MAKKAH, 30 December 2006 — Consider it the “drive-thru window” of the Haj for Muslims on the go.
According to various Haj tour operators, known as tawafa organizations, a new Haj Express service is increasingly popular for busy, blue-collar Muslims with limited vacation time to fulfill their duty to God.
Haj Express offers five-day packages, which offers a quick in-and-out option for those that don’t have a couple of weeks to spare looking at historical sites and buying Islamic kitsch as gifts for friends back home.
Yasin Mahmoud, an Egyptian Haj operator, said the new service has been popular with Muslim business executives who want only to do what is necessary.
“The service gets the pilgrim into Makkah on the last day they’re allowed to enter the city,” he said. “And they schedule departures soon after the end of the pilgrimage.”
This is in contrast to the many pilgrims that spend the full 45 days in the Kingdom, the maximum time allowed on a Haj visa. (Still others “overstay” their visas and remain as undocumented workers in the informal economy.)
Shuja Zaidi, general manager of Hilton Makkah hotel, said that Haj Express pilgrims stay for five days and has traditionally been a service used by politicians and dignitaries. Today, she says more business people are spending up to SR60,000 ($16,000) for quick but executive-class package tours.
Barakat Abo Diab, an Egyptian businessman who came under the Haj Express program, said that it was more appropriate for him to come strictly for the rituals and go back for his business that requires constant supervision.
“I don’t need to stay for a month to tour Madinah and other places,” he said. “Just get me in and out, halas.”
Saeed Al-Dahas, an Egyptian pilgrim, said that the program is for those that have no desire to linger in Saudi Arabia beyond what’s expected of them as Muslims. “I came strictly to perform my duty,” he said.
