MECCA, Saudi Arabia, Jan 17 (AFP) - Some two million Muslims from across the world have converged on the holy city of Mecca amid razor-sharp Saudi security to perform the hajj pilgrimage which begins Tuesday.
For weeks pilgrims have been flooding into the birthplace of Prophet Mohammed to take part in the annual rituals, which will climax Wednesday on Mount Arafat where the prophet gave his last sermon 14 centuries ago.
Battling a wave of Al-Qaeda-linked attacks since May 2003, Saudi authorities have mobilised more than 50,000 security men in Mecca to ensure that violence does not mar the sanctity of the life-defining hajj.
Security forces will have to work round-the-clock to ensure the masses pass smoothly through the rites to avoid a repetition of tragedies in recent years in which hundreds have been crushed to death in stampedes or fires.
Last year, 251 pilgrims were trampled or suffocated to death during a crush as they vied to stone three pillars representing the devil in Mina, near Mecca.
This year, pilgrims are due to travel to Mina on Tuesday evening where they will spend the night under canvas before catching the bus or walking to Mount Arafat for a ritual which symbolises the Last Judgement.
They will return to Mecca on Thursday, the first day of Eid al-Adha, or Feast of the Sacrifice, when most of them will sacrifice an animal, generally a sheep, in remembrance of Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his son to God.
To cater for demand, Saudi shopkeepers have imported more than a million sheep, largely from Sudan and Uruguay, according to Sayed Abdelrahman, a veterinary officer at the nearby Red Sea port of Jeddah.
On Friday and Saturday, the pilgrims will return to Mina to stone the three statues representing Satan, the ultimate rite of pilgrimage.
Waiting for the rites to begin, pilgrims have spent most of their time praying in Mecca's Grand Mosque, the holiest in Islam, or walking around the Kaaba, the cube-shaped structure revered by Muslims as the house of God.
Some even eat and sleep in the courtyard of the mosque or on the pavements of neighbouring streets. An army of road sweepers pass and re-pass over the courtyard and streets.
Night and day, pilgrims swarm into shops to buy gifts or gadgets to remember what for many is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Others queue interminably outside telephone boxes and offices offering international communications.
Bespectacled and sporting a dishevelled beard, 33-year-old Yussef Khan spent 3,000 dollars to make the pilgrimage all the way from China.
"It's my first visit here. I am enchanted by this city, which is the soul of Islam, particularly as I'm from China, a country of unbelievers," he said.
Outside his hotel opposite the Grand Mosque, Faisal Dessay, 26, from Reunion chats to fellow compatriots from the French island in the Indian Ocean.
"It's awe-inspiring. It is an experience that every Muslim has to live through," he said, adding that he was fed up with Al-Qaeda and advocates of militant Islam.
"Osama bin Laden and the terrorists say they act in the name of Islam, but our religion preaches the opposite of what they practice," he said, adding that Islam was "a religion of peace and mercy."
Zein al-Arifin, a 43-year-old from Indonesia, had thoughts only for the tens of thousands of victims of last month's tsunami disaster that devastated several countries in south Asia.
"I'm going to pray for the victims and all Indonesian pilgrims will do the same as me," he said. "The tsunamis were unleashed by God to test our faith and we must be patient in the face of these trials."

01/17/2005 15:52 GMT - AFP