JEDDAH, 9 December 2004 — Saudi Arabia has long prided itself on low crime levels; honesty is ingrained in the culture and the punishments for theft can be exemplary.
With the increase in population and influx of visitors and workers to the Kingdom over the years, petty crimes have increased. One safe haven from crime though has always been the mosque, especially at prayer time.
No longer; even that has been breached.
Crimes are being committed in the interior of the mosque actually during prayer. In one case two women and a child entered the women’s section of a mosque and while the worshippers were in the act of praying, the child stole a purse and ran for the door. On this occasion, the worshippers broke off prayer and gave chase, retrieving the purse but not apprehending the three thieves.
In another incident in Jeddah’s Salama district, a woman who had been collecting money for distribution to others and kept her handbag close by during prayer, had it stolen complete with the SR30,000 of other people’s money.
In a recent case in Jeddah, very careful timing and teamwork proved to be the key to success. An Indian couple were obliged to cut short their Umrah visit after their purse was stolen from a mosque in a Jeddah market where the wife had gone shopping.
“We are very much disappointed, not just because we lost a lot of money in cash and kind, but the fact that the incident took place in a mosque. We cannot imagine that could possibly happen,” said Khaled Siddiqui, 65, and his wife Ghazala, 59, of New Delhi.
Ghazala recounted that she had gone to Mahmood Saeed Market on Sitteen Street with her husband’s sister Humaira Siddiqui after Asr. “We purchased some gold jewelry — a necklace and some earrings. As Maghreb was approaching we went into the mosque to pray and intended to resume shopping after that,” Ghazala said.
Humaira and Ghazala said they placed their purses in front of them. “It was during the ‘fard’ prayer that our purses were lifted,” said Ghazala. Besides the jewelry, her purse contained $1,500, SR5,000, and about 6,000 Indian rupees.
“My purse contained SR5,000, $300, and the whole amount that my husband had given for monthly household expenditure,” Humaira said. “I wanted to buy some furniture for our new apartment,” she added.
“After the prayer was over, two young Asian girls told us that the purses were lifted by women clad in veil during the last ‘sajda’. They prayed just two ‘rakat’ and during the third and last one, lifted the purses and left,” Humaira said.
The thieves had timed their strike to a nicety. Their technique, pieced together from information from witnesses after the incident, was to use three women, completely veiled, to line up for prayer on one side of their target. The one furthest from the target waits for he chance, when heads are bowed and eyes closed, and strikes, moving off quickly.
The two others create a physical barrier to cover the movement of the thief, ensuring that the victim has no warning. In the confusion, the two accomplices drift off unnoticed into the melee.
Ghazala’s large purse was found empty in a corner of the mosque, while Humaira’s, along with its contents, was never retrieved. They said they were thankful that the “ugly” incident happened after they had completed their Umrah, and that there were no documents whatsoever in the purses. The only document that Humaira had was a photocopy of her husband’s Iqama.
