Eid Mubarak to our Muslim readers. Gruesome data point of the day: If 3 percent of the world's Muslim population celebrates the holiday by slaughtering a lamb, there will be 47 million dead animals today. (Curious to know how this compares to the number of turkeys slaughtered for Thanksgiving each year...)
The hajj isn't going uneventfully -- but it seems to be smoother than expected. 2.5 million pilgrims are in Saudi Arabia for the annual ritual. They climbed Mount Arafat, the site of Muhammad's final sermon, yesterday; today was the ritual "stoning of the devil," which marks the beginning of Eid al-Adha.
Dozens of people were killed yesterday in heavy flooding in Jeddah, but authorities say none of the victims are pilgrims. The downpour did cause some delays on the road from Jeddah to Makkah.
There haven't been any reports of the kinds of stampedes that marred past pilgrimages. Al-Jazeera reports that the Saudi government "made improvements" to the Jamaraat Bridge in Mina, the site of the stoning ritual (and many of the deadly stampedes).
Four pilgrims have died from H1N1 influenza, and the Saudi health ministry says 67 other pilgrims contracted the disease -- hardly the massive outbreak some were expecting.
Saudi Arabia's health minister, Abullah al-Rabeaah, said all 67 were given medical treatment; four of them remain in intensive care.
Al-Jazeera, needless to say, is doing some good coverage of the pilgrimage.
For updates throughout the day, follow us on 
Twitter, 
Facebook or 
RSS!
Categories: Life and Culture, Regional News, Religion, Saudi Arabia
No Comments
Post a Comment