Word: mecca
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...airlift for pilgrims to Mecca...
...Koran orders all the faithful, except slaves, women without companions and those who cannot afford the journey, to make the hajj, the holy pilgrimage to Mecca, at least once in their lifetime. Last fortnight, as the season of the hajj drew near once again, more hajjis (pilgrims) than ever before-hajjis from Turkey, Iran, Iraq and most of the 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...
...ordained day of the pilgrimage's start this year fell on a Friday, and a pilgrim who makes the 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...
They didn't complain. They didn't protest. They just waited. Forbidden by Islamic law to wear hats on hajj, they sat huddled hour after hour under the broiling sun, certain that Allah, in his wisdom, would somehow get them to Mecca. Lebanese peddlers did a land-office business selling umbrellas against the fierce heat. "Yallah, hajji [Out of the way, pilgrim]!" cried airport attendants. The huddled groups moved aside, returned and continued to wait-for once on hajj, no pilgrim ever turns back...
...bedroom complete with bath; an elevator; 18 luxurious chair seats. The plane is expected to be ready for delivery this month in time to carry the King from his winter quarters in Ryadh to the summer palace in Taif to lead off the annual pilgrimage of Moslems to Mecca...