Foreign toll in Saudi hajj stampede
Saudi authorities have yet to provide a breakdown of the nationalities of the 769 Muslim pilgrims killed in Thursday’s hajj stampede, but several countries have announced the deaths of nationals.
Here is the toll given by foreign officials and media so far:
– Iran: 169 dead and 298 missing
– Morocco: 87 dead (Moroccan media), 3 dead and many missing (official)
– Egypt: 55 dead
– Nigeria: 54 dead
– Indonesia: 41 dead
– India: 35 dead
– Cameroon: at least 20 dead
– Niger: 22 dead
– Pakistan: 18 dead
– Ivory Coast: 14 dead, 77 missing
– Chad: 11 dead
– Somalia: 8 dead (media reports)
– Algeria: 8 dead
– Senegal: 5 dead
– Libya: 4 dead
– Tanzania: 4 dead
– Kenya: 3 dead
– Burkina Faso: 1 dead
– Burundi: 1 dead (Muslim association)
– Netherlands: 1 dead
– Tunisia: 1 dead
– Benin: unspecified number of deaths
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1 Comments
Every year hundreds of souls are lost to this kind of tragedy in Mecca. It is said to be the will of Allah. This kind of fatality (I mean both in body counts and belief) is sad. It seems that nothing can be done to stop it since nobody dares to thwart the will of Allah. Can’t Allah be pacified by prayers to change his will? Or better still, can’t safety measures be put in place? I bet even Allah will change his will if he sees strict safety measures in place.
On the other hand, can’t the stoning of the Devil be assigned to someone who is more competent? It seems the Devil has been having the upper hand in this annual contest; killing scores of faithful. Since Quran accepts the Inji, and the later says prophet Isa used to cast out the Devil and will soon destroy him, can’t the faithful wait for Prophet Isa to do this job one for all time? I am just asking.
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