Earlier this year, my mother asked me to take her to Mecca in western Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah, or the lesser pilgrimage. Arriving in the holy city one afternoon in January, we checked into our hotel in the imposing tower complex overlooking the Grand Mosque and decided to rest until midnight. I calculated that at such a late hour the mosque would be less crowded.
I was wrong. When we arrived at the inner courtyard around the Kaaba, the cube-shaped building draped in black at the centre of the Grand Mosque that is considered Islam’s most sacred place, it was packed to the brim. We held our breath and joined the crowd to begin the first ritual of Umrah — seven circumambulations of the Kaaba. Viewed from the wide shot usually shown on television, this scene looks harmonious and peaceful. The reality was anything but. I held on to my mother’s arm out of fear she would be separated from me and get lost or hurt in this sea of humanity.
Mecca wasn’t always like this.
Unlike the major Hajj pilgrimage, which is mandatory once in their lifetime for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it and must be performed at a specific time of the year, Umrah can be undertaken at any other time.
Until a few years ago, Saudi Arabia typically did not issue visas for foreign Umrah pilgrims for the first two to three months after Hajj. This gap allowed the city time for maintenance of critical infrastructure and downtime for exhausted workers.
These months used to be the preferred time for many Saudi and Gulf citizens — who don’t require a visa — to make Umrah, taking advantage of the fact that Mecca was less busy and hotel prices cheaper.
However, as Saudi Arabia seeks to diversify its economy away from oil, tourism has become a promising growth sector, and Muslim religious tourism particularly so, meaning the numbers are growing all year round.
Over the next five years the government has set an ambitious target of doubling foreign pilgrims from around 15mn to 30mn.
The logic is clear: the government has invested billions of dollars to make the holy sites more accessible. Using them only for a few months a year seemed like a missed opportunity.
This is no doubt good news for the travel, hospitality and transport businesses that can now depend on a steady stream of pilgrims instead of cycling between high and low seasons. And it is good news for the 2bn Muslims around the world who want to visit the holy sites.
But running Mecca at full capacity all year round means that the experience is likely to get worse for visitors, who will struggle to find a quiet moment for prayer and reflection and may even find themselves in danger. More than 1,300 people died in Mecca last year from extreme heat after many attempted to perform Hajj without permits, meaning they lacked access to shelter and basic services.
Authorities provide golf carts and wheelchairs for the elderly and those unable to walk can perform the tawaf, or circumambulations of the Kaaba, on the second floor of the mosque away from the crowds. But this distance can take away the spiritual experience.
Authorities say that they have deployed a system of advanced cameras and sensors to ensure a smooth flow as nearly half a million pilgrims performed Umrah in one day last week, setting a new record.
A former official with the government’s Pilgrim Experience Programme tells me there must also be a focus on education. Pilgrims should be taught to walk at a gentle pace, be kind and not push or shove during the rituals because that goes against God’s orders.
Saudi Arabia has faced criticism for the perceived over commercialisation of Mecca. But most people, including my mother, will not be deterred by the crowds or the cost. Resting on the marble steps outside the mosque after we finished the Umrah rituals as the morning sun began to rise, my tired mom told me she would definitely do it again next year.
Like most devout Muslims, she believes that hardship will lead to more rewards from God.
ahmed.alomran@ft.com
