Muslims pray despite security concerns

Up to two million Muslims ignored security concerns and packed Mount Arafat at the climax of the haj pilgrimage yesterday.

Dressed in white robes to mark a state of purity erasing differences of class or culture, they headed at dawn to Mount Rahma (Mercy) where the Prophet Mohammad gave his farewell sermon 14 centuries ago.

Airborne helicopters were a reminder this year's pilgrimage takes place amid heightened security as Saudi Arabia battles Islamic militants bent on undermining the ruling family.

The kingdom's highest religious authority, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh, said in a sermon that a true Muslim obeyed his rulers and protected his country.

"Does one serve his religion by seeking to destabilise national security... or by accusing scholars and rulers of being traitors? No, this is not serving religion, this is affliction."

Saudi security forces this week arrested seven suspects, who they said were planning a "terrorist act". The gunmen had killed seven people, mainly policemen, searching a house in Riyadh.

The haj is overshadowed by fears of a possible attack by Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, blamed for a series of suicide attacks in the kingdom since the US-led invasion of Iraq last March, and for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

A purported statement by Al-Qaeda vowed to continue its battle to "rid the Arab peninsula of infidels".

Some 5,000 security forces have been deployed in and around Mecca to maintain security and control the mass of pilgrims.

As the sun rose over Mount Arafat, the outcrop covered in large boulders became a blanket of white as pilgrims trekked to the top despite multilingual signposts warning that the Prophet did not sanction prayer there.

Saudi Arabia's austere version of Islam, which is not followed by most Muslims, frowns on many elements of veneration of the figure of the Prophet.

Crowding on to the space among East Asian pilgrims who had slept there all night, other worshippers prayed and joined in the hypnotic chant in Arabic: "O God, I am in Thy presence again, there is no presence like thine presence, to you is the praise, the power and domain, there is no equal to you."

Around two million pilgrims, including 1.45 million from abroad, have come to perform the haj - a duty for every able-bodied Muslim at least once in a lifetime.

A carnival atmosphere filled the huge pilgrim city at Arafat. Roadside hawkers sold everything from umbrellas to ward off the sun, to prayer mats and beads. Men were offering to take pictures of pilgrim groups for up to $12 a photograph, and enterprising teenagers offered camel rides for around $3.

Saudi Arabia insists the haj, one of the most striking manifestations of faith and unity in the world today, should be solely a religious affair.

"Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance," said Information and Culture Minister Fouad bin Abdul-Salam bin Mohammad Farisi, adding that the Muslim faith had been portrayed negatively since the September 11 attacks.

Pilgrims will today throw stones at pillars on the spot where the devil is said to have appeared to biblical patriarch Abraham - the scene of deadly stampedes in past years.

The Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha begins the same day, with the sacrificial killing of sheep, goats and cows in commemoration of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail at God's command.