By IRNA
Mena : Wearing white robes, walked or boarded buses to Mena, the pilgrims are chanting — Here, I am answering Your call, O, God.
Police prevented pilgrims from squatting in places where it was banned, especially west of Al-Khaif Mosque and the Jamrat and the Pedestrian Road.
Mena, which was a virtual ghost town until Sunday, was transformed into a sea of pilgrims dressed in white Ihram by noon prayer.
Pilgrims were seen resting under bridges, in the open luggage compartments of buses, and all over the rolling hills of Mena.
The center of activity was, of course, Masjid Al-Khaif.
Every space in the huge mosque was filled with the faithful.
After a tiring morning, pilgrims were in high spirits in the evening. From every corner of the valley, one could hear the Talbiyah.
The guests of God will leave Mena for Arafat this morning at the peak of the pilgrimage.
In Arafat, they will stand in prayer, seeking God’s forgiveness and blessings.
They will cleanse themselves of their sins by admitting them before God in order to return to their homes and native places like newborn babies as stated by Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him).
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has arrived to perform Haj as a guest of King Abdullah.
“If I made a mistake in one of my speeches or said something that was not in line with the interests of the nation and has hurt the nation or I was not able to defend its rights, then I ask people to forgive me,” Ahmadinejad said in a speech late on Sunday before leaving Tehran for Medina.
The Haj, which ends on Friday, is one of the five pillars or tenets of Islam and is an obligation for all able-bodied Muslims at least once during their lives if they can afford it.
More than 1.6 million pilgrims have come from abroad and have been joined by nearly one million others from within the Kingdom.
Saudi authorities have given top priority to the security and safety of pilgrims and have deployed more than 50,000 security forces in Mecca, Mena and other holy sites.
They have also established the high-tech Jamrat Bridge in Mena to help pilgrims perform the ritual stoning of the devil safely without stampedes or other potentially fatal accidents.
The health of pilgrims is another major concern.
“We have to raise (health) awareness among pilgrims from some countries,” Health Minister Dr. Hamad Al-Manie said in a statement.
The government has taken precautions against bird flu, after recent cases of the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus killing birds in the Riyadh region.
The total number of pilgrims is estimated at around three million.
“It is a top priority for us to maintain the safety of pilgrims and make the Haj free of all infectious and communicable diseases,” he said.
Pilgrims view the Haj as an affirmation of Muslim unity and solidarity, bringing together people of different languages and ethnicity, united only by faith in a single God. On a personal level, many of them say they are also seeking forgiveness for sins of which they have repented.