"The easy and comfortable performance of the Haj rites is a God-given right for every Muslim," he said in an exclusive interview with Arab News. He asked Muslims to be always thankful to God who made the Haj a once-in-a-lifetime duty dependent on the person's capability.
"I hope that all those who do not respect the rules and regulations will realize that by doing so, they will be making the performance of Haj a difficult task," he said.
Al-Khudairy said illegal pilgrims impede legitimate pilgrims. “Pilgrims who go to Makkah without permits, squat on the streets in the holy sites and dump garbage haphazardly commit downright offenses against legal pilgrims,” he said.
Such offenses would be harmful to those who commit them in the first place, impede the efforts of government departments to serve the guests of God properly and distort the good image of Saudi Arabia. “We hope that all pilgrims will strictly adhere to Haj rules and regulations,” he added.
Following is the full text of the interview:
Thank God, all reports coming to the Central Haj Committee from the health, supply, municipal, security and transport sectors and other related government and private establishments have confirmed that services rendered to the pilgrims who have so far arrived were excellent. The plans to serve Hajis during the actual performance of the rites are ready for execution. I would like to assure you here that all the government and private establishments involved in Haj services were committed to providing the best of services to the pilgrims from the moment of their arrival until their return to their respective homes. The government under the directives of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah is closely supervising and following up the functions of all sectors involved in the provision of Haj services. The government is also very keen to make Haj a chaos-free event that paints a bright picture of Islam as a religion and of Muslims as people with divine message aimed at honoring man and preserving his humanity and dignity.
A large number of vital projects were implemented in the holy sites of Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah to ensure better services for the guests of God. They include, among others, the Mashair railway which was completed at the cost of SR6.5 billion, the Jamarat project which cost about SR4.2 billion and other significant schemes such as the car parks and the leveling of the plateau in Arafat to increase its capacity. This is of course in addition to a number of dams built to protect pilgrims against floods.
God has given the Kingdom immense bounties and great wealth which it has been using since its establishment until the present day to execute gigantic projects that would make Haj easy and joyful. These projects are aimed at providing consummate services to the guests of God from the time of their arrival until departure. These projects will begin with a continuous series of expansions of the Grand Mosque, the latest of which was King Abdullah’s expansion that started this year and was meant at expanding the mosque’s capacity by 1.4 million worshippers. The total cost of the project is estimated to be more than SR80 billion including the compensation paid to citizens whose lands would be taken for the project. The government is ready now to implement the expansion of the tawaf (circumambulation) area to accommodate 130,000 pilgrims an hour. The expansion of the masaa (walking area between Safa and Marwa) has increased it capacity to 108,000 people an hour. These projects are being complemented by others in Jeddah, Madinah and Taif such as the Haramain Express Train and the promotion of the transport network in Makkah. The government is also following up the implementation of giant construction projects in Makkah, including the Jabal Omar project and King Abdul Aziz road. There are many other projects in the pipeline.
The departments that provide such statistics will announce the exact number of external and domestic pilgrims in a few days. I prefer to wait until the official statistics are announced. However, we do not dismiss the possibility of a rise in the number of pilgrims judging by the unprecedented increase during the 1431H (2010) pilgrimage season. According to official statistics, the number of Hajis that year went up to 2.789 million from 2.3 million pilgrims in 1430H (2009), an increase of 20.58 percent. It is to be noted that the increase in the number of domestic pilgrims has surpassed that of foreign pilgrims. While domestic pilgrims increased by 290,000, pilgrims from abroad rose only by 185,600. It is also notable the number of expatriate pilgrims exceeded Saudi pilgrims. Last year, more than 708,000 expatriates performed Haj compared to 281,500 Saudis.
