Muslims throng Arafat for peak hajj day

This year's hajj coincides with the Arab Spring democracy protests that have swept many nations in the region and led to the ouster of the autocratic leaders of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.

Many went on buses, while others set off on foot from Mina, a tent-village that comes to life only during the five-day pilgrimage.

Others took the Mashair Railway, also known as the Mecca Metro, to go to Mount Arafat, where Prophet Mohammed (P.B.U.H) delivered his final sermon.

The Chinese-built railway is operating for the first time this year at its full capacity of 72,000 people per hour to ease congestion and prevent stampedes in which hundreds have been killed in past years.

The dual-track light railway connects the three holy sites of Mina, Muzdalifah and Mount Arafat -- areas that see a massive influx of pilgrims during the hajj.

After sunset, pilgrims swarmed to Muzdalifah, half way between Mount Arafat and Mina, to spend the night.

On Sunday, they return to Mina after dawn prayers for the first stage of the symbolic "stoning of the devil" and to make the sacrifice of an animal, usually a lamb with the beginning of Eid al-Azha.

On the remaining three days of the hajj, the pilgrims continue the ritual stoning before performing the circumambulation of the Holy Kaaba in Mecca and then heading home.

The hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and must be performed at least once in a lifetime by all those who are able to make the journey.

Mukhtar al-Rahman, who is more than 100 years of age, told AFP that "this is the dream of my life which took a century to come true."

"The crowds have tired me and as you can see I can't stand properly because of the huge crowds flooding" into the area, the elderly Bengali said panting as he looked for a small chair to sit on.

More than 1.83 million pilgrims have arrived in the kingdom from abroad, marking a 1.5 percent increase from last year, said Mecca governor Prince Khaled al-Faisal.

Several hundred thousand Saudis and foreign residents in the kingdom were also granted permits to join them, he added.

To help prevent chaos, the authorities have numbered buses and tents in Mina and Arafat according to the countries from which the pilgrims have come.

Oil-rich Saudi Arabia has invested billions of dollars over the years to avoid deadly stampedes that have marred the hajj in the past.

In January 2006, 364 pilgrims were killed in a stampede at the entrance to a bridge leading to the stoning site in Mina, outside Mecca, while 251 were trampled to death in 2004.

In July 1990, 1,426 pilgrims were trampled to death or suffocated in a stampede in a tunnel, also in Mina.

For the first time this year, the hajj is being streamed live on video-sharing website YouTube in cooperation with the Saudi government.

The stream can be seen at youtube.com/hajjlive.

cities of Mecca and Medina, the birthplaces of Islam.

The ministry of religious affairs meanwhile sends 3.25 million text messages each day to the mobile phones of pilgrims to inform them of correct procedures for the hajj rites so as to "prevent that which is harmful," according to ministry official Sheikh Talal al-Uqail, cited by the official SPA news agency.