AA takes sky view of Arafat, Mecca

AA correspondents took the view from the sky of nearly three million people who went to Arafat square in Mecca to become Hajji. MECCA (AA)-5 November 5, 2011 - Irfan Sapmaz - AA correspondents, who got on the same helicopter with Saudi Deputy Minister of Information Abdulaziz bin Seleme, took the view of millions of Muslims from the sky. Officials took tight security measures in Arafat square. They do not allow illegal entrances in the square, and they returned 100,000 people from the borders of Arafat or Mecca so far. Meanwhile, Saudi Information Minister Abd al-Aziz bin Muhaydin al-Khuja told AA that they invited Muslim journalists from the world every year to introduce Hajj season in Saudi Arabia. We have hosted only 70 journalists this year, he said. The "Hajj" or pilgrimage is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest pilgrimage in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so. The Hajj is a demonstration of the solidarity of the Muslim people, and their submission to God. The pilgrimage occurs from the 8th to 12th day of Dhu al-Hijjah, the 12th and last month of the Islamic calendar. Because the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, eleven days shorter than the Gregorian calendar used in the Western world, the Gregorian date of the Hajj changes from year to year. Ihram is the name given to the special spiritual state in which Muslims live while on the pilgrimage. The Hajj is associated with the life of Islamic prophet Muhammad from the 7th century, but the ritual of pilgrimage to Mecca is considered by Muslims to stretch back thousands of years to the time of Abraham. Pilgrims join processions of hundreds of thousands of people, who simultaneously converge on Mecca for the week of the Hajj, and perform a series of rituals: Each person walks counter-clockwise seven times around the Kaaba, the cube-shaped building which acts as the Muslim direction of prayer, runs back and forth between the hills of Al-Safa and Al-Marwah, drinks from the Zamzam Well, goes to the plains of Mount Arafat to stand in vigil, and throws stones in a ritual Stoning of the Devil. The pilgrims then shave their heads, perform a ritual of animal sacrifice, and celebrate global festival of Eid al-Adha. The Day of Arafat is the culminating event of the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca.