HAJJ

Discussion on R&R from all regions
shivaathervedi
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Post by shivaathervedi »

kmaherali wrote:
shivaathervedi wrote:What diversity or pluralism has to do with kids making blunders while reciting Du'a or Eid Namaz. My question was simple and your answer should have been justifying by replying me properly and not giving FATWA that I am an Ismaili or not?
You said in your post that there are differences in the Namaz across the world and I responded that our Tariqah is a diversity of cultures and historical traditions hence the differences. You yourself indicated in another thread that you were not a Shia! I am simply stating what you yourself said.

Blunders can happen even to adults. When I was a kid, I recited Namaz and my parents sent a message to the Imam. The Imam was very happy that I recited Namaz and sent a Talika to that effect. I have a copy of the Talika and can share the exact words if you want.
Congratulations, you got a Talika mubarak from Imam though you made mistakes as you wrote. 15 years back I got a chance to recite Eid Namaz in my country and I did not got any Talika, ' may be I did not made any mistakes'. Imam is Badshash, he keeps encouraging his murids on different occasions.
Traditions can be different in different cultures but not the basic tenets of Islam and Ismailism. Imam is one, Tariqa should be one for all his murids.
MIRREY JO HUQQ SARKHO.
kmaherali
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Joined: Thu Mar 27, 2003 3:01 pm

Post by kmaherali »

shivaathervedi wrote: Congratulations, you got a Talika mubarak from Imam though you made mistakes as you wrote. 15 years back I got a chance to recite Eid Namaz in my country and I did not got any Talika, ' may be I did not made any mistakes'. Imam is Badshash, he keeps encouraging his murids on different occasions.
Traditions can be different in different cultures but not the basic tenets of Islam and Ismailism. Imam is one, Tariqa should be one for all his murids.
MIRREY JO HUQQ SARKHO.
Thanks! I was 10-11 years old then and I did not make any mistakes. I was simply trying to say that the Imam was encouraging young children to recite Namaz.

The traditions can vary. Dua is standard and uniform across the world. All other rites and ceremonies are context bound all predicated by the obedience to the Imam.
Admin
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Post by Admin »

The Imam says do not seek perfection from leaders but here some are seeking perfection from children
kmaherali
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Post by kmaherali »

The Push and Pull of Gender for Muslims at the Hajj

Extract:

"There it was again. I was at once frustrated by Islam’s nitpicky strictures on women’s dress and embraced by its warm sisterhood. Over and over again during this physical and personal journey, I was confronted by my conflicting feelings on how the faith I was raised in deals with gender, the very thing that had made me take off my hijab in college.

At its founding, 1,400 years ago, Islam was revolutionary for its time in seeing women as spiritual equals. But in its contemporary conception, the day-to-day gender roles trouble me."

More...
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/16/world ... d=71987722

*******
Throwing Stones and Slaughtering Sheep at the Hajj

There are answers by the journalist to various questions asked by readers of the NYtimes about what happens at Hajj.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/11/world ... pe=article
kmaherali
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Joined: Thu Mar 27, 2003 3:01 pm

Post by kmaherali »

A Pilgrim’s Progress: Checking Mecca Off My Bucket List

MECCA, Saudi Arabia — When I first arrived in Mecca to begin my pilgrimage, it was the small things that delighted me, like the birds that flocked around the Grand Mosque, the pilgrims eating ice cream, and the wheelchair pushers, particularly the young men who liked to race down hills in the evening.

I was surprised to find out that I enjoyed praying. Pilgrims surprised me with their warmth — like Mervat, the veiled Yemeni cardiologist who put her face veil on the floor for me to pray on. I met men and women who were eager to tell me their hopes and dreams.

I had to figure out my relationships with the Saudi officials who were hosting my trip. They were kind and generous, and kept us moving, fed and sheltered — no easy feat in the annual hajj, a five-day series of rituals that brings a flood of 2 million Muslims to the kingdom, and in 2015 resulted in a crush that killed 2,300 people.

But they also kept dodging questions about the crush. They dodged questions about why pilgrims from Iran — their rival country — could not come this year, even though it was their religious right. And they insisted on my having a minder. Luckily, he was an excellent guide and a good sport. Plus, as a guest of the Ministry of Information and Culture, I had perks: nicer accommodations, decent food and three helicopter rides over the holy sites!

The whole endeavor was something of a journalistic experiment, as well as a personal journey. My editors and I decided to cover the pilgrimage not so much as a news event but as a first-person diary of observations and reflections. We produced a series of daily postcards, driven by videos and snapshots I made on my iPhone and Canon Mark III camera.


Times Insider delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how daily news, features and opinion pieces come to life at The New York Times. Visit us at Times Insider and follow us on Twitter. Questions or feedback? Email us.



Our aim was to bring readers along with us to Islam’s holiest sites, and at the same time to debunk stereotypes about Muslims. We wanted to show their diversity and humanity, and to capture both the solemn spiritual moments and the quirky oddities of this centuries-old event.


For me — an Australian of Lebanese-Egyptian heritage who grew up in a religiously observant family but lives as an adult a secular lifestyle guided by Islamic values — it was a journey I had dreamed of making for a long time. I wondered throughout how it might change me.

I had to learn patience: We were always delayed, which meant I missed stories I wanted to do and lost precious daylight hours for taking photographs. I rarely slept more than four hours a night over a week, or ate more than once a day. That, mixed with the heat, my long hours outside and the ever-failing WiFi, brought out my short temper.

But the rituals brought out other things as well. Stoning the pillars of Jamarat that symbolize the devil had a power I never imagined. Praying on Mount Arafat, where Muslims believe their supplications are answered, sent me to tears. The Grand Mosque surrounding the Kaaba, the iconic black cube, felt like a comfortable cloak.

I bunked with smart, fun women in our 500-member V.I.P. delegation, including 100 journalists. On my last day of stoning the three pillars, I was with Raghdah, a liberal, smart Saudi woman charged with caring for our quarters. We clutched hands to duck and weave through the crowd and hurled our stones. When we finished, she turned to me brightly. “Let’s take a selfie with the devil!” she said, referring to the pillar behind us. I burst out laughing — this was a moment I had never imagined.

Photo



“Let’s take a selfie with the devil!” Raghdah said, referring to a pillar outside the photo’s purview. Credit Diaa Hadid/The New York Times

As we walked through crowds, we saw a group of Indonesian pilgrims, chanting in praise, hoping God would accept their hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam required of every adherent at least once in her lifetime. After the Indonesians finished singing, they began crying and hugging. They hugged and kissed me and Raghdah as well.

And then came my last rite, to circle the Kaaba seven times in farewell.

I walked barefoot across the cool marble to the looming Kaaba, also called the House of God. The heavy black cloth draped over that enormous cube was so close that I could read part of the golden calligraphy etched around it: “God is Great.”

I raised my head, seeing the birds above me — from there, it did look as if they circled the Kaaba in a kind of ritual of their own.


When I was preparing for the hajj, the holy Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, my brother warned me of a peril in the skies: the birds.

A withered, elderly Pakistani man with watery blue eyes and a snow-cone turban leaned on another pilgrim’s shoulder for support, so he would not be pulled into the crowd. He chanted prayers in a high, sweet voice. I walked beside them until we were separated in the crowd. Somebody’s mobile phone pealed. Some read prayer books as they walked. One elderly man fainted, and the crowd cleared as he was carried away.

My brother, who made the hajj in 2012, was right: It felt as if I was being carried on a sea of humanity. I leaned on others, and a young woman leaned on me, holding my back as she walked through a tight crowd. I took her hand and kissed it, a sign of affection and humility, before she melted into the crowd again. I began sidestepping women wearing long robes that trailed on the ground; if I stepped on a hem, someone could trip and set off a human pileup.

An elderly woman put her hand on my shoulder. Worried she was about to fall, I put my hand on hers to steady her. She kissed my hand in thanks and then disappeared.

So did my iPhone, which must have slipped from my hand. Whoever picked it up will see on the camera app a man who held his toddler as he walked. She had large black eyes, and the pilgrims who passed her reached out to touch her hand and pinch her cheek.

They will see an African lady who balanced a bottle of water on her head. They will see close-ups of hands clutching each other, and thousands of feet, walking. They will see me raising my phone high, showing the crowd behind me, and a man waving into the camera. They will see me saying into the phone that I hope to return on hajj with my mother and sisters. Maybe they will even catch the pedantic Egyptian who ordered me to roll down my sleeves.

The sea was mostly silent save for the murmur of prayer.

I wanted to see the Kaaba up close because I thought that if I could lean close to that structure maybe I would feel the passion of faith some more. But I felt numb, even as I repeated words of praise and thanks. How can I ask of God, when I feel that I have been given so much?

I thought a lot about what might happen when I return to Jerusalem, where I live and work as a correspondent for The Times.

I felt a spirit of goodness right in my bones when I prayed and when people were kind to each other, like the pilgrims who carried away the elderly man who fainted by the Kaaba. I want more of that in my life.

Still, as I watched people cry when they saw the Kaaba, I had no tears. Instead, I thought, boy, it’s empty on the inside. This is just a symbol. This is God’s house, but the creator doesn’t live here. I realized that, for me, the real story was outside the Kaaba, among people.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/21/insid ... -list.html?
rref=insider&module=Ribbon&version=context&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=TimesInsider&pgtype=Multimedia
kmaherali
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Post by kmaherali »

Abused during Hajj – Pilgrims recall Saudi Arabia’s ultimate betrayal against Islam

One of the five sacred pillars of Islam, Hajj pilgrimage is required of all able Muslim – men and women, at least once in their lifetime. Holy among the holies, Hajj embodies the very spirit of Islam as it enables the faithful to reach the divine through physical acts of worship.

It is God whom pilgrims are yearning for as they turn their faces towards Mecca; it is remembrance of God’s Mercy and His Benevolence pilgrims hope to find as they walk in the footsteps of Islam’s last prophet.

Allah says: “The pilgrimage is (in) the well-known months, and whoever is minded to perform the pilgrimage therein, then let there be no lewdness nor abuse nor disputation during the pilgrimage. And whatsoever good you do Allah knows it. So make provision for yourselves (Hereafter); for the best provision is to ward off evil. Therefore keep your duty unto Me, O people of understanding.” [Surah al-Baqarah: 197]

A pilgrimage of the mind and heart, as well as the body, Hajj demands of each pilgrim utmost restraint, good moral, and piety. If Hajj is often taxing on the body, it is spiritual elevation, and enlightenment which in fact require together discipline and absolute devotion. Needless to say that Hajj is not for the faint-hearted. Hajj commands submission through perfected religion … only then, can pilgrims hope to be reborn in Islam and washed away from their sins.

The walk of a lifetime, the communion to surpass all communions Hajj is where, and when many will find not only Islam, but Eternity in faithful abandonment.

The Hajj pilgrimage is a concerted effort for the pilgrim to remain aloof from the desires of the worldly life and its material concerns. The pilgrimage trains and conditions the character to be more independent of material things and to find contentment in less.

Every year millions on Muslims converge towards the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia to perform their pilgrimage, and complete their faith. Every year tens of thousands have seen their pride and their body shattered under the vengeful boot of al-Saud’s Wahhabi moral police in the name of a faith which has claimed ownership over Islam’s inner sanctum.

If Mecca still echoes of Abraham, if the Kaaba still remembers of the touch of God’s prophet, its skies remain blotted by the arrogance of a house which thought itself worthier of that which God’s elected to His Guardianship.

As it glimmers of a thousand golden lights, its floor paved with marbles and precious stones, Mecca has died a million deaths - its holy landscape redacted, and the faithful prevented from expressing their devotion in the manner which best fits their heart. It is violence today which most of all has tainted Hajj and turned Islam’s most sacred ritual into an exercise of submission to the dogmatism of Wahhabism.

Muslims of all school of thoughts and walks of life have raised their voice in resistance – keen to break fear so that Islam could be reclaimed for those who seek God, and not flitting glory.

“I have ben spat on, beaten and punched while performing Hajj. I was called an apostate and an infidel when I turned my face towards the Prophet Muhammad’s last resting place and called for his intercession. I was slapped in Medina as I read my book of duas [religious supplications] in al-Baqee cemetery where Islam’s saints are buried. My real crime? Doing Hajj while Shia” said Hassan al-Wazir, a pilgrim from Yemen in his testimony to the Baqee Organization.

Hanan Abbas, a British pilgrim recalled how her elderly mother was thrown to the ground by a Muttawa (Wahhabi religious police) when she shed tears at al-Baqee cemetery over the martyrdom of Fatema bint Muhammad, the daughter of the Prophet. “My mum was first told to move away … when she pleaded with police to be allowed to pay her respect to the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad she was pushed violently to the ground. They took her book of supplication and cursed her. As my brother intervened he was hit with a baton in the stomach … I was in shock! My mother spent the rest of her Hajj in tears. I have never been angrier in my life. Hajj is supposed to be a time of reflection and peace. We saw the face of hatred and bigotry.

Under the care of the Saudi regime the Hajj pilgrimage has been turned into a painful and humiliating experience. For millions of non-Wahhabis, every step taken has become an act of resistance against the intolerance of blind extremism.

“Long ago Muslims faced the wrath of Mecca’s idolatrous elite … today we face the poison of another. We have tasted humiliation and oppression for we have refused to abandon our beliefs and buckle down before the House of Saud. For millions like me performing the Hajj is an act of religious resistance against tyranny. We shall continue to bear our sorrow and call on our Lord to revenge our cries. Islam is for all believers, without judgement, without bias, without prejudices … Islam is not about dogma and vengeance. What a tragedy to see our Scriptures misinterpreted by an ignorant crowd,” noted Sheikh al-Hashemi, a scholar from Yemen.

A sign of the time, and in negation of Islam calls for tolerance, the Saudi regime has called since 2015 for pilgrims to be profiled according to their school of thoughts. Pakistani officials confirmed in 2015 that: "Saudi Arabia will not entertain any Hajj application from aspirants that fail to specify whether the applicant is a Shia or a Sunni."

It is violence and the fear of violent repression which more than anything else now rhymes with Hajj. Only this September the Saudi authorities arrested Iraqi Shia scholar “Sheikh Taha” in Mina, sentencing him to 3-month incarceration and 300 flagellations for an unknown reason.

Of all the many and grave transgressions Saudi Arabia committed against pilgrims one particularly troubling incident has stood out. Just as millions of pilgrims flocked to the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia senior cleric called for a grand religious cleanse against all those they view as apostates: all non-Wahhabis.

Of course the label non-Wahhabis extend to pretty much every faith, including Islam.

More...
http://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/abus ... 4313270280
kmaherali
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Post by kmaherali »

The Contradictions of Hajj, Through the Lens of a Smartphone

Is it permissible to take a selfie in front of the Kaaba during hajj? With spotty internet, I was unable to Google the answer. Forced to call an audible fatwa, I decided, “Yes, if indeed my intention is pure.”

Fourteen hundred years ago, the Prophet Muhammad and his companions definitely didn’t have to decide between Clarendon and Gingham filters to document the hajj pilgrimage that is recreated by Muslims each year. But then again, they didn’t have Instagram as I did when I went to Mecca to satisfy the pillar of my faith during the last days of August and the beginning of September. They didn’t have access to the air-conditioned tents that I used for shelter. And when they gazed at the Kaaba — the austere black cube that represents God’s house on earth — it certainly wasn’t dwarfed, as it is now, by the enormous luxury hotel and bling-covered clock tower that the Saudi government added to the landscape in 2012.

Awe-struck by the privilege of participating in this tradition while often agitated by the contradictions that surround it today, I made sense of the experience by sharing it — filtering the pilgrimage through the lens of my smartphone.

The most painful aspect of hajj wasn’t the physical toll that came with navigating cramped space with my two million diverse fellow pilgrims, or the intense spiritual concentration. It wasn’t the hiking-induced blisters and chafing. It was witnessing the erasure and razing of my religion’s culture, history and narrative by the House of Saud.

More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/11/opin ... dline&te=1
kmaherali
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Post by kmaherali »

The Hajj Pilgrimage Is Canceled, and Grief Rocks the Muslim World

The coronavirus pandemic upended the plans of millions of Muslims, for whom the once-in-a-lifetime trip is a sacred milestone.


BEIRUT, Lebanon — For much of his life, Abdul-Halim al-Akoum stashed away cash in hopes of one day traveling from his Lebanese mountain village to perform the hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca that all Muslims who can are obliged to make once in their lives.

He was all set to go this year until the coronavirus pandemic forced Saudi Arabia to effectively cancel the hajj for what some scholars say may be the first time in history.

“It is the dream of every Muslim believer to visit Mecca and do the hajj,” said Mr. al-Akoum, 61, a village official. “But the pandemic came with no warning and took away that dream.”

The Saudi announcement sent shock waves of sadness and disappointment across the Muslim world, upending the plans of millions of believers to make a trip that many look forward to their whole lives and which, for many, marks a profound spiritual awakening.

A 72-year-old retired port worker in Pakistan will stay home, despite his six children having pooled their money to finance his trip. A mother in Kenya will forgo visiting sites she has long dreamed of seeing. An Egyptian school administrator named Zeinab Ibrahim burst into tears.

“It was my only wish,” Ms. Ibrahim said. “To cancel it completely is such a shame. May God relieve us of this burden.”

Performing the pilgrimage at least once for those who are physically and financially able is one of the five pillars of Islam. Making the trip is such a sacred milestone for the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims that in parts of the Arab world families of returned pilgrims paint murals on their homes to alert their neighbors to the pilgrim in their midst.

Many people save up their entire lives to make the hajj and, before modern transportation, spent months getting there.

The pilgrimage conveys such religious status that many Muslims add the honorific “al-Hajj” or “Hajji” to their names on their business cards.

“The hajj is a transformative, emotional and spiritually moving experience — the spiritual pinnacle of a devout Muslim’s life,” said Yasir Qadhi, dean of the Islamic Seminary of America, who was supposed to lead a group of 250 pilgrims to Mecca this year.

Since the Saudi announcement, he added, “There’s a sense of deflation and spiritual loss, and a great sadness.”

The hajj is also big business. The hajj, a five- or six-day pilgrimage that starts this year at the end of July, and the umrah, a lesser pilgrimage that can be performed at any time of the year, earn Saudi Arabia billions of dollars each year, and Muslim communities from Texas to Tajikistan have travel agencies specializing in getting pilgrims to and from the holy sites and providing accommodation along the way.

“It is a catastrophe on all levels — economic, social and religious,” said Tariq Kalach, who runs a Beirut travel agency that was planning to take 400 pilgrims to Mecca this year.

Pilgrimage packages cost from $3,000 to $10,000, he said. He also provides services to a number of Islamic associations that pay for groups of poor Muslims to make the trip each year.

He said the cancellation was devastating, but that it was the right thing to do.

“It is a very dangerous virus and it will spread like a brush fire,” he said. “May the almighty make things easy for the Muslims.”

The Saudi government, for which the hajj is a major source of prestige and tourism, announced Monday that no pilgrims from outside the kingdom could perform the hajj this year in order to prevent contagion.

On Tuesday, Saudi officials narrowed the order, saying that only about 1,000 pilgrims would be permitted this year — a tiny fraction of the 2.5 million who came last year.

The pilgrimage has been interrupted or curtailed many times because of wars and disease, but has faced no significant limits on attendance since the mid-1800s, when outbreaks of cholera and plague kept pilgrims away for a number of years.

