MINA, 30 December 2006 — Where there is a will there is a way. This has been proved true once again, by pilgrims who reached Mina illegally, negotiating many official hurdles to perform Haj. This group of 10 Indians decided to embark on the pilgrimage without obtaining the necessary permits and embarked on their journey from Yanbu to Makkah by bus.
“We decided to perform Haj and then packed our bags and left for Makkah,” said Dawood Tarkai. “We had neither time nor means to get the Haj permit and arrange for a muallim (agent). Allah will make our pilgrimage easy and accept it.”
Tarkai is not alone in following this concept of Haj. There are many who perform Haj this way. They slip into Makkah, find a shady spot to stay on the streets, use public toilets and buy food from some of the thousands of vendors.
The Saudi government introduced strict regulations on potential pilgrims requiring them to get prior permission and go through a muallim who had to provide proper accommodation, food and transportation and also receive meningitis shots.
The average Haj rate this year, within the Kingdom for the formal route, is about SR1,800 per head. The regulations are there to try to prevent a repetition of the serious accidents that have sometimes marred the Haj.
Pilgrims such as Tarkai, who works as labor supervisor in a small company and cannot afford to pay the fee or procure the permit, holds no truck with such “formalities.” Their belief is that as they live in Saudi Arabia they are entitled to perform pilgrimage, even if it is at the cost of risking others’ lives.
“I have worked in Rabigh for four years and for all that time I longed to go to Makkah. This year I got a chance.”
“It would have been a great setback for me had I failed to perform Haj after living in the Kingdom for several years,” said Ala Ismail Sheikh, a Sudani pilgrim. “We are too close to the holy place and should take advantage of performing Haj; that is the dream of every Muslim. Why should I be stopped if I don’t have the money? It should not be so expensive for those living here,” Ismail said.
Tarkai was more vocal and unrepentant about his adventurous journey though he and his group faced a great deal of hardship and “humiliation” at the hands of the security forces manning the checkpoints. Safely in Makkah he was happy among thousands of squatters under the shade of a pedestrian bridge.
Security personnel were not able to evict these squatters and had given up. Though Ali Al-Saleh of the Mujahedeen Force said that reinforcement had been asked for and once it arrived, all these illegal pilgrims would be removed from the bridge.
When they started from Yanbu, the group knew they would face problems. Every year there are restrictions on “freestyle” pilgrims but they are usually allowed in at the last moment. “Nobody,” said Tarkai, “this year was normally turned back if wearing an ihram.”
When the group reached the Jamjoom checkpoint en-route to Makkah they were stopped and turned back. They decided to bypass the checkpoint and trek through the desert into Makkah. It took 3-4 hours to enter the city. “And then we took a taxi to get to Mina,” Tarkai said.
The biggest worry now for Tarkai was that one of his friends, Noor Ullah, got injured during the trek when he got entangled in barbed fence. He could no longer walk; all the others in his group suffered from swollen feet. “It is worth it,” said Tarkai. “After all we were on the journey of a lifetime.”
Some Syrians had a different story to justify their stay underneath the pedestrian bridge. They said that in their country people below 60 years were not given permits for Haj.
They paid substantial amounts of money to “dodgy” Haj agents, sometimes spending their life savings, to stay in the holy land. They cried and told the officials trying to remove them that they were the victims of a scam.
“We arranged a labor visa through a travel agent who assured us that once we were in Makkah, we would be taken care of by his agents there. They would arrange everything from accommodation to transportation. But he did not meet us and we failed to locate him and hence landed up under this bridge,” recounted Farhan Altulsh.
Some others who had been provided with tent seemed to prefer the bridge. “It is open and airy,” they said. “In the tent we were feeling suffocated so we came here,” said Ghulam Ishaque, a Pakistani pilgrim.
There is only one main checkpoint between Jeddah and Makkah, but during the Haj season smaller checkpoints are opened. It is simply not possible to check every car and every pilgrim for correct papers.
Ahead of this year’s Haj, passport officers at checkpoints on roads leading to Makkah intensified inspection of expatriate pilgrims traveling to the holy city to make sure that they have valid Haj permits and to forestall illegal immigrants from performing the Haj.
Authorities believe that pilgrims who squat at public places in the holy sites, particularly in the shaded pedestrian bridge and in and around Jamrat bridge have been at least partially responsible for many deadly accidents in the past, which have claimed hundreds of lives.
The Passport Department urged drivers of taxis and public buses not to transport any pilgrim without permits. Violators face punishment including jail sentences and SR10,000 fine. The department has also instructed employers not to allow their expatriate workers to perform Haj without permits.
The presence of thousands of illegal pilgrims in Mina shows that no amount of regulation can fully curb this menace unless there is a much higher general awareness among would-be Hajis of the potential for death and disruption their uncontrolled presence represents.
