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Mina: More than two million Muslim pilgrims began the symbolic stoning of the devil yesterday, that puts to test new safety measures at a stage of the Haj that has seen tragedy in the past.
But the rites were overshadowed by the news that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussain, a hero to many Sunni Arabs because of his anti-US stance, had been executed at dawn by the US-backed Shiite government.
Security fears were already high during this Haj season because of sectarian strife between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in Iraq and elsewhere in the region.
Many Sunni Arabs were angered by the news but some Iraqi pilgrims were celebrating both Saddam's death and the Eid Al Adha, or Feast of Sacrifice, that began yesterday.
"Congratulations, this is like two Eids! I hope God will not have mercy on him," said Iraqi pilgrim Nadir Abdullah.
The stoning ritual at the Jamarat Bridge - when pilgrims symbolically cast out the devil - begins on Eid Al Adha, the third day of the gruelling 5-day Haj which is a duty for all able-bodied Muslims who can afford it.
With such large crowds, Saudi Arabia deploys more than 50,000 security men to try to avoid deadly stampedes, as well as attacks by extremists.
The authorities are also worried over political protests which security forces have broken up by force in the past. "The Haj rites are not the place for slogans, postures and name-calling," top Saudi cleric Shaikh Abdul Aziz Al Al Shaikh warned in a sermon at Mount Arafat on Friday.
King's visit
Overnight, an elated mass of pilgrims, clad in white robes symbolising equality and selflessness, chanted prayers in Arabic as they slowly moved along a vast floodlit avenue towards Muzdalifah and then to Mina, where they stay for three days.
On Friday Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah visited the site to look at construction work meant to allow 250,000 pilgrims to pass over the bridge in safety each hour.
In the worst Haj tragedy in 16 years, 362 pilgrims were crushed to death in January as crowds surged across the bridge to throw stones at three large walls representing the spot where Islam says Satan tried to tempt the biblical patriarch Abraham.
"This is a symbolic gesture that reminds you of the historic animosity between Satan and human beings, and this stoning is something that the Prophet showed us to do," said Habib Al Wazzani, a pilgrim from Tunisia.
Many clerics insist the stoning must take place in the afternoon, raising the prospect of a surge of pilgrims at one time. But government-backed clerics have approved stoning at any time.
"Religion should be easy," said Saudi pilgrim Mohammad Sulaiman, who chose to observe the rite in the morning. "There should be no hardship for the Islamic nation."
Pilgrims have walked about 35km in the first two days of the Haj.
A record 1.65 million pilgrims have come from abroad, a 6 per cent rise on the last Haj. Several hundred thousand people inside Saudi Arabia usually receive permits too.
But anecdotal evidence suggests total pilgrim numbers this season have swelled to more than the record of 2.6 million, as local residents sneak into Makkah without official permits.
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