Those who watch TV may have noticed severe overcrowding in the area surrounding the Grand Mosque in Makkah. In the past, this kind of overcrowding was not noticeable until the last 10 days of Ramadan but this year, people noticed it much earlier. It was also noticed that many pilgrims from outside the Kingdom used the space around the Holy Mosque for sleeping.
The Ministry of Haj is charged with regulating the performance of both Haj and Umrah and the organizations which are involved in pilgrim movement and accommodation. The ministry does a great deal but in comparison with the situation in the past, more must be done. We must be able to guarantee that the pilgrims can perform their Haj or Umrah in peace, security and comfort.
The fact is that visitors in Ramadan are many, especially in the last 10 days of the month. The visitors are from both inside and outside the country and we must find the way to ensure that they perform their religious duties in peace and security. We as Muslims living in the Kingdom, whether Saudi or non-Saudi, must not be selfish and insist on performing Umrah every year. That can only lead to overcrowding and all kinds of problems. We must give chances to Muslims from other countries who spend considerable time and money in coming here for the soundest and most valid of Islamic reasons.
One possibility would be to establish places near the Holy Mosque for people to pray. I suggest raising the level of floors and including places for “tawaf” and “saey” because this will allow more worshippers in the mosque. This would solve part of the problem but not all of it since the number of pilgrims are increasing every year.
We should also develop a system for delivering zamzam into the Holy Mosque. A system of pipes must be built instead of relying on the traditional way of bringing water in plastic containers. Some will say this is bad since it is more expensive than the traditional way but it will be more efficient and will reduce the cost of transporting the water.
In addition, the system has been used in some areas on the second floor of the Holy Mosque and proved successful since there was no overcrowding by workers bringing full containers and removing empty ones.
These are ideas that I believe are efficient and deserve to be looked at in a careful, analytical and scientific way. It would only be fair to try them.
