MAKKAH: As Hajis, loaded with spirituality, continue their journey of faith, they don’t forget to take home armful of gifts for loved ones.
Even before the rites have begun, Sidi Mokhtar Dembele from Mali has already spent the equivalent of more than $850 on beads, rugs and other souvenirs for family and friends.
Dembele, 54, a customs inspector who wears a traditional blue robe and a white skullcap, said shopping was part of the religious obligation.
“It’s what Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, asked us to do. Bring back gifts for family and friends,” he said in a busy street of Makkah lined with stalls.
Another pilgrim, Mohammed Hassan from Egypt was making purchases just a few dozen meters from the Grand Mosque. There, on Ibrahim Al-Khalil Avenue, shops compete with flashing lights and signs in a myriad of languages.
“I already bought some abayas, beads, perfume, prayer rugs and incense,” the 61-year-old Egyptian engineer said.
Grimacing, Hassan said his total budget is SR3,000, a substantial sum on top of around $6,700 for airfare and hotels in Makkah and Madinah.
The cost is unavoidable, he said, because “family and friends will be proud of these souvenirs. They have real value. They are priceless.”
Dressed in a thobe and smiling as he tried to force his way through the crowded street, he said his children will be able to tell everyone: “Papa brought me this from the Kaaba.”
Gamal Hamada, an Egyptian who will perform the Haj with his wife, said: “We saved our entire life” to realize the dream of Haj, and it is an obligation to return home loaded with gifts.
One vendor, Maged Abdullah, said daily revenue at his small shop selling rugs and clothes is already running at between SR20,000 and SR25,000.
His neighbor Ali Abu Saadi agreed that things are going well.
Saadi’s shop overflows with trinkets made in China as customers jostle — “those who are rich as well as those who are poor,” said the Yemeni, 66.
Yet in Makkah there is more on offer than just the plastic prayer beads or adhan clocks, mass-produced in Asia.
Outside the Grand Mosque, on mats on the ground, other vendors propose a return to the simpler time of the Last Prophet (pbuh), selling traditional incense, or sticks of miswak, wooden “natural tooth brushes” often seen protruding from the lips of pilgrims.
Sold for one riyal, even a miswak forms part of the religious rite.
“Most gifts have religious significance, helping those close to us who remain in our country feel the passion of the Haj,” said Omar Sar, a 58-year-old from Senegal.
“With these gifts, we inspire them to reinforce their faith that they too will come to Makkah.”
Foreign pilgrims last year spent almost SR20 billion during the Haj, according to the Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Even before the rites have begun, Sidi Mokhtar Dembele from Mali has already spent the equivalent of more than $850 on beads, rugs and other souvenirs for family and friends.
Dembele, 54, a customs inspector who wears a traditional blue robe and a white skullcap, said shopping was part of the religious obligation.
“It’s what Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, asked us to do. Bring back gifts for family and friends,” he said in a busy street of Makkah lined with stalls.
Another pilgrim, Mohammed Hassan from Egypt was making purchases just a few dozen meters from the Grand Mosque. There, on Ibrahim Al-Khalil Avenue, shops compete with flashing lights and signs in a myriad of languages.
“I already bought some abayas, beads, perfume, prayer rugs and incense,” the 61-year-old Egyptian engineer said.
Grimacing, Hassan said his total budget is SR3,000, a substantial sum on top of around $6,700 for airfare and hotels in Makkah and Madinah.
The cost is unavoidable, he said, because “family and friends will be proud of these souvenirs. They have real value. They are priceless.”
Dressed in a thobe and smiling as he tried to force his way through the crowded street, he said his children will be able to tell everyone: “Papa brought me this from the Kaaba.”
Gamal Hamada, an Egyptian who will perform the Haj with his wife, said: “We saved our entire life” to realize the dream of Haj, and it is an obligation to return home loaded with gifts.
One vendor, Maged Abdullah, said daily revenue at his small shop selling rugs and clothes is already running at between SR20,000 and SR25,000.
His neighbor Ali Abu Saadi agreed that things are going well.
Saadi’s shop overflows with trinkets made in China as customers jostle — “those who are rich as well as those who are poor,” said the Yemeni, 66.
Yet in Makkah there is more on offer than just the plastic prayer beads or adhan clocks, mass-produced in Asia.
Outside the Grand Mosque, on mats on the ground, other vendors propose a return to the simpler time of the Last Prophet (pbuh), selling traditional incense, or sticks of miswak, wooden “natural tooth brushes” often seen protruding from the lips of pilgrims.
Sold for one riyal, even a miswak forms part of the religious rite.
“Most gifts have religious significance, helping those close to us who remain in our country feel the passion of the Haj,” said Omar Sar, a 58-year-old from Senegal.
“With these gifts, we inspire them to reinforce their faith that they too will come to Makkah.”
Foreign pilgrims last year spent almost SR20 billion during the Haj, according to the Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
