TEHRAN The greatest congregation of the Muslims was launched in Mina yesterday when two million Muslims from different parts of the world gathered in the valley outside the holy city of Mecca to perform the first ritual of the annual Hajj pilgrimage, chanting: "Here I Am, Allah, Answering Your Call."

Two million human beings, dressed in pilgrimage gown *** ihram ****, constituted a sea of human being, demonstrating unity, equality and brotherhood, all answering the call of God.

The pilgrims are to spend the night under thousands of tents where Prophet Mohammad (S) spent the night.

The official Saudi news agency SPA said the migration toward Mina, an uninhabited valley circled by arid mountains, was free of incident.

Due to heavy congestion on the wide paved road leading to the valley, the 12-kilometer (7-mile) drive took several hours rather than the normal 15 minutes of other days.

"I spent a big portion of my earnings just to be here," said Issa, an Arab American who paid 5,000 dollars to make the Hajj from San Francisco, California. "It's a magnificent feeling," according to the AFP.

The pilgrims who opted to make the "journey of faith" on foot carried umbrellas to shield them against the Persian Gulf sun, as thousands of unarmed Saudi police lined the roads in a massive security operation.

Bottled drinking water and bread were distributed along the route, dotted with clinics to provide first aid. Hajj authorities have laid on a daily consignment of five million loaves of bread.

"It's been my dream to come back to this place since I did the pilgrimage 30 years ago," said 64-year-old Abdullah from Lebanon.

From next year, Saudi authorities -- as part of measures to ease the numbers -- plan to impose a ban on pilgrims returning for the Hajj more than once every five years.

Quotas are already imposed on each Muslim country according to population.

A record 1.5 million pilgrims have poured into Saudi Arabia this year, joining around 500,000 Muslim pilgrims who live in the kingdom, for the Hajj, which is one of the five pillars of Islam.

Saudi authorities have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to cut down the risk of disaster during the annual mass gathering of the Muslim faithful.

The Mina tents are air-conditioned and fireproofed to prevent a recurrence of a blaze that cost 343 lives in 1997.

Meanwhile, the faithful who have converged on Saudi Arabia from 160 countries are preparing for the climax of their pilgrimage.

Pilgrims -- the men clad in two-piece seamless white cloth, the women covered except for the hands and face -- will gather today (Sunday) on the plain of Arafat, 12 kilometers (seven miles) from Mecca.

There they assemble for the "standing" on the mount of mercy for the climax of the 1,400-year-old Hajj.

They are to spend the day praying for mercy, in a symbolic enactment of the final judgment at the scene of Prophet Mohammad's (S) last sermon.

A newborn Egyptian girl will be the youngest Muslim to take part, **** Al-Ahram ***** newspaper in Cairo reported. Little Aisha, named in honor of the Prophet's (S) favorite wife, was born Friday at the hajj and will ride with her mother in an ambulance to Mount Arafat.

Among world leaders making the Hajj are Pakistan's military leader General Pervez Musharraf, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed, Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid and his Sudanese counterpart, Omar al-Beshir.

On Monday, the pilgrims return to Mina to stone three pillars representing Satan, as Muslims worldwide begin celebrating Eid-al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice) to mark Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his son Ishmael for God.

In 1998, at least 118 pilgrims died in a stampede on a bridge during the "stoning of Satan" ritual. But the Hajj was disaster-free in 1999 and 2000.

One Iranian and fifty-three elderly Indians -- out of a contingent from India numbering 120,000 --- have died of natural causes during this year's Hajj, the Saudi daily **** Arab News *** reported on Saturday.