By Samah Khan.
Islamic Travel Columnist
Saudi police officer watches Muslim pilgrims while they pray at the Grand Mosque in Makkah. Source: Time Magazine Online (by: MOHAMMAD KHEIRKHAH)
Hajj, the traditional pilgrimage to Mecca, is not only the 5th greatest religious observations. With Hajj 2014 expected to fall between October 2nd, Muslims are currently flocking to the Holy City to get away from their everyday routine and to succumb to the worship of God.
Hajj is often seen as a dream come true for Muslims, something they long to attend at least once during their lifetime. But this year, many – millions in fact – had their dreams crushed when Saudi Arabia denied visas to certain groups of people.
Saudi Arabia received a new passport scanning machine that was not able to detect the passports of thousands of Indian pilgrims planning to attend Hajj this year. Having paid 2.25 lakh for travel, accommodations and food, many Indian families were refused entry even if it was only male of the family whose passport did not go through.
Saudi Arabia has also rejected thousands of African pilgrims due to the Ebola outbreak throughout the continent. Approximately 70,000 pilgrims to travel to Saudi Arabia each year during Hajj, but the spread of Ebola has banned aggressively affected countries such as Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea from attending Hajj this year. However, those from less affected countries, such as Nigeria, were still able to attend. Saudi Arabia has taken greater precaution at Airports, having trained medics to watch for the any person who may show signs of being infected. 22,000 medics are also set to deploy throughout the pilgrimage route to continuously detect and treat Ebola victims.
Lastly, Isreali-Arabs were denied entry into Saudi Arabia this year. Because Saudi Arabia does not recognize Israel as a state, they stated that they would allow Arabs holding Israeli passports to enter the kingdom on condition that an embassy abroad that had issued the visa, were erroneous. However, the Jordanian government has begun issuing temporary one-month passports to the Israeli-Arabs so that they will be able to enter Saudi Arabia for hajj. The Israelis are to return their passports after they complete Hajj.
Completing Hajj is obligatory among every able-bodied Muslim and those making efforts to attend the pilgrimage should not be denied. Although rejection to African countries due to the Ebola outbreak is understandable, the thousands of Indian families who had paid to attend this year, but had been rejected due to a technological malfunction is absurd.