Posted on 02/10/2003 10:22:56 PM PST by stilts
Arafat Desert, Saudi Arabia, Feb 10, IRNA -- Iranian pilgrims, performing the ritual of "disavowal of pagans," chanted slogans against the US and the Zionist regime.
They called on Muslims all over the world to observe solidarity and "cut off" the presence of pagans from Islamic territories.
"Labayk," "There is no deity but Allah," "Death to Israel" and "Death to America" were among slogans the masses chanted in unison as they gathered in the desert of Arafat, 20 kilometers (12miles) from Mecca, for a day of prayer and meditation.
The faithful--men clad in two-piece seamless white shrouds and women, all covered except for the hands and face as a symbol of equality--converged on Arafat by bus and on foot from the tent city of Mina, where they spent the night.
According to Islamic tradition, the Arafat plains is also the place where Adam and Eve "recognized" each other after being expelled from the biblical Garden of Eden.
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