All the departments concerned with Haj affairs, under the supervision of the Supreme Haj Committee chaired by Crown Prince Naif, deputy premier and minister of interior, and the Central Haj Committee chaired by Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, are taking into account the continued rise in the number of pilgrims. These departments always keep this fact in mind and they formulate their plans accordingly. It is not the increasing number of pilgrims that worries these departments but the illegal domestic pilgrims who insist on performing Haj without permits limiting them to performing the pilgrimage once every five years. We are also worried because we are unable to take their numbers into account beforehand. This will no doubt adversely affect all our plans and will reduce the quality of some services due to the unexpected rise in the demand. Therefore we are keen to enlighten local pilgrims about the need to abide by the rules and regulations, to obtain Haj permits and join Haj campaigns. By doing so, these pilgrims will enable the government to provide them with better services.
We have conducted detailed studies on the phenomenon of illegal pilgrims. Pilgrims squatting on the roads is an uncivilized behavior that stops government departments from performing their tasks. They also impede the movement of regular pilgrims and make the cleaning of the holy sites an impossible task. The studies proved that the phenomenon was caused primarily by the exaggerated prices of Haj campaigns. As you said, most local pilgrims are low-income expatriates who are unable to pay the high costs demanded by the Haj campaigns. So they tend to do Haj on their own and try to enter Makkah and the holy sites without obtaining permits or joining campaigns. Crown Prince Naif, the chairman of the Supreme Haj Committee, has issued instructions to find a solution to the problem of high Haj costs. A number of solutions were approved and we have started implementing them. They all focus on reducing the costs of Haj.
In collaboration with a number of companies and establishments providing Haj services, the Ministry of Haj has launched low-cost Haj campaigns. These were first introduced two years ago and will continue this year in collaboration with 21 companies and establishments. These companies will provide services to domestic pilgrims at prices ranging from SR1,900 to SR3,900 including accommodation, food and transport. We have also launched a campaign titled: “Haj is Both Worship and Civilized Conduct” to enlighten would-be local pilgrims about Haj rules and regulations, especially the necessity of obtaining Haj permits and joining campaigns approved by the Haj Ministry.
The “Haj is Both Worship and Civilized Conduct” campaign is primarily targeting foreigners in Saudi Arabia. What are you trying to tell them to avoid?
The campaign is aimed at raising awareness among foreigners to avoid negative practices that will be harmful to them in the first place and also harm other pilgrims. These negative practices include going to Haj without official permits, squatting on the streets, carrying luggage while throwing stones in the Jamarat area, smoking and trying to enter Makkah and the holy sites in cars with capacity of less than 25 passengers.
These permits can easily be obtained from the Directorate General of Passports in line with certain conditions which include that the expatriate should not have performed the Haj in the last five years, should apply through the public or private sectors in which he is working, present a contract proving that he has joined a Haj campaign and showing his passport and iqama (residence permit). He should also bring with him four passport-size photos, a certificate showing his blood type and another one to prove that he has been vaccinated against meningitis.
We in the Makkah Governorate have an objective we are trying to reach through the Haj conduct campaign. We want all those local residents wishing to perform Haj to abide by the rules and regulations. We want everybody to be aware that these rules and regulations were made for their own good and for the comfort of local and foreign pilgrims. We hope that pilgrims follow these rules not just out of fear of punishment. However, we will not allow any citizen or foreigner without a Haj permit to enter Makkah or the holy sites. Those who transport illegal pilgrims may face a fine, imprisonment or both. The penalties will also include the confiscation of the vehicles involved. I want to remind pilgrims that the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh and other top scholars have warned against violating these rules. They said anyone daring to perform without a Haj permit, not joining a Haj campaign and/or squatting on the streets will be committing a sin.
The train will this year operate at full capacity to serve local pilgrims whether they are Saudis or foreigners, in addition to those coming from GCC countries and some of the land pilgrims joining the Tawafa establishments for Arab Hajis. About 200,000 from the Southeast Asia Tawafa establishment (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) will also be transported by the train.
This is an ambitious project currently under study. It is a joint venture with other government departments and will probably be launched next year. It is aimed at upgrading the level of services provided to the guests of God with a view to making these services a culture and industry run by the sons of the Kingdom in general and Makkah in particular. The residents of Makkah strongly believe that their nearness to the Grand Mosque makes it imperative for them to serve the guests of God. The details of the project, the mechanisms of its implementation and the government departments participating in it will soon be made public.
