MINA, 19 January 2005 — Pilgrims were facing a lot of hardship in moving around and finding their camps due to squatting by pilgrims all over the place in the valley of Mina yesterday. These pilgrims’ enthusiasm to perform Haj knows no limits and is not regulated by the rules of law.
The squatters are mostly legal residents of the Kingdom who have sneaked into the holy site to perform pilgrimage without having proper Haj permits. They have not booked with any muallim and have no place of their own to stretch out. They have spread their belongings on the pavements and roads while praying and reading the holy book.
Despite all the restrictions at the checkpoints on the outer periphery of Makkah and Mina these pilgrims managed to sneak into Mina in large numbers to make life miserable for other pilgrims.
As per the law of the land anyone who wishes to perform Haj needs a permit from the Passport Department. Both Saudis and expatriates are restricted to perform Haj only once in five years.
However, many zealous pilgrims come through illegal means disregarding all norms. Their presence in large numbers adds to the pressure on the already stretched official machinery. But they remain unrepentant and defiant.
Bakr Al-Zahrani, a Saudi coming from Hail, had no remorse for adopting illegal channels to come to Mina without proper documentation and causing hardship to those coming from far-flung parts of the world.
“Haj is a sacred religious rite and you cannot overlook this factor. Moreover, in the last couple of years it has been highly commercialized and left little room for low- income group people to perform it by paying the muallim for his services and by affording other incidental expenses. This is one of the reasons why people come on their own to perform Haj.”
Haj is the fifth pillar of Islam and obligatory only on those able-bodied Muslims who can afford it.
Ashiruddin Alim, a Bangladeshi construction supervisor from Jeddah, expressed similar sentiments lying on the sidewalks of Shar-e-Jowhra here.
“I have been in the Kinbgdom for the last seven years and if I have to save money for Haj and wait for permission, it will take another seven years for me to undertake this pilgrimage,” Alim said. “Moreover, Haj is one of the attractions for people like us to work in the Kingdom.”
Whatever arguments these pilgrims give in support of violating the rules and embarking on this journey of a lifetime, one thing is clearly evident that their that their zeal and religious fervor is a burden on the logistics of the holy sites and makes it difficult for legitimate pilgrims to perform their religious duties smoothly.
The enthusiasm of these illegal pilgrims has spawned a big business for touts who assist these people to sneak into Mina. Sometimes, they charge hefty sums for their services.
Saleh Muhammad from Egypt was one such illegal pilgrim who doled out SR400 to a tout for a “safe passsage” into the tent city.
“I was stopped at Makkah checkpoint but thank God, I met a person who took SR400 and brought me here and Alhamdullilah I’m performing Haj,” said Muhammad.
One of these pilgrims got agitated when asked about his sources for coming to Mina. “This is none of your business, go awy. I have to pray. I have endured tremendous physical and mental hardship to come to this place,” said a Sudanese, Mahdi Khalaf.
Mahdi had no answer when told that his presence was causing hardship to many fellow pilgrims.
Officials admit that thousands of pilgrims do sneak in illegally. “It is very difficult to detect them among the throng of millions, said a security official.
Authorities also admit that the problem of squatters have grown steadily over the past couple of years.
One official said they “are looking at various options available before us to control this menace. Some new measures are being considered to minimize this infiltration.”
