Ebrahim Moosa | 26 September 2016

(with reporting from Agencies)

After the Hajj rites are over, and Ziyarah(visitation) of the key Islamic sites are completed, there is ostensibly another Ziyarah that many Hujaaj indulge in. Seasoned Hijaz traveller and Hajj educator, Ahmed Saeed Moolla, light-heartedly calls it the ‘Ziyarah of the Bazaars’

A report published during the past Hajj season highlighted how ‘religiously’ many Hujaaj take to this ‘rite’, and how for Saudi businessmen it equates to mega business.

“After spending thousands of dollars to reach Makkah for the hajj, Muslim pilgrims face another unavoidable cost — for the armfuls of gifts they are expected to take home”, the report stated.

Even before the Hajj officially begins, trading in the Holy cities is brisk and robust. On being approached for comment, a prospective pilgrim from Mali said he had already spent – prior to the actual commencement of Hajj – the equivalent of more than $850 on Tasbeehs, Musallahs and other souvenirs for family and friends.

And whilst the Hajj is first and foremost a spiritual journey, the presence of such a mass of global pilgrims, coupled with the thirst of their immediate and sentimental needs has produced a climate ripe with potential for trade.

Religious tourism is also an industry which Saudi Arabia plans to develop under its wide-ranging “Vision 2030” project to diversify its oil-dependent economy.

While the number of annual hajj pilgrims is relatively constant, the kingdom wants to foster a year-round religious tourism sector relying on those who perform the umrah, or lesser pilgrimage, at any time of the year.

By 2020, Saudi Arabia wants 15 million umrah visitors annually, up from six million.

Haji, Dembele, 54, a customs inspector who wears a traditional blue robe and a white skullcap, said he believed shopping was part of the religious obligation.

“It’s what the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) asked us to do. Bring back gifts for family and friends,” he said in a cluttered street of Makkah lined with stalls.

Another pilgrim, Mohammed Hassan from Egypt was making purchases just a few dozen metres from the Grand Mosque, the holiest site in Islam.

There, on Ibrahim al-Khalil Avenue, shops compete with flashing lights and signs in a myriad of languages.

“I already bought some abayas, prayer beads, perfume, prayer rugs and incense,” the 61-year-old Egyptian engineer said.

Grimacing, Hassan said his total budget is 3,000 riyals ($800), a substantial sum on top of around $6,700 for airfare and hotels in Makkah and Medina, the second holy city.

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 jalabiya robe 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.”

Business is good

Foreign hujaaj last year spent almost 20 billion riyals ($5.3 billion) during the hajj, according to the Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Gamal Hamada, an Egyptian who performed Hajj with his wife, said “we saved our entire life” to realise the dream of hajj, and it is an obligation to return home loaded with gifts.

One vendor, Maged Abdullah, said daily revenue at his small shop selling prayer rugs and Islamic clothes is already running at between 20 000 and 25 000 riyals.

His neighbour 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.

2000 seasonal shops pop up during the Hajj period, and there are more than 30 000 restaurants and service shops across the Holy cities that are accredited to serve the Hujaaj.

The food needs for this period are simply colossal.

Furthermore, the business of money, in itself, is big money.

There are 78 firms offering foreign exchange services in Makkah, Madinah and Jeddah, which translates into some 3200 money exchange stores on the ground.

63 different currencies are traded by pilgrims, rendering the money exchange market during Hajj worth SR500 million for the season. (That’s a staggering SR20 million of currency exchanged per day!)

Calls for Boycott

The huge money spin of the Hajj has spurred calls for boycott from some quarters, dissatisfied with Saudi political policy.

With its long history of sectarian dissatisfaction with the Sunni monarchy, Shia Iran appears to be leading such calls.

In addition to the oft cited reasons of the 2015 Mina stampede and a breakdown in Hajj negotiations, another apparent reasoning for Iran barring its pilgrims from attending Hajj and Umrah this year, is economics.

Iranian analysts have argued that with such a boycott, arch-nemesis Saudi Arabia stands to lose billions of dollars in revenue. With the Kingdom already swamped with financial woes stemming from its military adventures abroad and declining oil revenues, they highlight that a slash in Hajj revenue – which equates to in the region of 10% of the country’s total oil revenue – could be devastating for the Saudis.

Nonetheless, beyond Iran and other Shia entities within its sphere of influence, such calls for economic boycott have largely failed to gather traction.

Sunni Muslim states, even if at odds with Saudi policy, remain highly suspicious of Iranian motives, and, unlike the concessions provided by Shia clergy, do not see the Hajj as an expendable ritual that can be replaced with pilgrimages to other centres in the Middle East.

Boycotting the Hajj could have a crippling impact on Saudi coffers, but – for mainstream Muslims – maintaining the institution of Hajj is of much greater importance than using it as a political tool to check the shenanigans of the country managing it.

Hajj and Trade historically

The Quran(Surah Baqarah: 198) declares the permissibility of engaging in trade during Hajj: “There is no sin on you that you seek the bounty of your Lord(by trading)”.

This Divine clarification was issued in the context of the behaviour of the people of Jahiliyyah who distorted the sacredness of Hajj to even include, during the stay at Mina, special bazaars, exhibitions and trade promotions.

As Islam restored to the Hajj its purity, the Sahaba RA were keen to know whether the new framework for the pilgrimage still allowed for basic trade on the sidelines of the rituals, to which this verse was revealed.

It clarifies that a person, who earns some profit by trading, or wages by working during Hajj, incurs no sin. However, the practices of the disbelievers of Arabia who had warped the Hajj into a giant trade fair, at the expense of its spirituality, were reprehensible.

In essence, the matter is one of intention, where any subsidiary benefit that can be obtained from Hajj should not take precedence over its central spiritual goals.

Blessings in disguise

In Makkah there is more on offer than just the plastic prayer beads or windup clocks, mass-produced in Asia, which alert Muslims to their five-daily prayers.

Outside the Grand Mosque, on mats on the ground, other vendors propose a return to the simpler time of the Prophet, selling traditional incense, or sticks of miswak, wooden “natural tooth brushes” often seen protruding from the lips of pilgrims.

Then there are dates, a staple purchase for many Hujaaj – a fruit with much symbolism, whose ingestion has a Prophetic recommendation.

Trading in such items, unmistakeably hearkens the pilgrim back to the Seerah and the Sunnah, and affords their purchases a special Arabian feel.

Furthermore, even for products not themselves manufactured in the Holy Lands, for the pilgrims, they retain a certain sentimental value, having been touched by the fragrant breezes of the Hijaz.

Also, for Hujaaj originating from regions with little lived legacy of Islam, the array of Islamic merchandise available in Makkah, can foment an Islamic identity that they will then proudly carry back home.

“Most gifts have a religious significance, helping those close to us who remain in our country feel the passion of the hajj,” 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.”