| Reuters photo |
Just less than two weeks after a construction crane came crashing down the roof of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, killing 107 people and injuring more than two hundred worshipers, another bigger disaster took place yesterday when at least 717 pilgrims were killed in a stampede in Mina where ritual of stoning the devil being carried out as one of their last major Hajj rites.
More than eight hundred others were injured when a multi-story structure, known as Jamarat Bridge were trampled after claims that an 'unprecedented high number of pilgrims' surrounding that area.
Mina is situated a few kilometers east of Mecca and pilgrims will end their Hajj here in what dubbed by officials to be the worst in Hajj disaster in 25 years since July 1990, when 1,426 pilgrims suffocated in a tunnel near Mecca. Both incidents occurred on Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice), Islam's most important feast and the day of the stoning ritual.
Reading some of comments online, especially from citizens of certain country, blaming the Saudis government for the befallen disaster conform my believe that people are so easy to blame on something when something bad happened.
They said they are Muslim.
They claimed they are better than other believers. But what they failed to do is to check on their own little self.
To check on their mentality and outlook in life. To evaluate and weigh situations both personally and overall.
Perhaps most of them does not know what reality check is.
Being live in this side of the globe for nearly a decade, having to 'savor' their way of doing things, such as on the road for instance -- my conclusion is these people are basically narrow minded people, lustful with I-want-it-my-way and are perhaps always having the thoughts that they are more important than others.
They lack empathy and having little wisdom evaluating consequences of their actions.
With much remorse I read one comment online, where this man and his fellow yay-er blaming the Saudi government for non- systematic way of arrangement of the ritual site and building buildings surrounding the area etc -- I could not hold myself from lambasting him on how shallow and how ignorant he is while claiming himself a Muslim yet he fails to believe in qadâ and qadr.
All they know is they must blame it on something.
Not themselves.
Not their intolerance and unwillingness to listen to instructions and not their common 'known' attitude as a whole.
All these disasters can be avoided if 60 percent of those worshipers would have conscience and a little bit of patience in their heart. After all this is what required of them Muslims by the religion. And it is what being told upon -- that this rituals would not be a bed of roses.
The haj where Muslim from around the world would gather yearly has been the scene of numerous incidents and accidents such as fire due to human negligence, riots and other misfortune.
However,it has seen improvement and reduction as Saudi government spent billions of dollars upgrading and expanding the sites infrastructure with crowd control technology such as thousands of cameras and loudspeakers in order to control any commotions.
Nonetheless, even the government set up the best ever crowd controlling system to avoid disasters, BUT if the crowd itself is uncontrollable and have not a tinge of consciousness, then it will be to no avail, and death such as this would happen again and again.
Maybe not in a bigger numbers in next couple of years but it will occur unnecessarily and unexpectedly.
Again, it amuses me reading Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei statement asking the Saudi government to take responsibility for the incident in which more than 150 of their nationals were reported to have died.
I won't be surprised that this will later ensued with some sort of retaliation from them and hopefully not become a revenge and a start of any war. God forbid. Knowing these people are all 'war'-riors. And blood must be paid in blood.
One thing I know what future pilgrimers should be thought, (of course) besides all those ritual prayers and what one should do during the homage is this :
ICKY -- Impatience Can Kill You
Let's wait and see....
