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| Arabia |
| Report: Hotel Collapses in Mecca |
| 2006-01-05 |
| Gonna be kinda tough to run that "Allah punishing the wicked" line on this one. MECCA, Saudi Arabia - A hotel at the gates to the shrines in Islam's holiest city collapsed Thursday, and pan-Arab television reported dozens of casualties. The tragedy occurred as millions of Muslim faithful poured into Mecca for the annual hajj pilgrimage that peaks on Monday with the Eid al-Adha, a four-day feast. Is it Eid already? Man, it just kinda sneaks up on ya, doesn't it? The massive gathering has been hit with tragedies frequently in recent years. The worst hajj-related tragedy occured in 1990 when 1,426 pilgrims were killed in a stampede in an overcrowded pedestrian tunnel leading to Mecca's holy sites. In 2004, on the final day of the ceremonies, 251 people were trampled to death when the crowd panicked during the ritual stoning of the devil. Three years earlier, 35 hajj pilgrims were killed in stampede the same ceremony. Vegas now posts over and unders on it. Islam asks Muslims to travel to Mecca at least once in their lifetime and the number of pilgrims has increased elevenfold over the past 15 years. The Saudi government has spent billions of dollars in recent years to improve accommodations, transportation and medical facilities for the "guests of Allah." Sounds like they might've funded it by cutting back on building inspectors. |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #27 I can't help with all your questions but yes there are people who perform the haj more than once. Some who do this are pilgrimage leaders. Some do this as a messager e.g., whereby X gives Y a rock to throw at the devil stone. The Saudis have tried to discourage multi hajers. The number of people who can attend the haj in any given year is limited to fewer than 5 million or so (for the greater haj - there is also a lesser haj that can be done in almost all the other months but has less spiritual significance). If you do the math, its obvious that relatively few muslims will perform this ritual. Partly because of the relative scarcity of people who have carried out the greater haj, people who do it get a nickname which means 'great pilgrim' or 'righteous pilgrim' of something similar and carries at least one word for which the root is haj. |
| Posted by: mhw 2006-01-05 16:21 |
| #26 ah... it was supposed to be Porky saying, "Th, th, th, that's all folks!" but apparently Disney has become piggish with their wav files. hee, hee...I thought it was pretty funny =:0) |
| Posted by: 2b 2006-01-05 16:14 |
| #25 Valiant effort, Steve & Mom & P.P., but it's a lost cause. Some minds you just can't reach. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2006-01-05 16:11 |
| #24 no more pig jokes! |
| Posted by: 2b 2006-01-05 16:04 |
| #23 Sorry for the double post. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2006-01-05 15:31 |
| #22 Question for the scholars out there. Islam demands one Haj to Mecca. Do a lot of folks Haj multiple times? Does everyone who Hajes get to put Haji in their name? Is it a requirement, mark of pride, totally seperate? Enquiring minds want to know. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2006-01-05 15:30 |
| #21 Question for the scholars out there. Islam demands one Haj to Mecca. Do a lot of folks Haj multiple times? Does everyone who Hajes get to put Haji in their name? Is it a requirement, mark of pride, totally seperate? Enquiring minds want to know. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2006-01-05 15:30 |
| #20 I try not to make fun but this happens every damn time, it is stupidity and making fun of stupidity is fine. |
| Posted by: djohn66 2006-01-05 13:27 |
| #19 Only 256 trampling days left until Ramadan. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-01-05 13:04 |
| #18 "...because of the virtual abscence of recreational facilities..." I know, we could call it Haji-Land, and there could be rides (camels), and catch the greased goat contests and all sorts of fun Islamic things! I could go on and on, but I'll leave some fun for the other R'burgers. D |
| Posted by: Doitnow 2006-01-05 12:55 |
| #17 I've said this before, and I'll say it now, and (sigh) I suppose I'll be saying it in the future: pig jokes, lard jokes, and wishing for the deaths of innocents just because they're Muslim are inappropriate. It's inappropriate in general and it's inappropriate for Rantburg. There is a difference between a Muslim and a 'Moose-Limb', as we use the term here. I have no quarrel with the former, and I despise the latter. There's no need for us to act like the DU. So let's not do so. AoS -- co-moderator |
| Posted by: Steve White 2006-01-05 12:54 |
