Makkah abuzz as Haj draws near

By SIRAJ WAHAB | ARAB NEWS

Published: Nov 11, 2010 00:01 Updated: Nov 11, 2010 01:33

MAKKAH:

There are only 72 hours to go before pilgrims head to the nearby tent city of Mina on the first leg of their five-day journey of a lifetime (on Sunday,9 Dul Hijja, 1431, November 14, 2010).

All roads across the Kingdom are leading into the holy city where the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) received the first verses of the Holy Qur’an more than 14 centuries ago.

It was from this holy city that the last Prophet first propagated the pure and simple message of Islam — a message that has since captured the hearts and minds of more than a billion followers across all continents.

Haj is one of the five essential pillars of Islam, and on Monday about 3 million pilgrims will spend a day on the vast plains of Arafat renewing and reinforcing their faith.

The weather this year is pleasant, but in the past Arafat has frequently seen temperatures soar beyond 50 degrees Celsius.

On Wednesday evening, Makkah’s temperature was recorded at 25 degrees. The evening was particularly pleasant with a cool breeze blowing across this city surrounded by mountains. The sprawling courtyard and carpeted rooftop of the massive Grand Mosque, which houses the Holy Kaaba, was filled with pilgrims who appeared happy and relaxed.

International and domestic flights packed with men, women and children continued to land at five-minute intervals at King Abdulaziz International Airport. Parking lots across Jeddah are occupied by gleaming coaches that have brought in pilgrims from neighboring Arab countries.

Traffic flowed smoothly on the four-lane expressway to Makkah from Jeddah. One reason for the lack of congestion on the highway was the strict enforcement by the Passport Department of its “no-permit-no-pilgrimage” policy. At the Jeddah pickup points for Makkah-bound passenger vehicles, young Saudis refused to transport those who lacked permits.

“We don’t want to take the risk. Many of our colleagues have been arrested and their vehicles impounded because they were ferrying people without official permits into Makkah,” said Dhafer Muhammad from his white Toyota Cressida in the Bab Makkah district of Jeddah. “They are checking each and every car. If you have the permit, come along, if not, sorry.”

His friend, Waleed Mahdi, seemed desperate for passengers. He already had two Indians sitting in his Toyota Camry, and he was looking for two more passengers to make his journey profitable. He got the passengers he needed in Arab News and Turkish national Mehmut Ahmet Misiri.

“Yallah; come in,” he said, but he hesitated when he realized that the Turkish man was wearing ihram, the two pieces of seamless cloth that all pilgrims have to wear before starting the pilgrimage.

“Do you have the permit?” queried Mahdi. “Yes,” replied the Turkish man. However, the piece of paper that he produced said something else. He had an iqama issued in Makkah, and his contention was that he could travel into and out of the holy city anytime. The driver, however, said if he was a resident of Makkah he should not have donned the ihram in Jeddah.

He agreed to take him but on the condition that he put on a long coat over his ihram, which Misiri eventually did. There were three additional checkpoints on the expressway besides the regular Shumaiysi post. Since none of the occupants in the Camry was in ihram, the policeman waved the vehicle past. Some others, however, were not lucky and were seen pleading with the policemen to let them pass.

Reaching the Holy Mosque was no hassle at all. Everything was well organized with traffic policemen guiding cars and other vehicles in the right direction. No one was being allowed to park anywhere near the mosque. Therefore, the main thoroughfare, Ibrahim Khalil Road, was orderly, and pilgrims on foot had a relatively peaceful time.

The focus inside the mosque is the Holy Kaaba. Pilgrims gaze at it for hours. Sometimes their eyes get moist, and they raise their hands in prayer. Many, many others circumambulate the Kaaba. The innermost open area of the beautiful mosque called the "mataaf" was packed with the faithful. Among them was Riad Mustafa, an Egyptian doctor, and his wife, Mirfat.

“This is our first journey to Makkah. It is amazing. This is the Kaaba in whose direction we turn to throughout our lives. Really seeing it is such a transforming experience. Hearing the calls to prayer booming out of this mosque is the most spiritually exhilarating moment,” said Mustafa.

His wife was delighted by the inner peace. “Last night, I called up home and had my parents listen to the prayers via my cell phone. They were crying at the other end. The real beauty of Islam is here in Makkah where Muslims from across the globe have converged,” said Mirfat.

Returning Hajis find Makkah a city transformed

By SIRAJ WAHAB | ARAB NEWS

Arab News, Published: Nov 12, 2010 01:45

Updated: Nov 12, 2010 01:47

MAKKAH:

The first thing that strikes you upon entering the holy city from Jeddah is the number of mighty yellow-and red-colored cranes on the skyline from all the ongoing construction projects in Makkah.

