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Islamic pilgrims debate forgiveness for militants

Iranian women pilgrims on Monday perform a symbolic stoning of the devil as they throw pebbles at a pillar in Mina, just outside Mecca in Saudi Arabia, during the annual Muslim pilgrimage or hajj. PHOTO: AP

Although the annual hajj is a time of erasing past sins, some pilgrims are finding it hard to forgive Islamic militants -- including suicide bombers -- for blackening their religion's image.

The pilgrimage comes as some militants and clerics in the Arab world have renounced their extremist stands in recent months. They embraced moderation in the wake of international and domestic pressure, especially since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the US.

While some pilgrims in this holy city said militants don't deserve forgiveness, many others maintained that forgiveness, like repentance, is crucial to eliminating extremism.

"We must not create an enmity with them," Saudi pilgrim Abdullah al-Ghamdi, 27, said of the militants.

"We have to open a dialogue with them so that they are fully convinced," he said.

Syrian merchant and first-time pilgrim Seif Eddin Shalabi disagreed.

"By God, we can never forgive them for what they have done," Shalabi said on Tuesday.

"They have caused strife between Muslims themselves and between Muslims and the West. Also what about the numerous victims? Who's to be held accountable for that?"

Shalabi said militants have caused resistance to be confused with terrorism, "which has undermined our causes in Palestine and Iraq."

Shoeib Adamou, from Nigeria, said terrorists cannot even be considered real Muslims.

"The whole Muslim community has repeatedly denounced them, so forgiveness is not even an issue here," he said, as waves of pilgrims poured into Mecca for the last rites of a pilgrimage marred by the trampling deaths of 251 people on Sunday.

Condemnations of extremism and terrorism have been central to speeches and sermons delivered at this year's hajj, where fears of a terror attack kept security high.

In a Saturday sermon on Mount Arafat, top Saudi cleric Abdel Aziz Al al-Sheik said terrorists have helped "the enemies of Islam" in attacking the religion.

At the feast prayers a day later in the Grand Mosque, cleric Abdel Rahman bin Abdel Aziz al-Sudeis denounced extremism and stressed that Islam is a religion of moderation.

The same ideas were highlighted by the Saudi king and crown prince, who described terrorists as "people with sick thought" in their address to the pilgrims Monday.

Following the Sept. 11 attacks, Saudi Arabia -- home to 15 of the 19 suicide hijackers -- and other Muslim countries came under intense pressure to combat religious extremism.

After suicide bombings struck the Saudi capital of Riyadh last year, the government cracked down heavily on Islamic militants and terror suspects.

In the past few months, three Muslim clerics detained in terror sweeps and charged with advocating violence in sermons appeared on Saudi state-run television to call on militants to disarm and renounce extremism. A group of arrested militants also apologized on television, saying they had been brainwashed.

In Egypt, the imprisoned leaders of the country's largest militant group, al-Gamaa al-Islamiya, have published books renouncing their earlier violence and have denounced last year's suicide attacks in Saudi Arabia.

And in Yemen, where at least 170 repentant al-Qaeda militants were released after vowing to respect Yemen's laws, authorities have opened a dialogue with militants who haven't been involved in terrorist acts.

"The door to repentance is open," said Egyptian salesman Mohammed al-Sayed, who was performing his third hajj. "The important thing is that they are sincere."

Usama Mustafa, an American of Lebanese origin, praised militants who repented, but accused the US and Arab regimes of "pushing the militants to the extreme" -- America through its perceived bias toward Israel, and Arab governments by oppressing their own citizens.

"What do they expect from these people? That they smile back at them? The injustice is so clear," said the hospital administrator from Alexandria, Virginia.

"We cannot blame them [militants] too much, and we cannot defend them too much," he said.
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