| #16 I agree with mom! It isn't funny and I'm tired of these comments that attempt to "get even" with Muslims who celebrate the deaths of our innocent civilians just minding their own business and having a good time. How does that make you any different from them? Didn't your mothers ever tell you that just because Johnny is a horse's ass that you don't need to be one too? It just isn't funny. Stop it. |
| Posted by: Party Pooper 2006-01-05 12:18 |
| #15 The other thing to remind people is the big stampede death mentioned in the article was caused by Iranian agents. I don't remember the details but it wasn't exactly an accident. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2006-01-05 12:18 |
| #14 Sounds like they might've funded it by cutting back on building inspectors. And I may have been right... A civil defense official told government-run Al-Ekhbariya television that the 40-year-old building's foundation was cracked and too weak to support its weight. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2006-01-05 12:14 |
| #13 mhw: Another interesting thing is that because most of the world's muslims do not speak the arabic dialect used in Mecca, the universal signing is English. Most of the world's Muslims don't speak Arabic. The majority of Muslims in the world isn't in the Middle East. Indonesia, Iran, Bangladesh, Turkey, India, Nigeria and Pakistan are the homes of some of the largest populations of non-Arab Muslims. Some of them might know Arabic to the extent that it is necessary to memorize the Koran. But the vast majority of non-Arabs know it in the same way that someone who doesn't understand English can be taught the Roman alphabet, and use that to memorize the contents of the English Bible. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2006-01-05 11:58 |
| #12 I would issue a fatwa against |
| Posted by: Al Aska Paul 2006-01-05 11:46 |
| #11 The remarkable thing about this is that an event that could be an economic bonanza to the Saudis is, because of the virtual abscence of recreational facilities, an economic loss to the Saudis; because of the lack of adequate logistics, a burden to the locals; and, because of a lack of crowd management and safety awareness, a personal risk to the practitioners of the haj. Another interesting thing is that because most of the world's muslims do not speak the arabic dialect used in Mecca, the universal signing is English. Still another interesting factoid is that many muslims bring their own personal Q'ran. The Saudis inspect all personal items and confiscate tens of thousands of personal Q'ran each year because they violate the Wahabi standards (which restrict calligiography and other ornamental devices). Those personal Q'ran which are confiscated are then burned and the ashes buried. |
| Posted by: mhw 2006-01-05 10:56 |
| #10 er, fewer hosts. |
| Posted by: BH 2006-01-05 10:55 |
| #9 There were some evil people, some decent people, and some little kids in this disaster. We hate it when the paleos cheer at our losses. Why should we behave like them? Because it's a numbers game. I don't see them as evil people, decent people, children, baby ducks or fluffy bunnies. I see them as hosts for an idea which I despise. And now that idea has less hosts. |
| Posted by: BH 2006-01-05 10:52 |
| #8 The massive gathering has been hit with tragedies frequently in recent years. The worst hajj-related tragedy occured in 1990 when 1,426 pilgrims were killed Funny how that corralates to Bin Laden's own rise. Now we have tsunamis hitting hyperIslamic Aceh and Earthquakes crushing Kashmir and the Northwest Province. Hotels collapsing in Mecca is just a warning shot. Allah is pissed and they still don't get it. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2006-01-05 10:49 |
| #7 Knock it off. Schadenfreude and rudeness of this sort is conduct unbecoming to a gentleman. There were some evil people, some decent people, and some little kids in this disaster. We hate it when the paleos cheer at our losses. Why should we behave like them? |
| Posted by: mom 2006-01-05 10:46 |
| #6 God is TRULY great! |
| Posted by: Al A. Akhbar 2006-01-05 10:35 |
| #5 Ah yes, I mentioned in another post here how Allan works in mysterious ways, and here again, Allan did not disappoint. Mecca seems to have several of these mass-body count disasters, and literally 99.99 percent are the result of human folly. |
| Posted by: The Happy Fliegerabwehrkanonen 2006-01-05 10:29 |
| #4 Has anybody started a the death pool? I'm in for a square. I'm sayin' 985. That's my pick. And thats the total. Stampede and Stoning. The Over/Under I'm setting at 900. |
| Posted by: macofromoc 2006-01-05 10:28 |
| #3 It is the will of Allah and me. |
| Posted by: BH 2006-01-05 09:57 |
| #2 Guess we won't be seeing # 304 in Conde' Nost Traveler's Room with a View any time soon. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-01-05 08:32 |
| #1 God must be punishing them for being muslim. If he gave Sharon a stroke like they said, he must have done this too. That's logic, mideast style. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2006-01-05 08:30 |