Haj 2008 welcomed us with a cool breeze as we entered Mina on Friday night. The place was still mostly deserted. Only the hectares and hectares of white tents provided an indication of the millions of pilgrims about to descend on the city. We hopped on a moped to take a tour of the site. The winds whipped at the tent flaps and the chill of a winter desert night bit into our bones. Meteorologists have predicted cool weather and perhaps even rain during the Haj rituals. This will certainly test the pilgrims, especially during their stay in the barren landscape of Muzdalifa tonight (Sunday night). In preparation for possible flooding, the authorities have dug culverts to try and channel rushing water away from the tent city. It is hoped that this will also reduce the danger from rock slides coming down the rocky hillsides.
The new Jamrat complex has a commanding presence, towering over all other structures in Mina. It is four levels now — ground floor, plus three additional stories. The area is fully floodlit and police were already on duty, securing the site. A few pilgrims had come out to discover the lay of the land per se. As the complex is so new it is an attraction in itself, aside from the role it will play in the Haj rituals. I have been covering the pilgrimage for a decade and the Jamrat complex is truly something to give every Muslim peace of mind. In times past, the small Jamrat bridge always seemed inadequate to cope with the flood of humanity. It was a source of anxiety to those of us who would watch tragedies unfolding near the pillars that symbolize Satan, again and again. There is confidence among all the Haj organizers now that every precaution has been taken to prevent loss of life during the stoning ritual.
The police are being extremely strict this year in controlling access to the holy sites. A Haj permit is a must. It was mandatory that pilgrims showed that they had accommodation before permits would be issued. The goal is to prevent squatters and improve the manageability of the event. It was announced that 1.7 million pilgrims will be coming from abroad and that half a million permits were issued to pilgrims from within the Kingdom. Since it is thought that about 2.5 million pilgrims can be accommodated at the Haj, those numbers are well within the acceptable limits.
Rulings have been issued by the religious authorities stating that coming to Haj without a permit is against the spirit of the event and is highly discouraged. Nevertheless, some Muslims feel that they must circumvent the laws. One Pakistani who works for a transport company in Jeddah stated that as he had performed Haj four years ago, he was ineligible for a permit this year. This was catastrophic for him since his aged parents had finally been able to make the journey of a lifetime. “Nothing in the world would stop me from standing at Arafat with my mother and father,” he said. “I tell them that I come to Makkah every Friday. How can I tell them that I will not assist them during Haj?”
He is definitely an exception thus far. Kunhavutty Abdul Khader, a pilgrim from Kerala, explained that he had paid SR1,000 for a permit. His mother is coming for the event and he will be staying with her. However, he needed to arrange his own transport to reach Makkah. “I went to Al-Nakhal Al-Jamayee (SAPTCO bus stop) to get a taxi,” he said. “During Haj it costs SR100 for the journey from Jeddah to Makkah. Normally the taxi driver will cram four people into his car. He was able to pick up three people easily but even after driving around for two hours he couldn’t find a fourth person to go on the trip. In past years this would never have been the case. There was always a huge shortage of transport at Haj time, but this year not so many people are going.” It remains to be seen if the authorities can halt the flow of illegal pilgrims into Mina. There still might be a last-minute rush to get over the barricades.
One area where improvement is still needed is in the use of technology to help pilgrims find their camps. Yesterday, hundreds of pilgrims were wandering lost through the tent city. We found Indians in the Algerian camp and Egyptian pilgrims in the Indian camp. We were as clueless as anyone about the location of the various camps and this is disappointing to many pilgrims. All Arab News team members are wearing fluorescent green vests, a bit similar to the ones worn by the traffic police. So all lost pilgrims think we are guides of some sort.
There are low-tech and high-tech ways of finding the camps in Mina. The Algerian pilgrims are being led by Samir Sharari, a guide wearing a bright yellow overall and yellow cowboy hat. He is carrying an Algerian flag. Amid the sea of white ihrams, he can’t be missed. Many pilgrims from Europe and the US are using GPS in their mobile phones to locate their accommodation. Some of the Haj authorities have standalone GPS devices. Turning to such technology is very smart in the vast whiteness of Mina. Meanwhile, the organizers of the pilgrim groups need to issue strict instructions to the men and women in their care not to leave the group. The pilgrims think that by walking from Makkah to Mina they can bypass the traffic and reach their tents earlier. Truth be told, they just spend hours and hours on foot exhausting themselves in the search for their tents.
And what can pilgrims expect in regards to accommodation in Mina? First, select from Categories A through D on a price basis. Remember that there is no authority to control prices or guarantee that the promised services will be delivered. For SR20,000 per head, a pilgrim can stay in a single-sex tent equipped with bunk beds — think college dormitory style. Category A pilgrims are provided with Western-style buffets for meals, plus coffee, tea, snacks, deluxe transportation and knowledgeable guides. The tents of these pilgrims are located as close as possible to the Jamrat complex, so they don’t have far to walk to perform the stoning rituals. However, there is a downside to choosing to pay for Category A accommodation and services. Since these tents are so close to the Jamrat, the area is unbearably noisy. Category A pilgrims get caught up in the same traffic jam as the Category D pilgrims on the way to Arafat and coming back from Muzdalifa. In fact, Category A pilgrims may be forced to abandon their luxury minibus if it gets stuck in traffic. Then they will be forced to walk the longest distance to their tents, which would not be on the outskirts of Mina — where the Category D pilgrims are housed. When things go wrong for those Category A pilgrims — perhaps their bus doesn’t come or lunch is delayed — what does the organizer tell them: “This is God’s will. Haj is about sacrifice. Let us not talk about worldly things at this time.”
