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A senior Saudi prince has launched an unprecedented call for change in the country’s leadership, as it faces its biggest challenge in years in the form of war, plummeting oil prices and criticism of its management of Mecca, scene of last week’s hajj tragedy. The prince, one of the grandsons of the state’s founder, Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, has told the Guardian that there is disquiet among the royal family – and among the wider public – at the leadership of King Salman, who acceded the throne in January.

Saudi Arabia firmly rejected Iran’s criticism of its handling of the Haj pilgrimage Saturday after Tehran demanded an inquiry into the Mina stampede. “I believe the Iranians should know better than to play politics with a tragedy that has befallen people who were performing their most sacred religious duty,” Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said, according to AFP. Al-Jubeir, delivering remarks along US Secretary of State John Kerry, insisted that Saudi Arabia was on top of the situation. “The Kingdom has had a long history of spending tremendous resources to care for the pilgrimage to ensure that the pilgrims who come...

Sajjad QA, posted several pictures of those killed during the hajj while making the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia in the midst of stoning the devil Posting to google plus with the title GOD HELP US,Sajjad QA,laments the deaths that have occurred and how the bodies are still piled high while the Saudi government takes its sweet time to move the bodies where they can be buried.The pictures are pretty gross by any standard, except probably when compared to the dead killed by ISIS. As a fellow humanitarian I declare today is WE ARE ALL SAUDI, and IRANIANS DAY!!!! During...

More than 700 people were crushed to death Thursday in a stampede just outside Mecca during the Hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia that has been attended by millions of faithful over the centuries. The incident in Mina, Saudi Arabia, was the latest in a series of tragedies that have marred the ritual journey to Islam’s holiest city, a journey that occasionally has turned deadly—typically because of the vast numbers of people who crowd into Mecca and nearby cities. This year, believers were trampled to death during the last major ritual that pilgrims perform before entering Mecca, a...

About two million Muslims from around the world prayed at a desert hill in Saudi Arabia on Monday, joined in their faith and desire to purify their souls at the start of the annual hajj pilgrimage. It is here on Mount Arafat, marked by a white pillar, where Islam's Prophet Mohammed is believed to have delivered his last sermon to tens of thousands of followers some 1,400 years ago, calling on Muslims to unite.

Iran's president uses UN speech to call for investigation into hajj stampede Hassan Rouhani demands review of what caused the crush that killed more than 700 after Saudi Arabia’s top cleric reportedly absolves officials of blame Staff and agencies at the United Nations Saturday 26 September 2015 17.40 BST Iranian president Hassan Rouhani used a major United Nations speech on Saturday to demand an investigation into a crush that killed more than 700 people at the hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. His remarks came after Saudi Arabia’s most senior cleric, the grand mufti, appeared to absolve the authorities of blame...

At least 717 people taking part in the Hajj pilgrimage have been killed in a stampede near the Islamic holy city of Mecca, officials in Saudi Arabia say. Another 863 people were injured in the incident at Mina, which occurred as two million pilgrims were taking part in the Hajj's last major rite. It is the deadliest incident to occur during the pilgrimage in 25 years. King Salman has ordered an urgent review of this year's Hajj plans "to improve the level of organisation". The supreme leader of Iran, which lost at least 95 of its citizens in the crush,...

  Making Haj may be one of the deadliest things for a Muslim to do. The latest "stoning the devil" accident, in which Muslim pilgrims to Mecca reenact an ancient pagan ritual involving Mercury, has led to a huge death toll that currently stands at 717 dead and 863 wounded. "Stoning the devil" has been a killer for Muslims before. 23 May 1994: About 270 people die in a stampede at the "Stoning of the Devil" ritual. 9 April 1998: On the third and last day of the Haj pilgrimage, a stampede at Jamarat Bridge kills at least 118...

Subtitle: At least 717 pilgrims killed and 863 injured in crush at Mina outside Mecca, Saudi's civil defence reports. At least 717 people have been killed in a stampede at the annual Hajj pilgrimage, Saudi Arabia's civil defence directorate said, as the death toll continued to rise. The directorate said at least 863 other pilgrims were injured in Thursday's stampede, which took place in Mina, on the outskirts of the holy city of Mecca. The injured have been evacuated to four different hospitals in the Mina region, according to a civil defence spokesman. Saudi Arabia's crown prince, Prince Mohamed bin...

