The Hajj in Mecca

JERUSALEM – CNN's extensive coverage this week of the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca is a defeat for evangelical Christians and proves it is only a question of time before Islam will be "shining all over the world," according to Muslim terrorists in Gaza speaking to WND.

Starting last Saturday and continuing until Wednesday, CNN provided regular coverage of the Hajj, the largest annual pilgrimage in the world. The fifth pillar of Islam requires every able-bodied Muslim to travel to Mecca at least once in their life in a demonstration of solidarity with fellow Muslims and in an act of individual submission to Allah.

CNN aired several live reports from this year's Hajj, including a live shot of the end of the pilgrimage in which Muslims in attendance encircle the Kabah – the holiest Islamic building in Mecca – seven times, in a counter-clockwise direction. The news network also provided extensive online coverage, including several articles and an entire special section of the CNN website dedicated to the Hajj.

CNN regularly provides coverage of festivals of other religions, including extensive Christmas reporting and occasional coverage of Jewish holidays.

The Hajj reporting was sure to draw accolades from the many Muslims among CNN's national and international audience. Apparently this extends to some radical Muslims and terrorists in the Gaza Strip, who may have read a little too much into the coverage.

"The fact that the Americans, who are the biggest enemies of Islam, are so interested in the Hajj proves they want to know what is this thing threatening their culture. They want to understand what is this religion that is defeating them in the U.S., in Iraq, in Palestine, everywhere," said Muhammad Abdel Al, spokesman and a leader of the Popular Resistance Committees terrorist organization.

"This (CNN coverage) proves it's a question of time when Islam will be shining all over the world," Abdel-Al told WND.

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Abdel-Al's Committees' is responsible for scores of suicide bombing, shooting attacks and rocket launchings against Jewish civilian population centers. The group carried out a 2003 roadside bomb attack that killed three American contractors.

Abdel-Al said he didn't personally watch the CNN coverage. He said he heard about it in several Arabic language news reports boasting of CNN's interest in the Hajj.

Also sounding off about the news network was Abu Islam, chief of Jihadiya Silafiya, a Palestinian Islamist organization ideologically allied with al-Qaida values. The group took responsibility for several attacks targeting Christians in Gaza, including the bombing of a Christian bookstore there accused of missionary activity.

"Since CNN gives the Hajj so much coverage, it means there is no way that Islam is defeated. We bless CNN for this great gesture that can improve relations between the West and between Islam. They did it because they checked with audience and found they are so interested in knowing Islam," said Abu Islam.

"I am calling all Americans to see how Islam is a religion of modesty where the richest person in there world and poorest person in the world can meet in Mecca and they have no differences. As long as we believe in Allah, then Allah says Islam will be winning, so Americans understand they cannot defeat Islam."

Abu Islam called CNN's Hajj coverage a "defeat for the radical Christian evangelists who wanted to show Islam only in a dark way. We are defeating these people through their homes in their lands."

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