Residing on canned beans and meat, the 70-year-old Egyptian has been hiding out in a Mecca condo for weeks, hoping to evade a Saudi dragnet and carry out the hajj pilgrimage illegally.
The person — who requested to be recognized solely as Mohammed, his first title — is amongst tens of hundreds of Muslims making an attempt to finish the annual ceremony on a budget, based on officers and journey brokers.
The unregistered pilgrims can save hundreds of {dollars} by spurning formal channels, however they threat arrest and deportation if caught by safety forces.
“I’ve been looking for the official hajj allow in Egypt for greater than 10 years and have had no luck,” Mohammed instructed AFP, referring to the doc allotted underneath a quota system for every nation and distributed in Egypt through lottery.
Even when he had obtained a allow, the most cost effective journey package deal supplied by Egyptian authorities would have set the retired civil servant again 175,000 Egyptian kilos (round $3,700), a sum he stated he couldn’t afford.
As an alternative Mohammed flew to Saudi Arabia after securing a vacationer visa, then organized for a journey agent to deal with him close to Mount Arafat, the place the Prophet Mohammed delivered his closing sermon, at a price of three,500 Saudi riyals ($933).
As he prepares for the hajj rituals to start later this month, Mohammed is cooped up in an condo with seven different folks, going out solely when completely obligatory.
“I’m ready for each hardship. The climate is sizzling. I’ll drink numerous water,” he stated.
“Crucial factor is I’ll carry out hajj.”
– Crowd management –
The hajj is among the 5 pillars of Islam and should be undertaken at the least as soon as by all Muslims with the means.
It entails a sequence of rituals accomplished over 4 days in Mecca and its environment within the west of Saudi Arabia.
The oil-rich kingdom makes billions of {dollars} annually from the hajj and from pilgrimages, often called umrah, made at different instances of the 12 months.
Final 12 months greater than 1.8 million Muslims took half within the hajj, based on official figures.
A Saudi safety official, talking on situation of anonymity, instructed AFP there have been additionally “about 100,000 irregular pilgrims”, a determine the federal government doesn’t publicise.
Giant crowds have proved hazardous up to now, most just lately in 2015 when a stampede through the “stoning the satan” ritual in Mina, close to Mecca, killed as much as 2,300 folks within the deadliest-ever hajj catastrophe.
Fears of a repeat have spurred Saudi officers to crack down on off-the-books pilgrims lately, stated an official with the hajj and umrah ministry who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of he was not authorised to transient the media.
“The world of Mecca could be very restricted, and the unlawful presence of huge numbers hinders the organisation of crowds and the route of buses and should trigger stampedes,” the official stated.
Fines for unauthorised pilgrims and people concerned in transporting them begin at 10,000 Saudi riyals ($2,666).
Since final month, officers have arrested at the least 20 folks accused of hajj-related “fraud”, most of them Egyptians, based on state media stories.
On roadsides and in buying malls, indicators depicting the Kaaba, the big black cubic construction in the direction of which Muslims all over the world pray, warn: “No hajj with out allow”.
In April, the Council of Senior Non secular Students acquired concerned, issuing a ruling stating that “it isn’t permissible to go to hajj with out acquiring a allow and anybody who does it’s sinful” and responsible of “harming all pilgrims”.
– Pilgrim-smuggling –
However the unlawful hajj downside persists.
The introduction of a normal tourism visa in 2019 has made it simpler than ever for folks to go to Saudi Arabia, together with unregistered pilgrims.
“There are nonetheless 1,000,000 methods to deliver pilgrims to Arafat,” stated one journey agent, talking on situation of anonymity for worry of repercussions.
“I’ve 100 buses getting into Arafat (throughout hajj). Can all of them be searched? It’s unattainable.”
This 12 months’s hajj is anticipated to happen underneath bodily taxing circumstances, with temperatures averaging 44 levels Celsius (111 levels Fahrenheit).
For unregistered pilgrims, the danger of warmth stress is even better as they can not entry official air-conditioned camps.
Some sleep in mosques and even on the aspect of the highway.
A 37-year-old Egyptian who gave his title as Ayman, and who carried out the hajj illegally final 12 months after arriving on a vacationer visa, described an arduous few days.
“It was very robust. No companies, no beds, no air con, no bogs,” he stated.
“To not point out,” he added with amusing, “the main target was on evading safety forces as a substitute of specializing in prayers and supplications.”
