Top Saudi Cleric Blasts Attacks on Nation
Wednesday January 19, 2005 10:46 PM
AP Photo XAN121
By ADNAN MALIK
Associated Press Writer
MOUNT ARAFAT, Saudi Arabia (AP) - Saudi Arabia's top cleric told 2 million hajj pilgrims Wednesday that some of Islam's own son's had been ``lured by the devil'' to conduct violent attacks on the kingdom and charged that the non-Muslim world was conspiring against the people of the faith.
The pilgrims converged on Mount Arafat for the climax of the hajj, their eyes welled with tears as they prayed on the most critical day of the annual pilgrimage the faithful believe will wipe away their sins.
Sheik Abdul-Aziz al-Sheik, speaking at a mosque near Mount Arafat on the climactic day, lamented the violence waged by Muslim militants against Saudi Arabia.
``The greatest affliction to strike the nation of Islam came from some of its own sons, who were lured by the devil,'' the cleric said. ``They have called the nation infidel, they have shed protected blood and they have spread vice on earth, with explosions and destruction and killing of innocents.''
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