TT Muslims escape death in Mecca stampede

LOCAL MUSLIMS were left singing praises to “Allah” yesterday after 32 of their “brothers and sisters” escaped death in the final stages of Hajj in the Holy City of Mecca, Saudi Arabia yesterday. At least 244 people were trampled to death and hundreds more were injured at Mount Arafat during a Hajj ritual known as “The Stoning of the Devil” which is considered to be “an emotional and notoriously perilous Hajj ritual” The ritual involves pilgrims frantically throwing rocks, shouting insults or hurling their shoes at three stone pillars — acts that are supposed to demonstrate their deep disdain for Satan.

Contacted late yesterday evening, Anjuman- Sunnat-ul Jamaat Association (ASJA) public relations officer Nazam Shah told Newsday that he has been in constant contact with local Muslims in Saudi Arabia and none of the 32 Trinidadians who participated in that ritual were killed or injured. Shah said reports out of Saudi Arabia indicated that those Trinidadians had just completed the ritual and were heading back to their tents when the tragedy occurred. The ASJA PRO added that he was liaising with TT nationals in London who are in turn communicating with Trinidadians in Saudi Arabia in order to keep the public abreast of the latest events in the Middle Eastern nation. Shah’s information was supported by 28-year-old Hisham Mohammed, who is among the group of Trinidadians led by Zabbar Baksh, who annually arranges travel arrangements for local Muslims to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj.

Mohammed, an Islamic law student in Saudi Arabia, had returned home recently for vacation and accompanied other relatives in the Baksh group to Mecca. Mohammed informed Newsday that no Trinidadian was anywhere close to the scene of yesterday’s tragedy. Earlier in the day, former ASJA president Dr Mansoor Ibrahim indicated that in circumstances such as these, the groups making the pilgrimage would contact home to inform relatives of their whereabouts and whether anyone was injured. He gave the assurance that everything would be done to inform relatives of the whereabouts of their loved ones in Saudi Arabia at this time. Ibrahim added that as far as he was aware, some 120 Trinidadians had gone to Mecca.