Saudi Arabia, whose king bears the title “the custodian of the two holy mosques,” a reference to holy sites in Mecca and Medina, has never canceled the hajj since the modern kingdom was founded in 1932.

“This is the first time in the global phenomenon of the hajj that it has been canceled in such a manner,” said Dr. Qadhi, the scholar. “The dynamics have changed. Five hundred years ago you couldn’t ban it. There were no passports, no visas.”

The Mongol invasion of the Levant in the 13th century, for example, prevented pilgrims from reaching Mecca, he said, “but even then, the locals did it.”

Few criticized the decision to limit the event since Saudi Arabia is suffering from one of the largest coronavirus outbreaks in the Middle East, with 161,000 declared infections and more than 1,300 deaths. Epidemiologists have warned that mass gatherings — from concerts to sporting matches — can become so-called super-spreader events.

Khalid Almaeena, a Saudi political and media analyst who has attended the hajj many times, said that much of the pilgrimage’s importance comes from the way it mixes Muslims from different countries, races and social classes who might not otherwise cross paths.

“This is the religious, social, cultural aspect of the hajj,” he said. “It is not just the ritual, but the meeting places, the many great friendships and bonds that are established and built there year after year.”

In Egypt, the economic hardship of recent years has turned the hajj into an elusive dream for many, which only sharpened the blow of the cancellation.

Ms. Ibrahim, the school administrator, applied four years in a row to a government lottery that offers free trips to the hajj, failing every time. But this year, she scraped together the cost from her own funds. “I wanted to go while my health is still good,” said Ms. Ibrahim, 58, who earns about $175 a month. “I didn’t care about the cost.”

In many countries, even those who can muster the expense often wait years to be included in their country’s quota of pilgrims, which are set by Saudi Arabia with the aim of equalizing the opportunity across the Muslim world.

Imam Mokhi Turk, 45, said that 15 people from his embattled farming village in Kunduz Province, Afghanistan, had been waiting for their turn to do the hajj and that some of his neighbors had sold land to pay for it.

Mr. Turk and four of his relatives registered for the pilgrimage four years ago, but only he made the list this year.

“This makes me very sad, because every Muslim hopes to go to hajj once in his whole life, and when it was my turn, it was canceled,” Mr. Turk said. “I’m very upset because I’m not sure if I’ll be alive in the next few days, let alone next year.”

Since the first hajj in 632, Muslims have traveled to Mecca in the face of hardship, adversity and disasters, gradually transforming the pilgrimage from an elite pursuit limited to small numbers of people into one of the world’s largest Muslim gatherings.

For centuries, it was a feat just to make it to Mecca in one piece.

Under the Ottoman Empire, camel-riding pilgrims crossed the vast deserts of Arabia in giant caravans that set out from Cairo or Damascus in a journey often taking six weeks and vulnerable to attacks by Bedouin bandits.

Others came by sea, braving storms, disease outbreaks in crowded ships, and other threats. In 1502, the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, battling for control of trade routes, captured a ship filled with pilgrims as it returned from Mecca, set it on fire and killed several hundred people. In the 19th century, periodic cholera epidemics killed thousands of pilgrims.

The Suez Canal shortened the sea voyage for many after it opened in 1869, and the advent of motor vehicles eased the land voyage starting in the 1920s. Even then, numbers remained low: The hajj of 1929 registered 66,000 pilgrims.

The numbers started soaring in the 1970s, as mass air travel became more affordable, and Saudi rulers recognized that the pilgrimage brought not just religious prestige but also income. The hajj currently earns the kingdom billions of dollars a year.

Since the 1990s, the pilgrimage has been marred by stampedes, giant tent fires and worries about outbreaks of diseases such as SARS or, more recently, MERS. The deadliest stampede occurred in 2015 when more than 2,200 people died.

Despite the periodic tragedies, the Saudi authorities never canceled it.

The cancellation weighs particularly heavily on older Muslims who have been waiting for years to go in hopes that they can fulfill their religious obligation before death.

“I have been dreaming about it for 20 years and I hoped to do it before I got this old,” said Firiyan al-Masri, 68, a woman from Beirut.

Finally this year, she got her name on the list of a Lebanese Islamic association that finances trips for those in need, only to see her chances dashed by the pandemic.

“If God wills it, I will do the pilgrimage next year,” she said. “If I am still alive.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/23/worl ... 778d3e6de3
swamidada_2
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Post by swamidada_2 »

REUTERS/WALEED ALI

Saudi’s Hajj cancellation for Covid-19 is not the first time a plague has disrupted Muslims’ pilgrimage
June 25, 2020

By Ken Chitwood
Lecturer, Concordia College New York | Journalist-fellow, USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture, Concordia College New York

Saudi Arabia has effectively canceled the hajj for most of the world’s Muslims, saying the obligatory pilgrimage to Mecca will be “very limited” this year due to the coronavirus. Only pilgrims residing in Saudi Arabia may attend the event, which begins in late July.

Earlier this year, Saudi authorities had indicated that this decision might be coming and had also halted travel to holy sites as part of the umrah, the “lesser pilgrimage” that takes place throughout the year.

A dramatically scaled down hajj will be a massive economic hit for the country and many businesses globally, such as the hajj travel industry. Millions of Muslims visit the Saudi kingdom each year, and the pilgrimage has not been canceled since the founding of the Saudi Kingdom in 1932.

But as a scholar of global Islam, I have encountered many instances in the more than 1,400-year history of the pilgrimage when its planning had to be altered due to armed conflicts, disease or just plain politics. Here are just a few.

Armed conflicts
One of the earliest significant interruptions of the hajj took place in A.D. 930, when a sect of Ismailis, a minority Shiite community, known as the Qarmatians raided Mecca because they believed the hajj to be a pagan ritual.

The Qarmatians were said to have killed scores of pilgrims and absconded with the black stone of the Kaaba – which Muslims believed was sent down from heaven. They took the stone to their stronghold in modern-day Bahrain.

( Note: After defeating Qarmatians, the Fatimid Caliphs returned the Black Stone to Mecca and placed it in its original place in Ka'ba)

Political disputes
Political disagreements and conflict have often meant that pilgrims from certain places were kept from performing hajj because of lack of protection along overland routes into the Hijaz, the region in the west of Saudi Arabia where both Mecca and Medina are located.

In A.D. 983, the rulers of Baghdad and Egypt were at war. The Fatimid rulers of Egypt claimed to be the true leaders of Islam and opposed the rule of the Abbasid dynasty in Iraq and Syria.

Their political tug-of-war kept various pilgrims from Mecca and Medina for eight years, until A.D. 991.

