'It's Hard to Be Spiritual When There's So Much Pushing'

Millions of Muslims streamed into Arafat yesterday for the peak of this year's Hajj. The pilgrims, who had made the short but chaotic journey from Mina, spent the day outside, upstanding in prayer and meditation despite the unforgiving heat.

Standing in prayer at Arafat is a compulsory ritual and carries great religious significance. The prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said: "Hajj is Arafat", indicating that a Muslim should be there in order for the Hajj to be complete. On the Day of Arafat, as it is known, Allah forgives the sins of those who seek his pardon and fulfills their prayers.

With so much at stake, road number six was soon teeming with buses, pedestrians, coaches and cars as pilgrims rushed to find a spot on its famous granite hill. Some of the keener pilgrims spent the night on the mountain, Jabal Al-Rahma or the Mount of Mercy, nestling in cracks between boulders. Peddlers lined the streets selling food and umbrellas - an essential for pilgrims who could not find shade in Namirah mosque.

As on so many other occasions, pilgrims quickly occupied every possible surface in time for the afternoon prayer, including rooftops, the top of toilet cubicles and the tops of trucks, their white-clad figures stretching back to the horizon. It was from the pulpit of Namirah mosque that the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia delivered a fiery sermon to a capacity crowd of more than two million, telling the congregation to hold fast to their faith.

Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh said: "If the ummah returns to its religion, no force in the world will be able to defeat it. The enemies have been targeting the ummah and its faith. They are aiming at its economy and are attempting to annex it to their economic system," he warned. However, he added, Muslims had contributed to his by abandoning the fundamentals of their religion.

The sombre mood continued into the afternoon, with people crying and wailing as they begged for Allah's forgiveness. For one Lebanese woman, Scheherezade, the throng and the heat was too much. "I walked miles to be on that mountain, but it is hard to be spiritual when there is so much pushing and shoving," she said. "People are desperate to be on that hill. And it was hot, so hot and I didn't have an umbrella and of course when I went to find one there were none to be found."

As midnight approached, the pilgrims left Arafat for Muzdalifah, where they collected 70 pebbles for the following day's "stoning the devil" ritual. The camps where they had stayed were abandoned, as if a swarm of locusts had lain waste to everything in sight.