A small tent city of its own has mushroomed in the foothills of the mountains of Mina. The irony is that it is the illegal pilgrims — either overstayers or those without the official Haj permits — who are using these illegal structures while performing Haj.

Some others use these movable tents due to financial constraints or to avoid living in a crowd.

Despite the fact that squatting on top of Mina mountains is dangerous because of various factors, many illegal pilgrims insist on using this site on top of the mountain because it is close to the Jamarat Bridge.

Arab News climbed the mountain and met with some of the pilgrims using these tents to save costs. One of those tying to stay atop the mountain is Egyptian pilgrim Mustafa Hussein who with his friend is performing the pilgrimage without a permit.

He said that he and his friends could not register with a Haj group simply because their prices are too high. “I cannot afford paying SR4,000 for joining a Haj group. It is much cheaper if I went illegally. We are not harming anyone and we can support ourselves to the best of our financial abilities,” he added.

Zakareya Saeed, a Sudanese pilgrim, said that it is impossible to join a Haj group for a low-income person like him. “I can support myself in Haj financially but I cannot afford a Haj group. This mountain is the best place away from the security authorities because they are getting tougher every year.”

The numbers of illegal pilgrims has opened up a lucrative market for some illegal overstayers to make money by renting out tents on these mountain sites. Some of these pilgrims, who have their own tents, join in and create their own tent site.

Arab News met with a Yemeni illegal overstayer, who is renting locations in Mina. He said that he remained in the Kingdom after Ramadan to perform Haj because he could not bear the expenses of the return flights to Yemen twice in such a short period of time.

It is quite common to find people like Ali, who have chosen to remain past their scheduled visa date after Ramadan in order to perform both Umrah and later Haj in the same trip.

He said, “I bought a plastic tent and came to the mountain after I heard that the police are strictly applying security measures around the Jamarat area. I also heard that they are preventing people from squatting there. At least here I am safe and away from the police’s eye. I am not new to living in the mountains because my house in Yemen is also on a mountain. The rough roads and hard conditions here are easy for me to cope with.”

Arab News met with an Arab national on the mountain to ask him about an empty tent. He said, “We charge SR100 per day per pilgrim,” said Yasser. “I am providing a service to those who want to perform Haj with permits.” Another illegal overstayer, Abu Fares, said that he bought a number of camping tents and is renting them out to illegal pilgrims for SR1,000 for the whole period of Haj with the aim of making a quick and huge profit.