Gulf Arab robes are the most popular purchases.
As the pilgrims shopped and departed, an army of 7,000 workers moved in to tackle what was left behind. “We make sure the town is clean,” said Iqbal, a Bangladeshi cleaner in a Makkah Municipality uniform.
Okaz reported that 270 garbage lorries were doing the rounds.
The authorities are planning a $533 million redevelopment of Jamrat in Mina where pilgrims flock to cast stones at pillars symbolizing the devil. The project, the first phase of a plan drawn up by the Municipal and Rural Affairs Ministry, includes building four-story bridges over the area to boost capacity to 160,000 people.
According to Al-Madinah daily, the new Jamrat bridge will have 11 entrances and 12 exits and paths will be built to keep vehicles separate from pilgrims on foot and the circular basins around the pillars will be transformed into ovals. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd ordered comprehensive plans to be drawn up to expand the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah as well as the Haj sites of Arafat, Mina and Muzdalifah.
Dr. Sahl Al-Sabban, assistant deputy minister for projects and holy sites, said about 400,000 domestic pilgrims, including expatriates, performed Haj without Haj permits.
An investigation is under way on the Jamrat stampede, he said, adding that its results would be announced later.
— Additional input from Agencies
