ADNKronos:
Saudi Arabia: Obama's grandmother in Mecca for 'Hajj' ceremony
Mecca, 25 Nov. (AKI) - The grandmother of US president Barack Obama has arrived in Saudi Arabia for the 'Hajj' or Islamic pilgrimage to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, a Saudi daily said on Wednesday. Sarah Obama, 87, is being accompanied by a nephew and Obama's cousin, Omran.
On Wednesday Sarah Obama was in the valley of Mina with an African delegation, according to the Saudi daily Okaz.
Obama, the mother of the American president's father, lives in a village in Kenya and is one of the many guests of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud.
About two million Muslims converge on Mecca each year for the Hajj pilgrimage but Saudi officials were expecting fewer pilgrims this year due to the threat of the H1N1 virus known as swine flu.
Crowds of pilgrims have been converging on the holy city of Mecca in recent days, and started the Hajj rites on Wednesday.
At the weekend, Saudi health authorities said that four people attending the Hajj had died from the H1N1 virus but sought to play down the risk.
The Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam. It is an obligation for all able-bodied Muslims to attend at least once during their lives, provided they can afford it.
4 comments:
I saw this on Weasel Zippers. A guy named "Dallas" posted this link:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-03-05-obama-kin_N.htm
Looks like granny was performing "teqiya" in the above link. If she was lying about herself perhaps she was doing the same for her grandson.
Obama's granny must certainly be a Muslim if she is attending the Hajj. Mecca is a forbidden destination for non-Muslims to visit. This is all apart of both Saudi and Islamic Law and from what I understand, there are no exceptions.
Isn't that sweet.
I find it quite odd that during the election campaign, the Obmaa campgin complained about a leak of a photo of him in a Muslim robe.
But I remember there being a cropped photo of former President George W. Bush in a Taliban-style get up. Most likely, the photo was authored by a Leftist just trying to compare Dubya's religious views to the Taliban's.
Why's the photo of the now President in a Muslim robe, or allegations of his family members being Muslim coined "Islamophobic"? But it's perfectly fine to compare Dubya to be dressed up as a Taliban terrorist?
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