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- WORLD, Page 33SAUDI ARABIAA Tragic Ascension to Paradise
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- More than 1,400 pilgrims perish in a tunnel stampede
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- For Muslim pilgrims, a high point of the hajj to Mecca is
- the trek to Jamarat al `Akaba in Mina, one of the three stoning
- points of Satan. Each passing pilgrim must cast pebbles at this
- rock pillar in a ritual that symbolizes the faithful's struggle
- against evil. At 10 a.m. last Monday the believers suddenly
- faced a more earthly trial.
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- As throngs of the faithful, clad in traditional terry-cloth
- robes, crossed a pedestrian bridge in Mina, a railing gave way
- under the pressure. Seven worshipers plunged 8 meters, smashing
- into even greater waves of people at the mouth of a
- 550-meter-long tunnel dug through a mountain to ease the
- pietists' journey. The rain of bodies brought foot traffic to
- a halt, but at the tunnel's opposite end other hajjis, unaware
- of the human blockade, continued to shove forward. Soon the
- passageway was jammed with some 50,000 people, many times more
- than its capacity. Next, according to survivors, for reasons
- still unexplained, the lights in the tunnel went out and the
- ventilation system failed -- on a day when the temperature
- outside was a searing 112 degrees.
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- Then came mad panic. In the scramble to escape, hundreds
- were crushed under the frantic feet of their co-religionists;
- others collapsed in the airless heat. "It was terrible," an
- Arab survivor told Saudi television. "When one stumbled, scores
- trampled him and hundreds fell on top of them." According to
- Islamic teachings, to die while on the hajj ensures immediate
- ascension to heaven. On that day 1,426 Muslims earned the
- privilege.
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- In the face of such a ghastly tragedy, Saudi Arabia's
- response sounded shockingly cavalier. Officials initially
- dismissed reports of 1,400 killed as exaggerations, while King
- Fahd called the calamity "God's will." Said he: "Had they not
- died there, they would have died elsewhere." The unapologetic
- monarch suggested that the pilgrims themselves were to blame
- for not abiding by "official instructions." Later the government
- conceded on the death toll, but the King, in a radio address,
- clung to his claim of inculpability, asking, "Can anyone stop
- death?"
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- Certainly, managing the hajj is a formidable exercise.
- Despite Saudi efforts to regulate where and how believers
- travel, some, particularly the elderly, perish each year
- attempting to complete the long hikes in the desert sun
- required by the pilgrimage, which is a must for any Muslim who
- is physically and financially able to make it. In recent years
- the month-long hajj season has become more unmanageable as the
- Islamic revival and the increased affordability of air tickets
- have swelled the annual ranks of pilgrims to 2 million or
- more. To handle the deluge, the Saudi government is investing
- $15 billion in infrastructure projects, including the ill-fated
- bridge and tunnel.
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- The centuries-old rift between Islam's Sunni branch, which
- includes the royal family and most other Saudis, and the
- Shi`ites, dominated by the Iranians, has also generated
- trouble. Three years ago, 402 pilgrims died when Saudi security
- forces fired on Iranian-led protesters in Mecca. Last year two
- bombings, which Saudi officials say were instigated by Tehran,
- killed one and wounded 16 others. Newspapers in Iran as well
- as the pro-Tehran Party of God in Lebanon responded to last
- week's mishap by blasting the Saudis and repeating their demand
- that King Fahd's exclusive custodianship over Islam's holiest
- places be revoked. Even in the midst of disaster, there was
- no peace in Allah's house.
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