MADINAH, 20 May 2007 — Offering quality service to pilgrims visiting the holy city was the goal of a seminar organized by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in Madinah yesterday, said Sheikh Suleiman Al-Tuwaijri, director general of the commission’s Madinah branch.
In his opening address at the three-day meeting, which is being held at the Haram Hotel, Al-Tuwaijri said the commission aims to achieve a qualitative shift in its style of functioning that mainly focuses on teaching pilgrims about correct religious practice when visiting historically significant places.
Madinah Gov. Prince Abdul Aziz ibn Majed and the Commission’s President Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Ghaith will attend the final session of the seminar tomorrow.
Al-Tuwaijri said the seminar also aims to discuss ways to strengthen methods of cooperation with other agencies that serve pilgrims.
Sheikh Ali Al-Obaid, president of the commission’s Madinah branch, read the event’s first working paper and discussed obstacles that hamper the commission’s activities.
Al-Obaid said shortage of field workers was a major problem faced by the commission. He said that there are only 50 men to work at 20 locations, while the visitors number more than two million.
The official said the commission’s field workers were entrusted to guide pilgrims to historic sites that they are allowed to visit and explain to them lawful and unlawful actions when they visit such locations as graveyards.
Another speaker at the event, Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Turki, a senior commission official, shed light on the various shortcomings of field workers and suggested ways to rectify them. He also warned commission workers that they were accountable like other government officials.
Several senior officials of other branches of the commission will lecture at the conference and participate in discussions today and tomorrow. The conference is part of the commission’s continual efforts to improve its services by identifying negative aspects of its work and adopting better strategies.
Sheikh Rabah Al-Salama, director of the Enlightenment and Advice Department at the commission’s Madinah branch, said the conference would discuss the treatment of visitors in a refined manner using modern technology tools.
Al-Salama said two courses were conducted in the last Haj season: the first was a seven-day course on interacting with visitors; the second was a six-month course on the fundamentals of the English language. He added that the services of 114 interpreters were used last year to interact with pilgrims who spoke different languages.