Then, during the fall of the Fatimids in A.D. 1168, Egyptians could not enter the Hijaz. It is also said that no one from Baghdad performed hajj for years after the city fell to Mongol invasion in A.D. 1258.

Many years later, Napoleon’s military incursions aimed at checking British colonial influence in the region prevented many pilgrims from hajj between A.D. 1798 and 1801.

Diseases and hajj
Much like the present, diseases and other natural calamities have also come in the way of the pilgrimage.

There are reports that the first time an epidemic of any kind caused hajj to be canceled was an outbreak of plague in A.D. 967. And drought and famine caused the Fatimid ruler to cancel overland hajj routes in A.D. 1048.

Cholera outbreaks in multiple years throughout the 19th century claimed thousands of pilgrims’ lives during the hajj. One cholera outbreak in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina in 1858 forced thousands of Egyptians to flee to Egypt’s Red Sea border, where they were quarantined before being allowed back in.

Indeed, for much of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, cholera remained a “perennial threat” and caused frequent disruption to the annual hajj.

An outbreak of cholera in India in 1831 claimed thousands of pilgrims’ lives on their way to perform hajj.

In fact, with many outbreaks in quick succession, the hajj was frequently interrupted throughout the mid-19th century.

Recent years
In more recent years, too, the pilgrimage has been disrupted for many similar reasons.

In 2012 and 2013 Saudi authorities encouraged the ill and the elderly not to undertake the pilgrimage amid concerns over Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS.

Contemporary geopolitics and human rights issues have also played a role in who was able to perform the pilgrimage.

In 2017, the 1.8 million Muslim citizens of Qatar were not able to perform the hajj following the decision by Saudi Arabia and three other Arab nations to sever diplomatic ties with the country over differences of opinion on various geopolitical issues.

The same year, some Shiite governments such as Iran leveled charges alleging that Shiites were not allowed to perform the pilgrimage by Sunni Saudi authorities.

In other cases, faithful Muslims have called for boycotts, citing Saudi Arabia’s human rights record.

While the decision to cancel the hajj will surely disappoint Muslims looking to perform the pilgrimage, many among them have been sharing online a relevant hadith—a tradition reporting the sayings and practice of the prophet Muhammad—that provides guidance about traveling during a time of an epidemic: “If you hear of an outbreak of plague in a land, do not enter it; but if the plague breaks out in a place while you are in it, do not leave that place.”

This story has been updated to reflect the latest developments.

Ken Chitwood, Lecturer, Concordia College New York | Journalist-fellow, USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture, Concordia College New York

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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swamidada_2
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Hajj 2020: coronavirus pandemic frustrates Saudi vision for expanded religious tourism
Seán McLoughlin, Professor of the Anthropology of Islam, University of Leeds
The ConversationJune 26, 2020, 9:34 AM CDT

Saudi Arabia has finally clarified that due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic only very limited numbers of local pilgrims will be allowed to perform Hajj in 2020. During the past decade, the kingdom has typically welcomed between 1.9 to 3.2 million pilgrims per year from across the Muslim world, generating more than US$8 billion in annual revenue for the Saudi economy.

No Hajjis from outside Saudi Arabia will be permitted to travel to Mecca in 2020 due to the high risk of infection. Managing crowds is normally a challenge during the pilgrimage. So, over the five days prescribed in the Islamic lunar calendar – which fall between July 28 and August 2 in 2020 – at most 10,000 Saudis and nationals from other countries resident in Saudi Arabia will perform the rituals. They must follow physical and social distancing protocols.

While the Hajj has been restricted and suspended in the past because of conflict or disease, 2020 is the first time Saudi Arabia – established in 1932 – has so significantly curtailed the pilgrimage.

Meanwhile, given huge drops in the current demand for oil due to the economic crisis provoked by COVID-19, the longer-term impact of the virus could deal a real blow to Saudi Arabia’s ambitions to diversify its economy by expanding pilgrimage-based tourism. It also highlights concerns about governance and regulation of the pilgrimage industry beyond the kingdom, raised in my own research mapping the challenges of the Hajj sector in the UK.

A changing political economy
When the Saudis first took control of the Hijaz area of western Arabia – where Mecca is situated – in the 1920s, Hajj was the most significant source of revenue for the region. This financial dependence on Hajj ended in the years following the discovery of oil in the late 1930s.

As oil prices quintupled during the 1970s and international air travel became the norm, the Saudi rentier state increasingly deployed Hajj as part of its diplomacy beyond the Arab world. The House of Saud also demonstrated its largesse to the “guests of God” by expanding pilgrimage infrastructure as the number of overseas Hajjis expanded from 100,000 per year in the mid-1950s to nearly 1 million, 20 years later.

Into the 1990s, however, global recession began to focus Saudi attention on the benefits of systematically commercialising pilgrimage despite the challenges of rapid modernisation for safety, heritage and the environment.

Read more: Hajj: how globalisation transformed the market for pilgrimage to Mecca

A bid for pilgrim-tourists
The Saudi government has sought to offer pilgrims improved transport, accommodation, retail and other pilgrimage-related services by partnering with international private investors. During the past decade US$8.5 billion has been invested in the new King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah and the Haramain high-speed railway, which connects Mecca and Medina to the new airport.

Even so, Vision 2030, launched in 2016 by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, represents a revolution in Saudi Arabia’s plans to open up the kingdom. Extremely ambitious targets were set to more than double current Hajj numbers to around 6 million a year – and Umrah to 30 million annually – by 2030.

In 2019, Umrah numbers reached 20 million with Saudi Arabia launching a new tourist e-visa the same year. Notably, single Muslim women can use this visa to complete the pilgrimage without the usual mahram (male relative). Umrah takes just half a day and it can easily be included in itineraries including the Red Sea coast and the ruins at Al-‘Ula.

Vision 2030 is especially focused on the global Muslim middle-classes with disposable incomes. As my own research showed, costs across the pilgrimage industry have been driven up by marketisation. Between 2013-18 the price of all packages had risen by around 25%. In 2018 even an “economy” Hajj package from the UK cost more than £4,000 (US$5,000).

Hajj tourism regulation
Speaking on a Council of British Hajjis webinar in late June, an imam reminded disappointed pilgrims that Muslims are rewarded even for the religious intention of making Hajj.

But given the unprecedented late cancellation of millions of Hajj packages in 2020, business relations between suppliers and customers along transnational pilgrimage chains will undoubtedly be fraught for months – and possibly years.

Muslims worldwide are now wondering whether the 2021 pilgrimage will go ahead as before if they defer their package by a year. There is also a question about what quota each country will receive, if global demand doubles. And in many cases, travel insurance will not now cover COVID-19-related issues.

