Mecca Tragedy

Hagar

I got roasted earlier by WWM for an insensitive post on this topic in AH and rightly so. I wasn't banned but it was my dumbest post for a long, long time.

I would like to extend genuine sympathy to those who suffered a loss and to the greater Muslim community.

Nevertheless I am still baffled why every year there is tremendous loss of life at the Hadj. I accept it is hard to control large volumes of people in a relatively small area but this is not something new. These pilgrimages have been going on for centuries. You would imagine that the authorities would be well used to what happens and could manage the situation accordingly. Does some sort of mass hyteria take over or what? I know ritual stoning is involved and occassionally someone might get hit by a rock but why is there always stampedes?

Is a pilgrimage not a voyage of prayer and enlightenment? I am not trying to condemn Islam but I just cannot understand what's so different between it and other religions? I have never heard of anybody, much less hundreds, dying on a Christian pilgrimage. (Ignore the Crudades and terminally ill dying at Lourdes for now please).

Wibbs

Well to be fair to the Saudis, they have tried and have brought some improvements. It always happens in that bottleneck(the stoning(pebbling really) of the pillar/satan IIRC). If you mix various ages, heat, religious fervour and huge, moving crowds, its only a matter of time, I suppose. The traditional aspect of the route might preclude much change too. Tragic for the families of those caught up in it.

Hobbes

The site itself has a history of deaths. From what I have read on it mostly due to the fact they are squeezing millions through a small area. Its not like they are intentionally trying to trample each other to death, nor were any of them related in getting to throw stones as soon as possible.

Wibbs

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4607770.stm gives a good idea of the crowds involved. Huge isn't in it. As the graphic shows the Saudis made big improvements to the site. Before IIRC it was just 3 tiny pillars in circular pits. With these kind of numbers its probably always going to happen though. It happens with much smaller numbers at football games and the like. As for why only Islam? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think any other religion has such numbers doing a specific pilgrimage or ceremony every year. It's just down to the numbers and the law of averages involved.

Talliesin

Hagar wrote:

I have never heard of anybody, much less hundreds, dying on a Christian pilgrimage.

As a percentage of those going Croagh Patrick is probably more dangerous with the handful of deaths that have occurred over the centuries.