Hajj pilgrims pray at desert mountain under hot sun after heavy rains ease

Muslim pilgrims pray under scorching sun at hajj

MOUNT ARAFAT, Saudi Arabia — Muslim pilgrims holding white umbrellas against the blazing sun clambered up a rocky desert hill for prayers Thursday during the annual hajj, following a day of deadly torrential rains.

After Wednesday’s sudden, unexpected downpours, the heat was scorching as the nearly 3 million pilgrims traveled to Mount Arafat, a desert plateau about 12 miles (20 kilometers) outside Mecca where the Prophet Muhammad delivered his farewell sermon.

Throughout the day, the faithful climbed up the Mountain of Mercy, a rocky hill at Arafat, and prayed for God’s forgiveness of their sins in what Muslims consider the spiritual high point of the pilgrimage.

Flooding from Wednesday’s downpour killed 48 people in western Saudi Arabia, Saudi officials said. None of the dead were hajj pilgrims, said Brig. Gen. Mansour al-Turki, a spokesman for the Saudi Interior Ministry. The rains tapered off Thursday but meteorologists predicted further showers.

The four-day event, which opened Wednesday, is one of the most crowded in the world, with the masses of Muslims from every corner of the globe packed shoulder to shoulder in prayers and rites.

Saudi Arabia’s biggest worry for months ahead of the hajj has been swine flu. The Saudi government has been working with the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to set up clinics and take precautions to stem any outbreak.

There is also the risk of one of the gathering’s perennial dangers: deadly stampedes.

In 2006, all it took was a dropped piece of luggage to trip up a crowd and cause a pileup that killed more than 360 people at one of the holy sites. The rains also could cause flash floods or mudslides in the desert mountains where most of the rites take place.

It often rains in Mecca and Jiddah during the winter months, but Wednesday’s downpour was the heaviest in years during the hajj. Jiddah was swamped with 7 centimeters (2.76 inches) of rain, more than it would normally get in an entire year, according to Dale Mohler, senior meteorologist at the Web site, AccuWeather.com.