Where once stood old buildings, multistory hotels and even hills, there is now leveled land fenced off by metal sheets. Inside, construction workers are busy erecting massive towers that will house pilgrims in the coming years.

One of busiest areas on the Holy Mosque’s western side when you enter from Jeddah used to be the Shamia district. It is completely under construction now. This district used to house hundreds of pilgrims from South Asia and Arab countries. Some of the pilgrims who have been to Makkah in the past look longingly at the area and try to figure out where they had stayed on past visits.

“Everything has changed in five years,” said Mukhtar Nadwi, a pilgrim from Saharanpur, India. “I was here in 2005 along with my wife and my mother. We used to stay at a hotel just opposite Bab Al-Umrah, which is one of the many imposing gates leading into the Holy Mosque. I went there last night to see if I could find the place, but there is no trace of it. The whole area is unrecognizable.”

He wondered where the Bangladeshi man who helped his aging mother those days was.

Pakistani national of Yemeni origin Syed Ashfaq Muscati is also amazed by the speed with which Makkah's skyline has changed.

“I was here six years ago, and our group of pilgrims was staying in an old building located behind Ibrahim Khalil Road,” he said. “The whole area is now part of the massive Jabal Omar project. I remember the tiny Pakistani eatery where we would go to have our favorite subcontinental food — all that is gone. We are told that huge buildings will be coming up here.”

Both Nadwi and Muscati are this time staying in Makkah's Aziziah district. It is quite a distance from the Holy Mosque, but pilgrim establishments and tour operators are providing shuttle services between Aziziah and the Holy Mosque. The free shuttles operate through the tunnels that have been specifically created for these 40-seat coaches.

“It is an excellent service. They drop us at the basement of the Makkah Clock Tower, and in a matter of minutes we are in the courtyard of the Holy Mosque. We take a similar route going back,” Nadwi said.

Aziziah district is one of Makkah’s best-planned areas, featuring comfortable accommodation and a road network leading straight to the Holy Mosque through a tunnel reserved for pilgrims.

Since the beginning of the massive construction projects around the holy city, Saudi authorities have been promoting Aziziah as a planned Haj township. Although it is a considerable distance from the Holy Mosque, because of the construction and consequent congestion, it is nonetheless a viable housing alternative.

In the past, Aziziah used to be favored by Emiratis, Indonesians and Bahrainis. They would deliberately opt for Aziziah in order to avoid problems associated with buildings closer to the Grand Mosque.

The lack of residential space in the areas in the immediate proximity of the Grand Mosque has forced many private tour operators, especially from India and Pakistan, to cut down on the number of pilgrims they would normally bring in during Haj time.

“People back home in Pakistan have now become very conscious of where they will be staying,” said Zahiruddin Jamaluddin Abro from Sukkur in Pakistan’s Sindh province.

“They demand that we tell them the name of the hotels we arrange for them to stay in and the areas in which these hotels are located. They then go on Google and find out the exact location and distance between their hotel and the Grand Mosque.”

He added that in the past, Pakistani Haj operators had no such problem, hiring the best possible hotels very close to the Grand Mosque.

“People are ready to pay, they need services. Our business runs on word of mouth. If we don’t deliver what we have promised then next year nobody would come to us. The returning pilgrims would approach the media, and then all our credibility would be lost,” he added.

Abro says they now tell would-be pilgrims about the lack of residential space around the holy city.

“What we are doing instead is telling those pilgrims staying in Aziziah that they will be shifted to hotels close to the Grand Mosque after Haj,” he said. “After Haj, these nearby hotels will be empty, and most of their current occupants will head to Madinah. Our Haj package is generally 40 days, and so we make sure that our pilgrims pray at ease and in peace after Haj.”

Sri Lankan pilgrim Inayat Mohibullah and his wife have no complaints despite staying quite far from the Grand Mosque.

“We are staying in a district that is near the Ruseifah parking lot. Everyday, we walk to this place because we can’t afford the high rates these taxi drivers demand,” Mohibullah told Arab News, while digging into his favorite chicken at Al-Tazaj.

“It takes us 40 minutes on foot. We did get into taxis on a couple of occasions, but the road is so crowded with pilgrims that it is better to walk than sit in a vehicle that moves literally at a snail’s pace."

He said Haj was all about endurance and sacrifice.

“It is the journey at the end of which one is like a newborn baby,” he said. “For that to happen, one will have to go through small difficulties. What amazes me and touches me, however, is the helping nature of the pilgrims. The other day I saw an old man with a deeply furrowed face pushing a wheelchair with his wife in it. He was having difficulty negotiating a steep incline. There were so many young men who went rushing toward them to help the old man. It is this feeling and these images that keep our spirits and our adrenaline high as we look forward to the five-day rituals that we have to perform beginning Sunday.”