The stampede began as tens of thousands of pilgrims filed past al-Jamarat, a series of three large stone walls representing the devil that the faithful pelt with stones to purge themselves of sin.
but it brings to the surface in me one of the difficulties I have with Islam's universal claims on human allegiance. You see I can't really take a religion seriously as a claimant for universal applicability when it can't scale up. The problem is that the hajj is restricted to a particular season, is qualifiedly obligatory and the infrastructure of the sites clearly cannot cope with the numbers and could not cope with further growth. The hajj cannot safely be a universal imposition. It works with small numbers, it could conceivably work if it was all the year round but as the current allegedly divinely revealed rules go ... nah, I can't see it.
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | At least 50 dead in hajj stampede:
Filed in: Islam, hajj
1 comment:
I guess there must be some truth to that old saying that those on mass Hajjes shouldn’t throw stones.
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