MAKKAH, 20 December 2007 — Despite many expansion projects in Mina, Jamrat Bridge, the Grand Mosque in Makkah, and the Safa and Marwa area, many pilgrims still reject these projects that would make their Haj easier as innovations. They say that the new projects are not part of Haj since the bridge did not exist at the time of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be up on him).
Pilgrims coming from abroad often have fatwas (religious rulings) from their home countries saying that it is not permitted to use these projects when performing Haj. They believe that pilgrims are not allowed to perform Tawaf around the holy Kaaba on the upper floors or to stone Satan from the second or third levels. Their belief is that all must be done on ground level.
Arab News noticed that Iranian pilgrims performed their “saei”(the walking between Safa and Marwa) only on the ground floor. Despite all attempts by officials and the hundreds of millions of riyals spent on expanding these projects, some pilgrims still refuse to use them when performing Haj.
Ahmad, an African pilgrim, said that he is here to do exactly what the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) did. “I will throw the stones during the three days here from the ground floor, following in the footsteps of the Prophet.”
Rashad Abdul Ghani, an Egyptian pilgrim, said that he would only perform “saei” on the ground floor. “This is my first Haj. I did not know how to go to the first floor.”
Abdul Ghani said that he had heard from local preachers in Egypt that using the new projects would invalidate the Haj. He said that he had heard conflicting fatwas about using these projects. But he believes that the projects were built to save pilgrims and make the Haj easier because with the growing number of pilgrims there is no way that they could perform Haj exactly as the Prophet did 1400 years ago. “Scholars from all over the Muslim world agree on a fatwa permitting the use of these projects and clarify that pilgrims will get the same rewards even if they make their saei or tawaf around the Kaaba on the second or third floor,” Abdul Ghani said.
Muamar Rida, a supervisor in the Libyan group, said that he had instructed his group to perform tawaf and saei on the ground floor because the majority of them are over 60 and it would be hard for them to use the stairs. “There should be elevators to help old people reach the upper floors easily.”
He admitted that some old Libyan pilgrims insist on performing the rituals on the ground floor for spiritual rather than physical reasons. He said the pilgrims were stubborn and would not use the new projects because they did not exist at the time of the Prophet (pbuh).
Rida who has been coming to the Kingdom for years at Haj said that every year he witnesses improvements in terms of expansion of facilities and service. “I expect improvements to take place every year,” he added.
