Pilgrimage to Mecca May Come w/Extra Dose of Ebola

Pilgrimage to Mecca May Come w/Extra Dose of Ebola

by Daniel Greenfield

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam. He is completing a book on the international challenges America faces in the 21st century.


In Islam, making a ritual pilgrimage to Mecca is almost as sacred as beheading a screaming infidel. These pilgrimages often come with their own death tolls as Muslims throw rocks at a pillar representing satan and generally trample each other and have a good time.

In the past, African Muslims would be tricked into making the pilgrimage only to be left with nothing and then sold as slaves. Today there’s a different sort of threat for them on the horizon.

Anxious to safeguard Islam’s haj pilgrimage from the threat of Ebola, Saudi authorities are screening pilgrims arriving from West Africa and have deployed mobile laboratories to test any suspected cases quickly.

The kingdom expects nearly 3 million pilgrims in Mecca this year, including 1.4 million from abroad. The health ministry said on Thursday it has been working with the World Health Organization and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to contain the threat of Ebola, which has killed 3,300 people in West Africa this year.

“We came from Lagos and went through screening there and again have been tested here in Saudi, so for sure we don’t have anything,” said Abdelsamad Shoudany, a Nigerian doctor standing outside the Grand Mosque in Mecca.

Inside, huge numbers of people were performing the first of the haj rites, walking around the Kaaba, the black-clad cube toward which the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims face to pray, and which they see as the geographic center of their faith.

The Saudis imposed a travel ban on Ebola countries because they are the opposite of politically correct, but disease often spreads in Mecca and it may take some time until we know for sure. We still don’t know what exactly happened with those 5 Saudi passengers reportedly returning from Mecca who were quarantined in Boston.http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/10/13/united-arab-emirates-flight-quarantined-logan-after-sick-passengers-reported/X5DSbXfckXH9Q0PcGMsq4M/story.html

Meanwhile the death toll is up to 20 for Egyptian pilgrims and up to 58 for Pakistani pilgrims, though the causes are supposedly natural.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/112364/Egypt/Politics-/Death-toll-among-Egyptian-Hajj-pilgrims-reaches-.aspx

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-33372-58-Pak-pilgrims-died-before-and-after-performing-Haj