ARAFAT (Saudi Arabia), Dec 18: More than two million Muslims from across the globe gathered on Tuesday around Mount Arafat, near Makkah, for Haj.

At Arafat, in western Saudi Arabia, a massive crowd of the faithful spent the day praying and asking for God’s forgiveness, in “wuquf”, a symbolic wait for the final judgment.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel-Aziz al-Sheikh, Saudi Arabia’s state-appointed religious authority, prayed in a sermon before hundreds of thousands for the prosperity of Muslims and Saudi Arabia’s rulers, and condemned Muslim militants.

“O Muslims, reject this terrorism, and young people should be careful not to become a means for ruining your countries and your people,” he said in the traditional televised speech.

Among this year’s pilgrims is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, invited by Saudi King Abdullah to become the first president of his country to take part.

Mr Ahmadinejad was due to have joined Iranian pilgrims at Arafat, but an announcement at the gathering said that “due to the heavy traffic, the president was not able to make it”.

Men wearing two pieces of unstitched white cloth, called the Ehram, and women entirely covered apart from their face and hands tirelessly repeated the formal refrain.

“I am here in response to your call, Lord, I am here,” they cried, many of them in heavily-accented Arabic, gathered on a plain dotted with hills.

“This is the first time I am doing the Haj. I registered with the Haj organisation five years ago,” said an elderly woman called Fatemeh, accompanied by her husband.

A total of 1,707,814 pilgrims from 181 countries have travelled to Saudi Arabia for the Haj, Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz said, joined by hundred of thousands of Saudis and other residents of the country.

President Ahmadinejad joined other pilgrims in carrying out a series of other sacred rituals, such as the “tawaf”.

Iran’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, urged Muslims to stand united against world “arrogance”, Tehran’s reference to Washington.

“All the Islamic nations and especially their scholars and intellectuals should create a united front against the world arrogance and solidify it day by day,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.

At the Grand Mosque, the holy Kaaba was being draped in a new “kiswa”, its silk cover adorned with Quranic verses embroidered in gold and silver-plated thread, costing more than five million dollars.

Thousands of Saudi security forces were deployed along the routes being used by the pilgrims to ensure the safety of the faithful, with dozens of field hospitals and clinics set up.—AFP