What is the Hajj? What to Know About the Pilgrimage and Saudi Arabia’s Preparations
www.nytimes.com
Millions have made the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. The kingdom faces scrutiny over safety after more than 1,300 people died last year.

The hajj, one of the largest annual human gatherings in the world, begins on Wednesday in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Amid rising temperatures and logistical challenges, the pilgrimage has increasingly become a test of endurance both for pilgrims and the Saudi government.

Millions of Muslims from around the world travel to the city to take part; Saudi Arabia said 1,475,230 pilgrims from abroad have arrived since Sunday. Last year, the Saudi government said more than 1,300 pilgrims died, many from Egypt. Most of those who perished had been unregistered, Saudi officials said, meaning they had made the trip without the permits that gave them access to heat protections.

  • QuoVadisHomines@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    11·
    12 hours ago

    It’s a huge assumption on your part that they believed it. It was and it remains an instrument of control. They took considerable editorial liberties, too, with the supposed word of god.

    That is an equally large presumption. I happen to agree that some were more interested in control but many were believers.

    Anyway, even if they believed it that is STILL NOT EVIDENCE

    To them it is. Do you not get that they believe they have the words of their divine being in book form? If their faith is correct it would be proof.

    • scarabic@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      5 hours ago

      You don’t seem to understand the word proof.

      Proof means it can demonstrate what is true to anyone.

      “If everything I’m saying is true, then this book is evidence of the truth!”

      See, all I have to do is believe LOTR is real and then I meet your burden of proof. See how pathetic a standard that is?

      Before you say no one believes LOTR is real, let me remind you that yes there are some people, and I consider them about as crazy as Christians are. Secondly, there are thousands of religions with supposed texts. Are all of those “proof” too?

      I’ve heard the same self-validating logic about the council of Nicea. When asked “how could this possibly be the word of god when it was so clearly meddled with by human decisions?”

      The answer: “well if you accept at all that it’s the word of god, don’t you think he would make sure it came out right?”

      In other words, you either believe it or you don’t. But that’s the beauty of actual evidence, actual proof: you don’t have to already believe in it. It is sufficient to change preconceptions.

      But why am I not surprised at this conversation. I mean OBVIOUSLY a religious person wouldn’t understand the very idea of proof. “Faith is the evidence of things unseen” blah blah. The brainwashing is real. People lose their very faculty to reason.