Two to three million Muslims make a pilgrimage to Mecca for the Hajj each year and many more applications for it without success. Saudi Arabia, therefore, wants to increase its capacities by a factor of 15. Is it still about a spiritual journey or just about money? In any case, the losses this year are huge.
The Hajj is impressive:
But also a strenuous event: every year around two to three million devout Muslims visit the holy city of Mecca to undertake the Islamic pilgrimage. In midsummer on the hot Arabian Peninsula at around 40 degrees in the shade. A physical challenge, says Abdassamad El Yazidi, General Secretary of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany (ZMD). He completed the Hajj in 2015 and speaks of a “physically strenuous service” because the pilgrimage is viewed as such. “There is, for example, going around the Kaaba or running back and forth between the two mountains Safa and Marwa. That is several kilometers that you run – in certain places a little faster. That is a ritual that you obey.”
For many Muslims, the Hajj is still a lifelong dream. It is one of the five pillars of Islam that every believer must adhere to the creed, prayer, giving alms Zakat, fasting in the month of Ramadan, and, of course, the pilgrimage. Every Muslim has to travel to the Saudi Arabian Mecca once in their life, to the holiest city of Islam, to the birthplace of the Prophet Mohammed. This only applies to those Muslims who can afford the trip financially and healthily. All others are released from their duties.
Abdassamad El Yazidi paid around 4,200 euros for his hajj five years ago. That was the price for the all-around carefree package with all registrations, visas, accommodation, and transport. On-site catering was also partially included. A good price because the Hajj is getting more expensive every year. The business portal “Quartz” has calculated that US Muslims now have to pay around $ 10,000 or more for the trip, while Indian Muslims have an average of around a third of their annual income. This makes the pilgrimage priceless for many believers.
In spite of everything, money and health are not the main obstacles for most Muslims on their way to Mecca. Their sheer number is the problem: there are around 1.9 billion Muslims worldwide. With two to three million pilgrims annually, it would take around 600 years at the current rate until each of them has been there once and has fulfilled his religious duty.
As a result, many countries have come up with complicated systems to decide who can and cannot travel to Saudi Arabia. In Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world with 225 million Muslims, there is a place on the waiting list for $ 2,000: the average waiting time is currently 37 years. In Pakistan, Muslims have to apply for the Hajj. There are lotteries in India and Morocco. “In fact, there are cases in which people take part in the lottery for 17 years each year until they are lucky at some point,” says ZMD General Secretary Yazidi. So it is only a small consolation that those who are not drawn are also exempt from the duty of pilgrimage.
Once in a lifetime to Mecca:
When the pilgrims do the Hajj
Muslims in Germany are spared this long waiting period. There are still so few in Europe that the supply is currently greater than the demand. But in principle, such rules would also be conceivable for us. That is why Saudi Arabia is working to enlarge the Hajj. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wants 30 million pilgrims to travel to Mecca every year from 2030 – around 15 times more than is currently the case.
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