RI pilgrims go to Mt. Arafat for peak of haj ritual

JAKARTA (JP): More than 3,000 buses were used yesterday to transport Indonesia's 200,000 pilgrims from Mecca, Saudi Arabia, to Mt. Arafat for wukuf, or "standing", a rite that signifies the peak of the annual haj pilgrimage.

Today the pilgrims will climb the mountain, and spend their time there from midday to sunset reciting the Koran or saying prayers.

Upon the completion of the evening prayer, Indonesian pilgrims will join some 2 million others from all over the world on a march to the Muzdalifah, five kilometers north of Mt. Arafat, to spend a few hours and collect pebbles to bring to Mina, nine kilometers west of Muzdalifah, after midnight.

Tomorrow morning, the 10 Dzulhijjah according to Islamic calendar, the pilgrims will start the rite of stoning the jamarat.

Also tomorrow, up to two million sheep, lambs and camels will be slaughtered in a ritual for Idul Adha, Day of Sacrifice, marking the end of the pilgrimage to the holiest sites of Islam.

The slaughter commemorates the sacrifice of Abraham who was ready to kill his son Ismail in a supreme act of faith, but was instead allowed to sacrifice a sheep to Allah.

Saudi authorities have reportedly invested more than US$100 million to set up slaughter houses for the feast. The facilities will have more than 2,000 employees, including 50 vets.

Sick animals will be spared because they are not deemed fit for sacrifice.

The Islamic Development Bank, in cooperation with Saudi authorities and under a religious decree allowing it to take part in the slaughter, collects nearly 500,000 carcasses each year for refrigeration.

The bank distributes the meat to needy Moslems in countries around the world, including Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sudan.

About 20 percent of the livestock comes from Saudi Arabia itself, while the rest is imported from as far as South America, Australia and New Zealand.

On Saturday, Minister of Religious Affairs Quraish Shihab briefed Indonesian haj officials in Mecca and called on them to serve the pilgrims well.

Quraish, who is also amirulhaj or chief of the Indonesian haj delegation, called on Indonesian pilgrims to pray for the end of the economic crisis. (swe)