Saudi authorities vow to make Hajj safer

The Saudi kingdom plans to avoid another Hajj disaster like the latest stampede that killed more than 363 pilgrims.

Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz called on Muslim scholars to issue religious edicts allowing pilgrims more time to perform the devil-stoning ritual.

"Islamic scholars must extrapolate solutions from the Qur’an ... in order for pilgrims to have more time for the stoning ritual ... it is their duty to save Muslims," Prince Nayef said.

The stoning ritual at the Jamarat area has witnesses several disasters, the worst were this year’s stampede and the 1990 tragedy when 1,426 pilgrims were crushed to death in an overcrowded pedestrian tunnel in the holy city of Mecca.

Hajj authorities in Saudi Arabia believe that allowing the stoning to be performed thorough the day, instead of during the 5-1/2 hours between noon and sunset, would solve the issue of mass congestion and decrease the likelihood of deadly stampedes.

But there are differing views on the issue. Although some top Muslim clerics approve extending the hours of the stoning ritual, the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh, rejects it.

Former judge and Islamic scholar Abdul-Aziz al-Qassim says the issue should be studied by the Islamic Fiqh Academy, the jurisprudence arm of the Organization for the Islamic Conference, an umbrella group of all Muslim countries. "People should not be allowed to die because [they are following] a tradition of the prophet when an alternative has not been explicitly banned in the religion," he said.

An official at the Jeddah-based Islamic Fiqh Academy said that the organization plans to hold a conference on the issue that would include scholars from throughout the Muslim world.

"We will study the issue of stoning before noon and hopefully issue a group fatwa to express our point of view," says Abdul-Qahar Qamar, an Islamic law scholar and researcher at the academy.

Source: CSM