ARAFAT, 20 January 2005 — ASSIGNMENT: Go into a crowd of two million people, interview them, write up a story and get it to Jeddah — pronto.
That’s the challenge reporters face in covering the Haj, and trying to go in the opposite direction through two million people is as hard as it sounds. It’s no small task. After getting into the tent city to do your interviews with pilgrims, you go back to the computer in the temporary office set up in Mina and type out your story.
Since four-wheel vehicles are not allowed, journalists have to bank on motor-scooters and driving them in the middle of more than two million pilgrims. It is a difficult and sometimes impossible task. If you get stuck in the crowd, you may be stuck for hours, but in Jeddah the hour keeps moving closer to press time.
Oof.
Visiting pilgrims often get help from an establishment to perform Haj. For the journalists of the many publications of the Saudi Research and Marketing Group, Abdul Mughni Ghalib Al-Tuwairi is just as invaluable.
With 30 years of experience, Abdul Mughni, 46, has been organizing the SRMG Haj team since 1991. Technology has changed a little bit since then.
“In those days we had to write our stories and then go from Mina to Makkah to fax them back to our offices in Jeddah,” Abdul Mughni said during a rare break. “Those were not the days of the Internet and mobile phones. Now we can just phone our stories in.”
Of course, his job was a little bit simpler back then.
“There was only one journalist representing our group then, and we had only one motor-scooter. Now we have eight scooters and 22 journalists representing the group.”
He says Mina and Arafat have undergone tremendous changes over the last 10 years.
“There are so many trees in Arafat now,” Abdul Mughni said. “Water sprinklers were not there back then. Now when it gets hot the sprinklers are the best way to cool the atmosphere. And also the number of pilgrims has risen immensely,” he said.
The year 1997 is burned into Abdul Mughni’s memory.
“The fire tragedy that resulted in the deaths of so many pilgrims was a nightmare,” he said. “Our office on Al-Johara Street was surrounded by balls of fire. I saw pilgrims climbing onto the top of the pedestrian bridge behind our makeshift office.”
Rushing out along with a cameraman to take photographs of the tragedy, he remembers falling down in the chaos. “We didn’t know how to react to the situation,” he said. “It was terrible.”
Abdul Mughni is himself a Makkan. For him the opportunity to serve the pilgrims and report about them is a great honor. “We in Makkah have been hosting pilgrims for centuries,” Abdul Mughni said. “It is in our blood. For all our lives, we wait for this great event, and every Makkan contributes in any way he can to make a difference in the pilgrimages of the Muslim and Arab visitors to this holy land.”
Abdul Mughni says one year he decided not to organize or cover Haj and instead decided to spend his Eid Al-Adha holidays with his family in Taif, but it just didn’t work. “While there, I switched on the television in the hotel room, and they were beaming live pictures from the Plains of Arafat,” Abdul Mughni said. “I broke into tears, and I couldn’t stop myself from rushing to Mina and Arafat.”
So much for Eid Al-Adha vacations.
“The power of these images from Arafat and Mina are indescribable,” Abdul Mughni said. “They’re like magnets. Since that time I’ve decided not to miss covering Haj.”
After we journalists are snug in our beds, Abdul Mughni has one more little chore — distributing Asharq Al-Awsat and Arab News on the plains of Arafat. You can tell he’s doing a good job — the green of Asharq Al-Awsat and Arab News really stand out against the stark white background of Arafat.
“It gives me immense thrill when people buy Asharq and Arab News here in Mina and Arafat. I personally feel very proud,” Abdul Mughni said. “It is like my mission is accomplished.”
