Looming war adds tension to Mecca pilgrimage

More than 1.5 million Muslims were today gathering for the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, where Saudi Arabian authorities had boosted security measures amid concerns of demonstrations against a possible war in Iraq.

Half a million pilgrims from inside the kingdom are expected to join the estimated 1.3 million overseas arrivals in the ritual that starts tomorrow.

The threat of war against Iraq, along with perceived American support of Israel in the ongoing conflict with the Palestinians, are seen by many Muslims as a campaign against their faith, and authorities fear possibly violent protests.

Iranians, who insist that protests are a cornerstone of the rituals, want the Muslims’ opposition to a war in Iraq to be heard through the hajj.

“The Iraqi crisis will have its repercussions among the pilgrims who will make their views heard to the world,” said Abbas Ali Hosseini, a Shiite cleric in Qom.

“The Americans will definitely heed the common call from some two million Muslims gathering in Mecca, or at least they will postpone the military action until after the hajj,” he said.

Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef said his country “won’t allow anybody to mess with security.

“We have increased our security measures and taken all precautions.”

Last year, the first hajj since the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, the Saudi government deployed tens of thousands of police agents and installed digital eye-scanning and fingerprinting machines to collect data on pilgrims upon their arrival.

In 1987, more than 400 people, mostly Iranian pilgrims, were killed and 649 wounded in Mecca when security forces clashed with Iranians staging an anti-American demonstration.

The pilgrimage to Mecca, birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad and home to Islam’s holiest shrine, is required once in a lifetime for all Muslims who are able-bodied and can afford the trip. There are more than one billion Muslims worldwide.

Accidents and deaths have often accompanied the hajj.

Last year, about 35 people died in a stampede while performing the stoning of the devil ritual.

A 1997 fire in Mina killed more than 340 pilgrims and injured 1,500.

Hundreds were killed and injured in stampedes in 1994 and 1998.

The most deadly hajj-related tragedy was a 1990 stampede in which 1,426 pilgrims were killed.