Even in Europe, where travellers are due refunds under EU law, cashflow problems mean that some Hajj travel agents are seeking to defer refunds until 2021. In the UK, some agencies have not issued the necessary certificates to pilgrims – which offer protection should providers go out of business – or have fraudulently advertised that they are covered.

The fallout of COVID-19 will magnify challenges that the Muslim pilgrimage industry was already confronting. The lack of professionalism and compliance among some Saudi-licensed Hajj organisers is exacerbated by inconsistent approaches to regulation and enforcement. What’s needed is more effective self-governance by the pilgrimage industry, as well as more transparent and better co-ordinated communication between pilgrims, travel companies as well as the Saudi and other authorities.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Sadruddin Noorani: ChandRaat – 1st of Dhu al-Hajj 1441 – July 21, 2020
BY ISMAILIMAIL POSTED ON JULY 19, 2020

By: Sadruddin Noorani, Chicago, USA

Dhu al-Hajj is the twelfth and final month in the Islamic calendar. It literally means “The Month of the Pilgrimage”. During this month, Muslim pilgrims from all around the world congregate at Mecca to visit the Kaaba. The Hajj is performed on the eighth, ninth and the tenth of this month. Day of Arafah takes place on the ninth of the month. Eid al-Adha, the “Feast of the Sacrifice”, begins on the tenth day and ends on sunset of the 13th day.

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The Hajj Pilgrimage has been canceled this year for Muslims residing outside Saudi Arabia, announced by the Authorities of the Saudi Kingdom due to the coronavirus pandemic. This is not the first time in the global phenomenon of the Hajj that it has been limited to local residents but in small numbers (Fewer than 10,000 people are to perform the 2020 Hajj) due to public health precautions. The Hajj has been interrupted or canceled approximately 40 times since 700 AD due to plagues, conflicts, political unrest and battles. Covid-19 pandemic has upended the plans of millions of Muslims, for whom the once-in-a lifetime trip is a sacred milestone. The pilgrimage conveys such religious status that most Muslims add the honorific “Hajji (for male)” and “Hajiani (for female)” to their name as their title.

Dhu al-Hajj is a very sacred month in the Islamic calendar, Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, is celebrated throughout the Muslim world in this month. The Eid commemorates Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) (peace be upon him)’s trial of faith. In Qur’an al-Karim it is said that Prophet Ibrahim saw a vision in which he was sacrificing his son Ismail (Ishmael). He shared this vision with his son who expressed his willingness to be sacrificed, believing it to be a command from Allah (God)(All Glory Belongs to Him). As the two, father and son, prepared themselves to submit to the Divine Will, God called out to Prophet Ibrahim saying that he has fulfilled the vision. Like other prophetic parables in the Qur’an Prophet Ibrahim’s story inspires us to draw particular lessons from his life.

Prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son exemplifies an unconditional commitment to submit to the Will of God. It is for this reason that in the Qur’an, Prophet Ibrahim is referred to as a Muslim, that is, one who submits to God. He is also called a Hanif, which came to mean one who is righteous, and is presented as a religious and moral model for later generations. Allah mentions in the Holy Qur’an in chapter 2 of al-Baqarah, verse 124th:

“And remember that Ibrahim was tried by his Lord with commands and he fulfilled: [Allah] said: “I will make thee an Imam to the Nations.” He pleaded: “And also (Imams) from my offspring!” He answered: “But My promise is not within the reach of wrong-doers.”

Thus, as we will be celebrating Eid al-Adha, not only as an example of sacrifice but also as a reminder of the continuum of guidance from God through our present Imam Shah Karim al-Hussaini (aka: Aga Khan IV), who is from the progeny of Prophet Ibrahim.

We have recently celebrated Imamat Day on 11th July, Aga Khan’s 63rd anniversary of the accession, even with most JamatKhanas around the world still closed due to Covid-19… The Ismaili TV and The Ismaili App has come at the right time and we are seeing the creativity of the Jamat.

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Now, on tenth day, we will be celebrating Eid al-Adha which provides us with an opportunity to reflect on and further the goals of the Aga Khan, he articulated at the Dinner hosted by the Globe and Mail, Toronto, Canada, 14, May 1987:

“I have sought to underwrite our endeavors in social development with initiatives designed to promote economic progress. The two are inextricably linked and must remain so if people are not to be faced with the unacceptable choice between the poverty of the economics of welfare, on the one hand, and raw material greed untempered by any social conscience, on the other.” (www.theismaili.org)

During this festive month of sacrifice, it would be appropriate for each one of us to ask: what is my personal responsibility, as a global citizen of what Aga Khan calls a “large global family”? As the occasion epitomizes the ideals of submission and sacrifice, how do I participate in the Imamat’s endeavors to relieve poverty and suffering, bringing happiness and prosperity to family, friends and neighbors? (AKDN.org)

For example, over 2 million students benefit from AKDN’s education programmes annually, which range from early childhood development to primary and secondary schools, and from vocational studies to university degrees. We as a community can contribute our skills, resources and time and knowledge to support these educational endeavors and other aspects linked with quality of life. Volunteering time and offering material resources have been part of our Islamic ethos, which have significantly benefited the communities in which we live and the world at large.

On 18th of Dhu al-Hajj (August 7) we will also be celebrating Eid Al-Ghadir, an important holiday, it is considered to be among the “significant” feasts of Shia Islam. At the time when the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) appointed Ali ibn Abi Talib (A.S) as his successor.

Imam Jafar Sadiq (A.S) says that: “Six things benefit a man after his death; a pious son who asks for forgiveness on his behalf, a copy of the Holy Qur’an he read from, a tree he planted, a glass of water he quenched others’ thirst with, a well he dug, and a good tradition or habit he left behind to those around him.”

Eid al-Adha is an important festival reminding us of values, such as strength of belief (iman), absolute submission of trust, that is, tawakkul in God; and sacrifice (qurbani), which we need to put into action. Our offering of time, knowledge, and material resources is but one form of sacrifice that, on the one hand, expresses our gratitude to God and, on the other, allows us to offer our qurbani in the service of the community and society at large, which is rooted in Muslim ethics.

/ismailimail.blog/2020/07/19/sadruddin-noorani-chandraat-1st-of-dhu-al-hajj-1441-july-21-2020/
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Pilgrims arrive in Mecca for downsized hajj amid pandemic

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Muslim pilgrims have started arriving in Mecca for a drastically scaled-down hajj, as Saudi authorities balance the kingdom’s oversight of one of Islam’s key pillars and the safety of visitors in the face of a global pandemic.

