There is no Qur’anic injunction that prevents the Tourism Commission from having plans to develop and improve tourism in religious locations inside the Kingdom.
For example, the caves of Hera’a and Thour in Makkah are sacred to Muslims around the world. Educators and intellectuals are aware of the two caves and their historic Islamic background.
In Madinah, there are also the Al-Qiblatain Mosque, Qeba’a, the sites of the Battles of the Trench, of Uhod and Badr. During the last Haj, some 20,000 pilgrims wanted to visit Hera’a Cave and so they did.
The Ministry of Pilgrimage could oversee and regulate trips to religious locations in order to avoid any misbehavior that would detract from the sacredness of the place. Or perhaps the ministry could set up a committee for arranging trips or building protective walls around the sites that would protect them.
The Kingdom has a number of historic Islamic sites and they should be promoted as tourist sites for those who are interested. We should encourage all Muslims, both Arabs and non-Arabs, to be aware of their shared Islamic culture and one way of doing this would be to provide easy access to Islamic sites.
