Pilgrims wearing protective masks walking towards Mount of Mercy at Arafat yesterday.

ARAFAT: Bright weather greeted some two million Muslims who rallied around Mount Arafat, where Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) delivered his last sermon, to beg for God’s forgiveness yesterday at the peak of the Haj.

The death toll from heavy rainfalls that hit the port city of Jeddah, gateway for pilgrims to Makkah, rose to 77 people, most of whom were swept away by strong currents or drowned.

In Makkah, pilgrims flocked mostly by foot to Arafat to pray until sunset. They set up tents on a plain, squatted on the side of the road in shelters, or stayed at the nearby Namira mosque.

The pilgrims will later move to Muzdalifa to collect pebbles to stone a set of walls. The ritual represents defiance of the devil and commitment to resisting temptation.

“God gave us a reprieve from the rainfalls on the most important day of Haj. It shows His immense clemency,” Indonesian pilgrim Abdulwadood Asegaf said. “We are going to avoid going up the mount Arafat this time because it is too muddy,” he added.

About 1.6 million pilgrims have come from abroad for the Haj, the world’s largest regular religious gathering and a duty for all Muslims to perform at least once if possible.

Wednesday’s rainfalls, the heaviest the desert country has seen in years, prevented thousands of people from getting to Makkah from Jeddah but caused no deaths among pilgrims, Saudi Haj organisers say.

“The rain was a blessing from God. We are now going to pray to beg for God’s forgiveness and mercy, for the good of our children and of all Muslims,” said Egyptian pilgrim Nasser Abu Ahmed.

Nigerian businessman Mustafa Abu Bakr said Muslims from different parts of the world and of different walks of life renew their allegiance to God in Arafat.

“We will pray for world peace,” he said.

The Haj marks sites that Islamic tradition says Prophet Ibrahim — biblical patriarch Abraham — visited in Makkah and that Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) established as a pilgrim route 14 centuries ago after he removing pagan idols from Makkah. Islam is now embraced by a quarter of the world’s population.

Apart from floods in Jeddah, authorities have reported none of the problems or disasters that have marred the Haj in previous years such as fires, hotel collapses, police clashes with protesters and deadly stampedes caused by overcrowding.

Saudi authorities have made renovations over the past year to ease the flow of pilgrims inside the Grand Mosque and the disaster-prone Jamarat Bridge. In January 2006, 362 people were crushed to death in the worst Haj tragedy in 16 years.

Iranians chanted against Israel and America in a peaceful protest during the Haj yesterday as millions of Muslims amassed for the peak of the world’s largest annual pilgrimage.

Ignoring Saudi warnings against political activity, the Iranians chanted for Muslim unity and against the “enemies” of the faith in their camp at Arafat outside of Makkah.

“Death to America, death to Israel,” thousands of Iranians chanted inside a huge tent on the Arafat plain.

No Saudi security forces were evident as Ayatollah Muhammed Rishari, the representative of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, addressed the Iranian delegation. “We need to be purified from our wrongdoings in this Haj,” he said in a statement.

“We need all Muslims, Sunni and Shia, to be unified and focus on important issues: Al Aqsa (mosque in Jerusalem), the occupation of Palestine, the problems in Iraq, the Afghan occupation, and the fighting between brothers in Yemen. We need be purified from all infidels.”

During the Haj pilgrims spend the day at Arafat in reflection and reading the Holy Quran.

Thousands jammed directly onto the 70-metre tall hill to meditate, while the bulk of the pilgrims remained on the surrounding plain. Many were seen in the morning gazing up into the sky with their palms held upward, reciting prayers. Some were crying.

“I’m so happy because I’m in Arafat,” said Fatima, a pilgrim from Morocco. “Because the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) spoke with Allah from this place. This is the most holy place in the world. I’m very happy.”

Faisal, 52, a Palestinian pilgrim from Israel, said he was praying for “all Muslims to be unified soon to liberate Al Aqsa and Palestine.”

The Saudi health ministry ferried 296 patients from local hospitals to Arafat to take part in the Haj, accompanied by a squadron of doctors and nurses.

Meanwhile, volunteers were passing out thousands of free meals all around Arafat, donated by numerous Saudi charities and businesses.

The weather turned hot yesterday after heavy rains marred the first day of the Haj, stranding many latecomers on the road between Jeddah and Makkah and knotting up the eight kilometre mass move from Makkah to Mina, halfway in between Makkah and Arafat.