The hajj, which begins on Wednesday, normally draws around 2.5 million people for five intense days of worship in one of the world’s largest gatherings of people from around the world.

This year, Saudi Arabia’s Hajj Ministry has said between 1,000 and 10,000 people already residing in the kingdom will be allowed to perform the pilgrimage. Two-thirds of those pilgrims will be from among foreign residents in Saudi Arabia and one-third will be Saudi citizens.

The kingdom has one of the Mideast’s largest outbreaks of the coronavirus, with nearly 269,000 reported infections, including 2,760 deaths.

Fatin Daud, a 25-year-old Malaysian who is studying Arabic in Saudi Arabia, was among the select few whose application for hajj was approved. After her selection, Saudi Health Ministry officials came to her home and tested her for the COVID-19 virus. She was then given an electronic bracelet that monitors her movements, and told to quarantine for several days at home.

After that, Daud was moved to a hotel in Mecca, where she remains in self-isolation, still wearing the electronic wristband. A large box of food is delivered to her hotel room three times a day as she prepares to begin the hajj.

“It was unbelievable. It felt surreal because I was not expecting to get it,” she said of her excitement when she found out she was selected. Daud said she’s praying for the end of COVID-19 and for unity among Muslims around the world.

“I am confident that safety measures are being taken and that the only thing that we need to do as pilgrims is follow instructions, and try our best to support each other,” she said.

While self-isolating has been emotionally challenging, Daud said she is part of a group of about 10 Malaysian and Singaporean pilgrims connecting online and sharing tips and religious exercises to keep busy.

The Saudi government is covering the expenses of all pilgrims this year, providing them with meals, hotel accommodation, transportation and health care. Normally, the hajj can cost thousands of dollars for pilgrims who save for a lifetime for the journey. It also generates billions of dollars in revenue each year for Saudi Arabia.

Saudi kings have for generations assumed titles as custodians of Islam’s holiest sites, and their oversight of the hajj is a source of prestige and influence among Muslims globally. Saudi Arabia has never canceled the hajj in the nearly 90 years since the country was founded.

King Salman, who typically oversees the hajj from Mecca, underwent surgery to remove his gallbladder at a hospital in the capital, Riyadh, the royal court said last week. The 84-year-old monarch was to remain at the hospital to recover and be observed by doctors.

For the first time in Saudi history, no pilgrims from abroad were permitted to take part in the hajj due to concerns about the coronavirus and overcrowding. It’s a stark departure from previous years, when some 2 million pilgrims from more than 160 countries flocked to Mecca for the spiritual rituals, mostly from across Asia and Africa.

Although the hajj often draws all age groups, pilgrims this year were required to be between the ages of 20 and 50, and in good health.

The physically demanding rituals of the hajj offer a profound experience for Muslims, with the faithful often weeping, their palms stretched toward the sky, in prayer and repentance. The hajj is required of all able-bodied Muslims once in a lifetime.

This year, international media were not given permission to cover the hajj from Mecca.

Also this year, pilgrims must wear face masks and will only be able to drink holy water from the Zamzam well in Mecca that has been prepackaged in plastic bottles. Pebbles for casting away evil that are usually picked up by pilgrims along hajj routes will be sterilized and bagged before being distributed to the pilgrims.

Pilgrims are also bringing their own prayer rugs and will be required to pray at a distance from one another, rather than packed shoulder-to-shoulder.

https://apnews.com/2c3c28c615ebc6065797c1c50077dab9
swamidada_2
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TODAY'S PAPER | JULY 29, 2020
Technology infuses ancient Haj rites amid global pandemic

The vast white marble floors surrounding Islam's holiest site, the Holy Kaaba in Makkah, would normally be packed with hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from around the world the day before the Haj.

On Tuesday, however, only a few officials and workers putting last minute preparations in place were seen at the Grand Mosque housing the Kaaba.

In place of the 2.5 million pilgrims who preformed the Haj last year, only a very limited number of faithful anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 are being allowed to take part in what is largely a symbolic pilgrimage amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The select few approved for this year's Haj have been tested for the virus and are self-isolating in hotel rooms in Makkah, where they will experience an ancient pilgrimage, albeit tailored this year for a modern-day global pandemic.

Amr Al-Maddah, the chief planning officer at the Ministry of Haj, is helping incorporate the latest technology into the pilgrimage such as thermal scanners and electronic ID cards.

"Right now, technology is our black horse to developing the whole Haj journey," said Al-Maddah, an electronics engineer with a PhD in robotics and artificial intelligence.

"We are taking every step possible to make sure that this Haj will end with zero cases of Covid-19 and also with zero deaths in our total Haj numbers," he told The Associated Press.

Before pilgrims could even enter Makkah, they were given wristbands by the Saudi health ministry to monitor their movements and ensure the mandatory quarantine was observed. Thermal scanners are being used across the holy site to monitor people's temperatures.

Each pilgrim is assigned to a group of around 20 others. A group leader will guide them throughout the Haj to each destination at a specified time, to avoid crowding in places like the Grand Mosque, where the pilgrims circle the Kaaba and follow a path traveled by the Prophet Abraham's wife, who Muslims believe ran between two hills searching for water for her dying son.

While on Mount Arafat, where the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) delivered his final sermon nearly 1,400 years ago and where pilgrims will spend Thursday in deep prayer and repentance, pilgrims will be wearing high-tech ID cards that connect to an application on their phones.

The card and app allows the government to easily monitor the pilgrims, and gives them a way to reach out to their group leader and make special meal requests.

The card stores the pilgrims' personal information, health status, residence and other Haj-related details. In the future, Al-Maddah said the cards will be fitted with a location tracker to follow individual pilgrims' movements. The tracker will be managed by a control room, and can be used as a pay card in place of cash.

Pilgrims have also been given special attire to wear during the Haj laced with silver nano technology that helps kill bacteria and makes clothes water-resistant.

Al-Maddah said the measure is a precaution, even if it can affect almost nothing or has a minimal chance of improving health conditions.

It's all part of the special treatment pilgrims are receiving this year. Other perks such as meals, hotel accommodation, transportation and healthcare is paid for by the Saudi government. Typically, the Haj can cost thousands of dollars for pilgrims who save for a lifetime for the journey.

This year marks the first time in nearly a century of Saudi rule over Makkah that people from outside the kingdom will not take part in the five-day Haj, which is a once in a lifetime requirement of Muslims.

Al-Maddah, who sits on the Haj planning committee, said allowing people to enter Saudi Arabia from abroad would have posed a global health risk.

