Views From The Hajj (PHOTOS)

The annual Islamic pilgrimage, or hajj, to Mecca, Saudi Arabia draws an estimated 2.5 million visitors each year, making it the largest yearly gathering of people in the world. The pilgrimage, a religious duty performed at least once in every Muslim's life, ends Nov. 17.

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A Muslim pilgrim prays at the top of Noor Mountain near where the Hiraa cave is located, on the outskirts of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on Nov. 11. The annual Islamic pilgrimage draws 3 million visitors each year, making it the largest yearly gathering of people in the world.

A Muslim pilgrim prays at the top of Noor Mountain near where the Hiraa cave is located, on the outskirts of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on Nov. 11. The annual Islamic pilgrimage draws 3 million visitors each year, making it the largest yearly gathering of people in the world.

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Comments

[yavuz]

11:51 PM on 11/23/2010

wow! looking at all the negative, hateful comments here, i can not help think that these pictures must be indeed VERY IMPRESSIVE!

its given: whenever there is something nice about Islam in this blog, these trolls just swarm the post and display their hatred. The nicer the pictures are, the more intense is the response

[KarasudaJay]

01:59 PM on 11/23/2010

I don't understand why it is OK to terrorize Hindus for idolatry when this is clearly idolatry.

[yavuz]

11:45 PM on 11/23/2010

we are not worshipping Kaba or anything inside it. It is a building made of stones and mortar. When it gets old, we demolish it and rebuild it. We pray towards it only because God ordered us to do so. Keeps the unity in prayer.

I dont know how you see "clear idolatry" in this. Perhaps you are just very prejudiced?

[Peace Walker]

10:50 PM on 11/22/2010

Seeking inner peace amidst a sea of chaos, truly a great challenge for anyone, but that is ultimately the purpose of the Hajj. The point being that if you can find it there, you can find it anywhere.

There are many aspects of most religions with which I disagree, but this is a good lesson for anyone to take away. Even amidst the chaos around us, we can seek and sometime find peace.

[Mark Webber]

03:54 PM on 11/21/2010

My friend's Christian family in Iraq have just today been threatened by I slamists to leave their house and the neighborhood. They don't know where to go.

[yavuz]

11:46 PM on 11/23/2010

they can go to neighboring (muslim) Turkey where christians are accepted.

by the way, why are christians being bothered in iraq? could it be due to the occupation?

[demsrsilly]

10:23 AM on 11/24/2010

No occupation in Pakistan... How do you explain the death sentence of the Christian woman?

[TOS100]

08:47 PM on 11/20/2010

Just like a cyclone of ants. There are tons of videos on YouTube.

Humans behaving like ants around a giant Rubik's Cube. How civilized.

[KarasudaJay]

02:05 PM on 11/23/2010

Ants have more purpose.

[yavuz]

11:48 PM on 11/23/2010

you two seem like very tolerant, understanding and civilized people...intellectually deep too

[bbriani3842]

09:23 PM on 11/19/2010

If only all that dad-gum energy, effort and financial resources were poured into one impoverished Islamic country PER YEAR . . . .

Same for us and how much we spend on war and Wall-Street bailouts (seems to be our religions). . .New Orleans would've been rebuilt and prepared for the next Katrina.

Ugh. . .the crap on which we squander our resources!

[dbmetzger]

12:06 PM on 11/19/2010

Broken Promises for Hajj Pakistanis
This year, around 2.8 million pilgrims have gathered in Mecca, many spending their life savings on the trip. But for one group of Pakistanis, the challenge has been especially difficult because of what they say are broken promises. http://www.newslook.com/videos/267550-broken-promises-for-hajj-pakistanis?autoplay=true

[Carroll27]

10:28 PM on 11/18/2010

http://hamzajennings.com/2009/01/15/the-hadith-of-the-gharqad-tree-and-the-jews/

[uansari1]

12:15 PM on 11/19/2010

Congratulations for finding a blog from some guy in England who may or may not be a fanatic and may or may not reference appropriate religious sources...?

[Mark Webber]

03:48 PM on 11/21/2010

One shouldn't take any risks. 1 crazy fundamentalist can cause havoc. Or do you think we should forgive and forget because it'll never happen again?

[Carroll27]

10:17 PM on 11/18/2010

Wouldn't it be great if an iman stood up in the middle of that large group and said, "Hey, maybe we should be nice to jewish people. Just sayin'." How long do you think he'd survive?

[demsrsilly]

10:29 AM on 11/24/2010

Well, technically, the way I understand it, that is what the Quran instructs muslims to do.

From what I can tell, not many adhere to this.

Much like I am rather certain the Quran has prohibition against killing innocents. That gets ignored frequently as well. Same as Jews/Christians ignoring a certain commandment.

[logicanada]

09:36 PM on 11/18/2010

Wailing Wall, The Hajj, The Vatican, it all reminds me of the Monolith in the opening scenes of 2001 A Space Odyssey.

[Carroll27]

09:59 PM on 11/18/2010

Excepting anyone can go into the Vatican.

[bbriani3842]

09:14 PM on 11/19/2010

Well, both the Monolith and the "black rock" in Mecca both came from outer space. . .

[Mark Webber]

03:42 PM on 11/21/2010

:)

[quedog]

02:35 PM on 11/18/2010

what a complete waste of time and effort
this is an example why religion is bad, and why islamics will always be hundreds of years behind the rest of the world

qdog

[bbriani3842]

09:16 PM on 11/19/2010

Except for that little stretch of period known as "The Dark Ages". . .they also gave us our place value system for numeration.

If it weren't for them, we'd still be using that goddam Roman Numeral system.

[KarasudaJay]

02:11 PM on 11/23/2010

Well, that justifies a millenium of stagnation. It's like your disgusting fat uncle that still talks about how great he looked in a tank top while driving his Camaro around town back in '82.

Yeah, there were times when life was good in islamic-dominated lands, but much of that was geographical luck. Being close to cultures with real curiosity helps a lot, as did holding onto Greek knowledge. We can't know how much of that science was because of islam, and it seems very little was *because* of islam since the further along islam advanced the more their lands regressed.

[Espionage5]

01:38 PM on 12/07/2010

Read up on the middle east before you go around commenting utter bs. Just because you don't know about something doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

[goodmarina]

12:29 PM on 11/18/2010

picture # 7  fascinates me ...  i cannot help but wonder if this is what The Sermon On the Mountain may have looked like (with more people, of course)  back in the times of Jesus.   

beautiful pictures : )

[raptor]

11:06 PM on 11/17/2010

There was a show last year on what a big business the hajj has become.
http://www.abc.net.au/compass/s2715251.htm
The picture at the top of that site gives you some idea.

[AllyCat7]

09:52 PM on 11/17/2010

Beautiful pictures! I always love the pictures of Mecca that get published this time of year. As a Muslim, it's disheartening for me to rarely find good news about Muslims at any other time of year, but these images make up for some of that.

Anyway, thanks to HP for publishing the photos and to the commentators with minds open enough to appreciate the pictures as much as I do :)

[PresidentRobertBooth]

09:37 PM on 11/17/2010

#5 is the best one