Pilgrims perform final rituals

Mina, Saudi Arabia: Rain soaked crowds of pilgrims and lightning flashed yesterday as they performed some of the final rituals of the annual Haj, stoning symbols of the devil and circling the Kaaba.

Muslims from all over the world were participating in the pilgrimage this year and some were finishing the rites yesterday, though many would continue for another day.

The pilgrims walked seven times around the Kaaba in Makkah in a "farewell" ritual before leaving. Others were in the desert valley of Mina, several miles away, throwing stones at three walls, representing Satan, in a symbolic rejection of temptation.

Pilgrims' struggles to navigate the holy sites through the massive crowds that jam roads and streets was made more difficult by rain late on Wednesday and yesterday.

Asking for help

In Mina, drenched pilgrims took shelter under whatever structures they could find.

During the stoning, waves of people move along a giant multi-level bridge that takes them past the three walls so they can throw their stones — and with the rain coming down, the top, exposed level — usually packed — was empty. Still, for most, the rain did not damp the powerful emotion of the religious experience.

"This makes me a strong Muslim, God is very big and I'm very small. I was like a child asking for help from his mother and father," Saif Allah Khan, a 38-year-old from Karachi said of his feelings as he performed the rites.

An Egyptian from the Nile Delta, 60-year-old Syed Mutwalli, said that now that he was retired, he could finally fulfil his dream of performing Haj. But, he added: "Age has its limits. There's a lot of difficulties, but God gives you strength."

Going on Haj is a religious duty for every Muslim capable of performing it. Some faithful save up money their whole lives to make the trip — others repeat it multiple times to relive the feeling of closeness to God.

Farag Khalil, an Egyptian butcher in his 50s, said it was his third time performing the pilgrimage. "I hope from God that for as long as I live I manage to make it to Haj," he said. "

Prayers in Makkah are like a 100,000 times [the value] of prayer from any other mosque."

He arrived in the country two weeks before Haj began and planned to stay an extra week to visit nearby sites, including the Prophet Mohammad's [PBUH] mosque in Madinah.

"Why should I be in a hurry to leave? I wish I could die here," he said. "Everytime I come I regret the time of my life I spent outside of Makkah."

Saudi statistics revealed on Tuesday that some 2.8 million pilgrims took part in this year's Haj, way up from their early estimate of around two million.

A total of 1,799,601 pilgrims from outside Saudi Arabia and 989,798 from inside the country made the Haj this year, making a total of 2,789,399, Saudi statistics revealed.

The increase was most likely due to a flood of pilgrims without permits. Authorities last Sunday put the number of permits issued to Saudis and citizens of other Gulf states at just 200,000.