1.   In recent months, Iranian pilgrims have begun to travel as tourists to Iraq to visit Najaf and Karbala, two of the holiest shrines in Shiite Islam.

2.   After circling the Kaaba, many pilgrims began their journey home.

3.   Bundled in scarves and sweaters against the autumn chill, pilgrims began arriving at the square before dawn.

4.   Mathes said the Christians would probably agree to the construction of the mosque so as to calm the tensions in the city before Christian pilgrims begin coming.

5.   The pilgrims began their seven-mile journey to Mount Arafat from Mecca after the Friday noon prayers at the Grand Mosque.

6.   The young pilgrims began flooding the race track in the afternoon.

7.   But bad weather set in just before the weekend and many pilgrims began dying from exposure as snow and rains blocked narrow mountain roads.

8.   More than two million Muslim pilgrims began pouring into the plains of Arafat Thursday for the climax of the annual hajj.

9.   The first of the visas and flight tickets were handed out Wednesday morning, and the pilgrims began gathering in their white hajj robes at the airport soon thereafter.