The death toll in a stampede outside Mecca has risen to 717, with at least 800 injured, the deadliest disaster on the annual hajj pilgrimage in over a quarter of a century. The crush happened in the Mina valley, a few miles outside Mecca, where a sprawling camp of 160,000 tents fills with millions of visitors for a few days each year. Tragedy hit when two large groups of pilgrims who were preparing for one of the last major rites of their trip met on an intersection of two roads, Saudi authorities said.

Dina SpectorSeptember 25, 2015More than 453 people were crushed to death and another 610 injured in a stampede on Thursday during the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, the Guardian reports, citing Saudi Arabian authorities. The stampede happened at a pilgrimage camp in Mina, located outside the holy city of Mecca. The incident happened on Street 204 — one of the two main roads that lead through the Mina camp to Jamarat — when two large groups of pilgrims arrived together, Reuters said. Jamarat is where pilgrims stone the devil by throwing pebbles at three large pillars. Thursday is Eid al-Adha, or...

(CNN) —A stampede during one of the last rituals of the Hajj season -- the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca -- has killed more than 300 people and injured 450 others in Saudi Arabia. The stampede occurred Thursday during the ritual known as "stoning the devil" in the tent city of Mina, about 2 miles from Mecca, Islam's holiest city. Hundreds have been killed in past years during the same ceremony. "We have a stampede accident in Mina, and civil defense is dealing with it," said Brig. Gen. Mansour al-Turki, an Interior Ministry spokesman. The ministry said the latest death...

On the anniversary of the horrific 9/11 terror attacks against the World Trade Center and other targets, some are calling a deadly accident at the Grand Mosque in Mecca nothing less than divine payback. A crane crashed into the building on Friday, leaving 65 dead and injuring another 154, according to initial estimates. The crane reportedly came down due to “strong winds” in the area. Heavy rains and even a lightning strike were also reported. The mosque was even more crowded than usual because of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca by millions of Muslims this time of year, known as...

At least 62 people were killed when a crane crashed in Mecca's Grand Mosque on Friday, Saudi Arabia's civil defence authority said on its Twitter account. It said nearly 30 people were injured as well. The Muslim annual Haj pilgrimage is due later this month. Al Jazeera's Hasan Patel, reporting from Mecca, said witnesses told him that a crane fell on the third floor of the Grand Mosque around 5.45pm.

It said nearly 30 people were injured as well. The Muslim annual Haj pilgrimage is due later this month.

At least 87 people have been killed after a crane collapsed at the Grand Mosque in Mecca in Saudi Arabia, according to local authorities.

At least 65 people were killed and scores were wounded Friday when a crane collapsed in the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia's civil defense authority said. The accident happened as pilgrims from around the world converged on the city, Islam's holiest site, for the annual Hajj pilgrimage, which takes place this month. (snip) Another video, on a Twitter posting, captured the apparent moment of the crane's collapse during a heavy rainstorm, with a loud boom, screams and confusion.

Deaths from the MERS coronavirus have surged in Saudi Arabia ahead of the hajj pilgrimage, with 19 fatalities recorded in a week, according to health ministry statistics. A total of 502 people died in the kingdom since the virus first appeared in 2012, according to updated figures posted on the ministry’s website, including 19, all Saudis, since last Thursday. The number of MERS infections has also surged to 1,171 cases, the website said. A surge in infections forced health authorities to shut the emergency ward at a main hospital in Riyadh last week, after at least 46 people, including medical...

Muslims Are Required To Fulfill Five Demands for Being a Good Muslim, one in Which He Must Visit Mecca Islam: Haj Pilgrimage incomplete without hot Camel sex *SNIP* "If He Had Sexual Intercourse with His Camel would that make his hajj void" http://www.wikiislam.net/wiki/Islam_and_Bestiality#cite_note-E.L._Masters-8 http://www.barenakedislam.com/2009/06/13/islams-rules-for-having-sex-with-animals/ Islamic Scripture Qur'an In contrast with what secular and non-Islamic religious sources say about bestiality, this is what the Qur'an has That's right - absolutely, positively nothing. Unlike the Qur'an's clear-cut rulings on the morality of homosexuality, Polygamy, rape, and pedophilia, the permissibility of bestiality seems to have been left open to ‘interpretation.’ If Islamic teachings...

A missing Iranian nuclear scientist, who Tehran claims was abducted by the U.S., has taken refuge at a Pakistani embassy office in Washington and is planning to return to his homeland, the State Department said Tuesday. It was the latest development in a murky case that has been shrouded in mystery since the scientist, Shahram Amiri, disappeared while on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in June 2009. "He has been in the United States of his own free will and obviously he is free to go," department spokesman P.J. Crowley said. "In fact, he was scheduled to travel to Iran...