Two thirds of pilgrims this year are foreigners already residing in Saudi Arabia from among the 160 different nationalities that would have normally been represented at the Haj. The other one third are Saudi security personnel and medical staff.

All pilgrims had to be between the ages of 20 and 50 with no terminal illnesses and showing no symptoms of the coronavirus.

Each year, the Haj poses a massive logistical challenge for Saudi authorities. As recently as 2015, a stampede killed more than 2,400 people.

Crowd control measures require the use of thousands of cameras and security officers to coordinate the movements of the more than 2.5 million people densely packed into narrow streets, walkways and paths.

Facial recognition technology and other high-tech security systems have to be advanced enough to decipher between pilgrims, dressed in nearly identical terry white cloth garments.

"For us, safety comes first," Al-Maddah said. "We are employing technology to make sure that these services and these precautions are met and delivered in the highest standard."

https://www.dawn.com/news/1571622/techn ... l-pandemic
kmaherali
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In pictures: Foreign Muslims return to Mecca for Umrah pilgrimage

Foreign Muslim pilgrims have been allowed into the Grand Mosque in Mecca for the first time since coronavirus restrictions were imposed seven months ago.

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From Sunday, some 10,000 pilgrims from abroad were allowed to perform the Umrah pilgrimage, which Muslims can traditionally take at any time.

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They had to self-isolate for three days after arriving in Saudi Arabia before being allowed to circle around the Kaaba - the holiest site in Islam - in the centre of the Grand Mosque.

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Saudi Arabia has reported 347,282 cases of Covid-19 and 5,402 deaths since the pandemic started, and 333,842 recoveries. It is phasing the reopening of its mosques as part of a gradual easing of restrictions across the kingdom.

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Saudi residents were allowed to perform the Umrah in October, and numbers were raised to accommodate pilgrims from abroad this month.

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Only 10,000 Saudi Muslim residents were allowed to perform the annual Hajj pilgrimage in July this year, vastly down from the millions who have taken part in previous years, like the one pictured below in 2016.

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kmaherali
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The Hajj is back and Saudi Arabia is hoping to cash in

Post by kmaherali »

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Muslim worshippers pray around the Kaaba at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca on July 5.

Abu Dhabi, UAE (CNN)Oil has added trillions of dollars to Saudi Arabia's coffers over the decades, but it's a resource that will someday run out or lose value as the world turns to alternative energy.

Despite current high oil prices, the kingdom knows this, and it has embarked on an ambitious project to diversify its sources of revenue for a post-oil future. One of those sources is the pilgrimage, an eternal monopoly that has a potential market of almost two billion Muslims.

Soon after King Salman bin Abdulaziz took power in 2015, Saudi Arabia launched a $21 billion project to expand the Grand Mosque in Mecca to accommodate 300,000 additional worshippers. A year later, then Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman identified the pilgrimage as a key component of a plan to diversify the Saudi economy by 2030.

"Unlike [the energy sector], where Saudi Arabia always has to worry about future competitors, in the area of Hajj and Umrah, they are guaranteed to have zero competition in perpetuity," said Omar Al-Ubaydli, director of research at the Bahrain-based Derasat think tank.

Muslims from the world over return to Saudi Arabia this week to perform the annual Hajj pilgrimage after a two-year hiatus caused by Covid-19 restrictions. It's an opportunity for Muslims to fulfill a once-in-a-lifetime religious obligation, but also a chance for the economy of Saudi Arabia's holy cities to get a jump start.

The pandemic caused the number of Hajj pilgrims to dwindle to 1,000 in 2020, but it rose to about 60,000 in 2021, when the Hajj was opened only to residents of Saudi Arabia. This year, the kingdom authorized one million Muslims to perform the rites.

Experts say that with crude oil prices hovering around $100 a barrel, generating billions of dollars a day, the pilgrimage's economic benefit is marginal by comparison. But its great, untapped potential could bring significant riches to the kingdom in the long term.

"Religious tourism in Saudi Arabia may not have the current revenue-generating capacity of the oil and gas sector, but the religious significance of Mecca and Medina will never run dry," said Robert Mogielnicki, a senior scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. "It serves as a crucial foundation to build out the broader Saudi tourism sector and market it to local, regional, and international audiences."

The potential for expansion is significant, says Steffen Hertog, an associate professor at the London School of Economics. Pilgrims could, for example, be incentivized to extend their trips in the country to visit other religious sites or engage in recreation, particularly during the year-round minor pilgrimage, the Umrah, where Hajj-related bottlenecks can be avoided, he said.

According to Mastercard's latest Global Destination Cities Index, Mecca attracted $20 billion in tourist dollars in 2018, second only to Dubai.
Before the pandemic, pilgrimage revenues were forecast to average about $30 billion a year and create 100,000 jobs for Saudis by 2022. That was when the kingdom attracted around 21 million worshippers annually during the 10-day Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages, according to official data cited by Reuters.

The number of pilgrims has shrunk significantly during the pandemic but the government is targeting 30 million pilgrims by 2030, which some analysts have said is an ambitious figure.

The pilgrimage has been a drain on the government's finances due to the cost of infrastructure, maintenance, and security, according to Hertog, but it has made big money for the private sector.

Mecca's skyline around the millennia-old pilgrimage site is crowded with swanky skyscrapers housing Western hotel chains overlooking the Kaaba, the cube-shaped structure Muslims turn to in prayer five times a day. A night at the iconic Fairmont Makkah Clock Royal Tower, which overlooks the Kaaba, costs up to $4,000 for its most opulent suites for this year's Hajj season.

But the government has been trying to get a slice of that cake. In two years, the state-owned Public Investment Fund plans to open the Rou'a Al Haram Al Makki project just under a mile from the Kaaba, with 70,000 new hotel rooms and 9,000 residential units. It is expected to contribute 8 billion riyals ($2.1 billion) to the Saudi economy.

In a blow to private travel agencies abroad that organize pilgrimages for Muslims in the West, the Saudi government this year announced a new booking platform that obliges foreign pilgrims to register and pay for the process directly through the new government-run system called "Motawif."

The system is designed to streamline the application process, but it has put travel agencies abroad out of business. In the United Kingdom alone, the sector is worth approximately $240 million, and many Hajj operators there are now facing liquidation, according to the Independent newspaper.
Saudi authorities did not respond to CNN's request for a comment.

The only threat to Saudi Arabia's ambitions to capitalize on the pilgrimage "is decreasing religiosity across the world," said Al-Ubaydli. "But as long as Muslims continue to want to visit these sites, they will represent massive economic opportunities to Saudi Arabia."

CNN's Nadeen Ebrahim contributed to this report

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/06/business ... index.html
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