Word: jidda
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...desert cities and oases of North Africa-followed the Koran's injunction and swarmed into the Lebanese city of Beirut,* the usual way-station on the road to Mecca. Each clutched in the voluminous folds of his ihram (the pilgrim's sheetlike uniform), an airline ticket to Jidda, the airport nearest the holy city...
...hajj on Friday (the Moslem sabbath) is seven times blessed and sure to achieve heaven. For another, Saudi Arabia's King Ibn Saud, whose oil-rich country includes Mecca, had lifted the usual tax of $52 per pilgrim. Agents of the three local airlines began selling tickets to Jidda like hot cakes. But when the holders turned up in Beirut, they found that there were not nearly enough planes to carry them. The hajjis began piling up in Beirut's streets, in the mosques and at the airport...
Each clutching a box lunch (bread, olives, cheese, fruit) provided in haste by the American Friends of the Middle East (organized by. U.S. Columnist Dorothy Thompson), the hajjis were hustled aboard the big planes, 50 to a flight. All day long the transports shuttled back & forth to Jidda. One old man, deaf and blind at 85, was led aboard a plane by his son. "This is help sent by Allah," the son told the U.S. pilot. "We are linked together today by love and faith." Another passenger on the magic carpet provided by the U.S. was irascible old Mullah Kashani...