King Abdullah to lay foundation stone to Makkah Haram expansion works

JEDDAH: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah will lay the foundation stone to the Makkah Haram expansion works in a few days. The project is called the King Abdullah Expansion of the Makkah Haram.

The king will also open a number of other development projects that aim to improve the safety and comfort of pilgrims at the two holy mosques and holy sites.

The projects currently underway at the Haram include the expansion of the northern courtyard of the Grand Mosque, the Masaa (the running course between Al-Safa and Al-Marwah,) the King Abdul Aziz Endowment Project, the King Abdul Aziz Road, the Mashair Railway connecting Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah, the Haramain Railway to link the two holy cities of Makkah and Madinah, the Central Zone Development project and new circular roads in addition to flood drainage projects in the holy sites and the Al-Jamarat complex, Al-Riyadh daily reported on Thursday.

The project at the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah include the expansion of the courtyards around the mosque in all directions so that its capacity climbs to 350,000 people.

The huge projects implemented at the orders of the king include the development of the Al-Jamarat Bridge with the aim of increasing its capacity to 5 million pilgrims and the Mashair Railway that is scheduled to become fully operational before the beginning of the upcoming Haj in November. The metro service will operate 17 trains with 12 coaches in each train. A train will carry 3,000 pilgrims.

The development of the King Abdul Aziz Endowment project comprises six residential towers and a five-star hotel. The frontal towers of the towers are 28 stories high while the rear towers are 35 stories. Its side towers are 45 stories high while the hotel tower is 60 stories. The entire complex with 11,000 rooms and suites will accommodate 35,000 pilgrims.

The water management project in the holy sites includes construction of several feeder canals to gather floodwater from nearby mountains and a number of check dams and subterranean ducts.

The canals will start from the foot of the Eastern Ras Al-Shoayb mountain and will extend to the border of Mina at the King Fahd Tunnel.

The project also includes three concrete check dams on the basin of the flood course to the north of Mina and at the western side of the Al-Shoayb mountain and at the north of the King Khaled Road near the Square 28 and the Magar Kabsh area.

Another tunnel will be built to channel the floodwater collected on the other side of the Magar Kabsh dam to the western side of the Al-Shoayb mountain. Tunnels will also be built to carry the water to Al-Moaysim side.

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12,000 American Muslims To Make Pilgrimage To Mecca

Some 12,000 American Muslims are expected to join an estimated 2.5 million pilgrims in the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca for the hajj, the annual Islamic pilgrimage that this year runs between Nov. 14 and 18.

The number of pilgrims expected is about the same as in recent years, said Nail Al-Jubeir, a spokesman for the Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington, D.C., which limits pilgrims to making the pilgrimage no more than once every five years.

Islam requires followers who are physically and financially capable to complete the hajj once in their lifetime.

Overcrowding and catastrophic stampedes have led Saudi authorities to issue special hajj visas; since 1990, more than 2,500 pilgrims have been killed in stampedes, while hundreds more die each year as a result of sickness, heart attacks, traffic accidents and other incidents.

Most problems have occurred at an elevated platform known as the Jamarat, from which pilgrims throw stones at walls representing the devil. To ease overcrowding, Saudi authorities have gradually expanded the Jamarat to five levels and added exits.

Despite efforts to limit the number of pilgrims, hundreds of thousands of mainly Saudi residents still try to perform hajj without permits. "Quite a few people get turned back because of overcrowding," said Al-Jubeir.

Many unauthorized pilgrims evade detection and camp out in the hills surrounding Mecca, where Muslims believe Islam's prophet Muhammad received his first revelation from God in 610 A.D. "It becomes a sanitation nightmare," he said.

For American Muslims, the most difficult part of the journey may be the return home. In recent years, many Muslims returning from travel abroad have complained about religious profiling and lengthy searches and questioning at airports and border crossings.

In response, Muslim civil rights groups have issued travel advisories for pilgrims, telling them to expect questioning and advising them what types of questions are legal, such as name and residency, and which are not, including questions about religious or political beliefs.

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