Hajj wraps; ‘No hugging, kissing’

Image by Elias Pirasteh via Flickr

KUWAIT CITY, Nov 29: No hugging or kissing for pilgrims coming back home from Hajj in order to steer clear from contracting potential contagious diseases, the Kuwaiti Hajj Mission urged families of pilgrims Sunday. Out of concern over everyone’s health, and in precaution against A (H1N1) or swine flu, the mission, in a statement, urged pilgrims to seek medical advice should they encounter flu-like symptoms, such as high temperature or breathing problems. It also stressed on constant washing of hands with soap for pilgrims and not to mingle with others for at least a day after arrival. Groups most vulnerable for the diseases are children under five years and adults over 65, pregnant women, and those suffering from chronic diseases.

The annual Muslim hajj pilgrimage to Makkah wound up on Sunday without the feared mass outbreak of swine flu, Saudi authorities said, reporting a total of five deaths and 73 proven cases. Five pilgrims died from the A(H1N1) flu virus during the hajj, Health Minister Abdullah al-Rabeeah said, as around 2.3 million pilgrims began an exodus from Makkah, the home in western Saudi Arabia of Islam’s holiest site. Rabeeah said there had been no other serious health problems. “It gives me pleasure to announce ... that the hajj of 2009 was free from any outbreak of disease or epidemic,” the minister said, quoted by the official Saudi news agency SPA. Working with international health authorities, Saudi Arabia mounted a concerted campaign to minimise the threat and mobilised 20,000 health workers for the hajj.

Countries were warned not to send children, the elderly or those with existing medical conditions on the annual pilgrimage. Also, vaccines were rushed to health workers when they became available at the start of November and heat-sensing cameras were set up at airports and around the main hajj sites to detect anyone with a feverish body temperature. The dead were four elderly pilgrims, all over 70, from India, Morocco, Pakistan and Sudan, and a 17-year-old Nigerian woman. All of them had other ailments, including heart disease and cancer, which left them more vulnerable to swine flu, health officials said. The world’s largest annual pilgrimage went off nearly trouble-free, Saudi officials said, compared to previous years when the hajj was marred by deadly stampedes and clashes with Iranian pilgrims.

The massive crowds of pilgrims were also able to move about easily, thanks in part to a huge five-storey walkway designed to avoid crushes at the jamarat pillars in Mina, where pilgrims undertake the ritual of stoning the devil. The site was the scene of several panics in past years that left hundreds dead. Worries over a possible contentious political protest by Iranians also came to nought. Ahead of the hajj, Saudi authorities warned against political activity, but they did not interfere on Thursday when Iranian pilgrims chanted “Death to America and Israel” in a ritual-like action inside a large tent in Mina.

As pilgrims began their mass exodus from Makkah, there was concern for those leaving from the coastal hub of Jeddah where a downpour on Wednesday that sparked deadly flash floods has killed more than 100 people. Roads and bridges in some part of Jeddah — the main gateway to Makkah — were swept away by the floods. More than a million of the pilgrims are expected to depart through Jeddah’s airport and seaport, but roads are still not completely clear in the city. Millions of Muslim pilgrims were pelting stone walls representing the devil before a final trip back to Islam’s holiest site on the closing day of the annual hajj.

Around 3 million pilgrims were casting pebbles Sunday at three walls in the desert valley of Mina in a symbolic rejection of Satan’s temptation for a third consecutive day. The faithful will then head back to Makkah for a final journey — known as the Farewell Circulation — around the Kaaba, Islam’s most sacred site. The stoning of the devil ritual, performed on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, is when the crowds of pilgrims at the five-day hajj are at their height and contact between them is closest. Under a hot sun Saturday, hundreds of thousands of sweaty bodies pressed against each other toward the stoning walls. The majority did not wear masks, and many sneezed, coughed and spat and looked visibly exhausted.

Other parts of the hajj — such as the circling of the Kaaba shrine in Makkah — see a lot of physical contact and close quarters, but perhaps not as much as the rites at Mina, in a desert valley outside Makkah. The epic crowds squeeze together along ramps and platforms that control traffic around the walls. They push past each other to hurl their pebbles at each wall, often shouting curses at Satan and rejecting his temptations. “This is when the crowding is at its peak and this is where the spreading is likely to take place,” said Hassan el-Bushra, an epidemiologist at the Cairo office of the World Health Organization. “All the hajjis (pilgrims) are in a very limited physical location.” Like many here, Mikail Ocasio, a 28-year-old pilgrim from Maryland, dismissed the swine flu worries. “No disease was going to stop me from making my hajj,” he said. “Allah made the call to me and made it available and nothing is going to stop me.” Mina has long been the most dangerous of hajj rituals because the same overwhelming crowds raise the risk of deadly crushes and trampling.

In 2006, more than 360 pilgrims were killed when a piece of dropped luggage in a moving crowd caused a pile-up. Since then, Saudi authorities expanded the giant ramp around the walls to five stories, spreading out the masses over different levels to prevent jams. American and Saudi health officials circulated among the sprawling tent camp at Mina where the pilgrims live and gave the faithful cheek swabs for testing later. Health authorities hung posters of correct hand washing, and hand sanitizer dispensers were placed on walls in the camps, near public bathrooms and at ritual sites. Pilgrims arriving at Saudi airports were also scanned using a thermal camera and were offered a free vaccine.

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