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<p>DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — More than 1.5 million Muslims are gathering for the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, where Saudi Arabian authorities have boosted security amid concerns about demonstrations against a possible U.S.-led war in Iraq.</p> <p>Saudi officials expect 500,000 pilgrims from inside the kingdom to join more than 1.3 million foreigners in the five-day ritual starting Saturday.</p>

More than one million pilgrims have already arrived in Saudi Arabia, days before the kingdom prepares to host its mammoth annual Hajj pilgrimage, according to state media. The Hajj, which is expected to draw more than two million pilgrims this year, represents a key rite of passage for Muslims and a massive logistical challenge for Saudi authorities – as these stunning images show.

My friends, we will stand together. We will stand firm. We will not submit. Never. Not in Israel, not in Europe, not in America. Nowhere. We will survive. We will stop islam. We will defend our freedoms. We will remain free. via A warning to America -- Speech Geert Wilders, Cornerstone Church, Nashville, 12 May 2011 Dear friends from Tennessee. I am very happy to be in your midst today. I am happy and proud to be in this impressive church. My friends, I am here to speak words of truth and freedom. Do you know why America is in...

As a member of Mauritania's slave-owning class, Abdel Nasser Ould Ethmane could have had anything he wanted as a present for his circumcision ceremony: a toy, money, a camel, or, as his brother would choose, a bicycle. But the 7-year-old wanted something more sinister. He chose Yebawa Ould Keihel, a young boy with skin the color of coal. At that moment, Abdel became a slave master. It's an experience that's common here in Mauritania, a vast country in West Africa's Sahara Desert where activists and the United Nations estimate 10% to 20% of people are enslaved -- usually dark-skinned people...

Saudi Arabia is reportedly planning to modernise Mecca by building a retractable roof over the Kaaba - the most sacred site in Islam - in what critics fear will 'destroy the cradle' of the religion. Although the new roof has not been officially confirmed, a video of the 'umbrella project' circulating on social media shows a scale model on display in the holy city demonstrating how the retractable roof would operate.

Massachusetts high school students pretended to be Muslims in the "Islamic" city of Jerusalem as part of a class assignment used in Newton Public Schools to teach about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a new report revealed. One father was particularly upset when he discovered his daughter had been assigned what he described as an inflammatory pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel article, according to the report. The man was allegedly told by the school's principal that lessons the next year would be even more upsetting to him. [Snip] "As our concluding project on the Islamic world, you will work in groups to simulate a historical...

Two million Muslims from around the world have arrived in Mecca for the hajj pilgrimage two years after a deadly stampede killed more than 2,000 worshippers. Shiite Muslims from Iran returned to Mecca in Saudia Arabia, following the biggest catastrophe in the history of the hajj. Last year the tragedy killed nearly 2,300 pilgrims with 464 Iranians among the fatalities, leading to officials in Tehran criticising Saudi Arabia's organisation of the pilgrimage.

MAKKAH: Economic experts have said Hajj and Umrah revenues are poised to exceed $150 billion by 2022 in light of the expected mergers of economic blocs and groupings to meet the growing demand on Hajj and Umrah economics in terms of transport, commercial stores and expansion in small, medium enterprises (SMEs). Muhsin Al-Sharif, a member of the Committee of Real Estate and Investment, said Hajj revenues will feed the national economy and, therefore, an integrated plan should be worked out to control revenues and financial resources in a manner that will serve Vision 2030. This will also serve the national...

Al Arabiya said security forces had found two groups of terrorists in Mecca and a third group in the city of Jeddah. The foiled attack targetted worshipers at the mosque, it said.

Last November, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange declared that the “CIA created ISIS” alongside a release of 500,000+ cables from 1979. Assange said that the decision made by the CIA, along with Saudi Arabia, to send large sums of money into arming the Mujahideen in Afghanistan during their fight against the Soviet Union, eventually led to the creation of al-Qaeda. This terror group was responsible for the 9/11 atrocities in New York, which resulted in the invasions of both Afghanistan and Iraq by the U.S. and the inception of ISIS. The bloody year of 1979 would prove a pivotal one for...

AS THE governor of Mecca, Prince Khalid bin Faisal Al Saud has been able to compensate for earlier failings. He came to his role in 2007 from Asir province, where his plans to erect modern tower blocks in the city of Abha were largely unfulfilled. He successfully erased Abha’s quaint old town, with its beehive houses made of wattle, only to replace them with squat breeze-block bungalows. Not a high-rise was to be seen.

