At haj, Saudi Arabia clerics step up anti-Islamic State drive --- (Reuters) - Taking aim at Islamic State, Saudi Arabia has mounted a battle for hearts and minds at this year's haj, warning pilgrims that the hardline group is "evil" and seeking to recruit their children to fight in Iraq and Syria. -- As millions of pilgrims visited the holiest sites in Islam on the second day of the annual pilgrimage on Saturday, global leaders condemned the fourth beheading of a Westerner by Islamic State insurgents. -- Saudi Arabia declared Islamic State a terrorist organization in March and sharply stepped up denunciations of the group after its fighters made rapid territorial gains in Iraq in June. -- U.S.-led air strikes on the group has allowed some of the lost territory to be recaptured, but the well-armed militants continue to make gains in Iraq and Syria. Last week, Saudi air force planes pounded militant targets in Syria. -- Saudi Arabia follows the ultra conservative Wahhabi school of Sunni Islam, which disdains Shi'ites as heretics and demands a strict literal interpretation of Sharia Muslim law. -- Although Islamic State, like al Qaeda, draws some of its ideology from the Wahhabi school, it rejects the legitimacy of the Saudi government and has vowed to topple the ruling Al Saud dynasty. -- Riyadh also fears that thousands of Saudis who have gone to fight with Islamic State will return to target their own country. -- "Your religion is targeted. Your security, ideology, strength and intellect are all targeted," the kingdom's Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh preached to the vast crowds of pilgrims in Mecca on Friday. -- About three million Muslims, among them 1.4 million from abroad, are expected to perform haj this year. -- More, http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/04/us-islam-haj-education-idUSKCN0HT0LR20141004