Saudi Arabia is our enduring internal enemy, already within our borders and permitted to poison American Muslims with its Wahhabi cult. Oh, and Saudi Arabia’s also the spring from which the bloody waters of global jihad flowed. Iran humiliates our sailors, but the Saudis are the spiritual jailers of hundreds of millions of Muslims, committed to intolerance, barbarity and preventing Muslims from joining the modern world. And we help. Firm figures are elusive, but estimates are that the Saudis fund up to 80% of American mosques, at least in part. And their goal is the same here as it is...

“Issac the traveler” as he is known on social media has so far walked almost 6,000 km and has now reached Kuwait. But the Spanish traveler of Algerian descent has about 1,356 km to go to reach the holy city of Makkah to perform Umrah. Umrah is a non-mandatory lesser pilgrimage made by Muslims to Makkah, which may be performed at any time of the year. From Paris - Issac’s starting point - the traveler took five months to reach Kuwait, passing through 16 countries. The only device he has with him to help him reach the goal is simply...

The Arab Coalition fighting in Yemen said on Thursday that it has intercepted a ballistic missile that hit 65 km away from Saudi Arabia's holy city of Makkah, saying it was fired by militias in Yemen. The missile was fired from Saada province towards Makkah, the coalition said. No damage has been reported. Coalition forces confirmed that they targeted the sites where the missile was launched from in Saada and destroyed it shortly after the incident. The firing of the missile received condemnations from several countries with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates reacting with statements condemning Iran and Houthi...

Yemen's Houthi militia launched a ballistic missile toward Mecca on Thursday, the Saudi-led coalition intervening in Yemen's civil war on behalf of the government said in a statement. Coalition forces destroyed the missile 65 km (40 miles) from the holy city before it could do any damage, and retaliated against the launch site inside Yemen, said the statement, carried on the state news agency SPA. Mecca is home to the most sacred sites in Islam, including the Grand Mosque.

The banning of weapons used to shoot monkeys has led to an increase of the primates in Mount Al-Noor District, Makkah newspaper reported. «People living in Mount Al- Noor District have several time reported to the municipality that they are facing problems with monkeys,» Nasser Al-Emairy, a citizen said. “The monkeys would raid our houses and attack our children. They are disturbing our lives. They also leave waste on the streets. After several reports to the municipality, an Arab veterinarian came and assessed the situation. He wrote a report and informed us that the medicine to tranquilize the monkeys is...

Millions of hajj pilgrims are preparing to head home, after five days performing ancient rites, revering a God omnipresent in the city of Mecca. They have stoned figurative devils, they have slept in the world’s largest tent city, they have drunk water from the Zamzam well together: a heaving throng of nearly two million people from all over the world. Circling the Kaaba, the black cubic epicentre of this sanctuary city, pilgrims would have looked up to see one of the minarets of the Grand Mosque, dwarfed by Abraj al-Bait clocktower, a much-maligned luxury hotel and commercial complex and the...

The Abraj Kudai hotel reportedly costs a whopping $ 3.5 billion. (Source: dar.dargroup.com) If all goes according to plan, by 2107 Mecca will be home to the largest hotel in the world with 10,000 rooms! According to reports, the Abraj Kudai hotel, which is the labour of love and a lot of finance – around $3.5 billion of funds are in play – should be ready for visitors in 2017. Touted to be the largest hotel in the world, the project is owned by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Finance and is being designed by the Dar Al-Handasah group. It will...

Submission, Marriage, Sex, and Slavery Part 6 of a Series on the Foundational Doctrines of Islam Islamic doctrine governing women is based on the principle of submission. As we have shown in the previous parts of this series, there is a sharp difference in the chapters of the Koran revealed in the first 13 years of Muhammad’s revelations in Mecca and the chapters revealed in Medina during the final 10 years of his life. The difference in the Meccan and Medinan chapters of the Koran was also a turning point for Islamic teachings on the role and status of women....

1979: Remembering 'The Siege Of Mecca' August 20, 20096:00 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition Yaroslav Trofimov, a reporter with The Wall Street Journal, talks about the 1979 siege of the Grand Mosque at Mecca in Saudi Arabia. It is the holiest site in Islam, and gunmen held it for two weeks. It was one of the events that gave rise to al-Qaida, and Yaroslav wrote about it in his book The Siege of Mecca. RENEE MONTAGNE, host: Thirty years ago, hundreds of Islamic extremists walked into the Grand Mosque in Mecca. They slipped weapons into the holiest site in...