Spiritual capitalism ?: The price pilgrims pay for the Hajj

The Hajj is the lifelong dream of many Muslims. About two million make pilgrimages to Mecca every year, and many more apply unsuccessfully. Saudi Arabia therefore wants to increase capacities by a factor of 15. Is it still a spiritual journey or just money? The losses are huge this year.

The Hajj is an impressive but also an exhausting event: Every year, around two to three million devout Muslims visit the Holy City of Mecca to complete 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 demanding service" because the pilgrimage is seen as such. "There is, for example, circling the Kaaba or walking back and forth between the two mountains Safa and Marwa. These are several kilometers that you run – at certain points a little faster. It is a ritual that you follow."

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, alms-giving Zakat, fasting in the month of Ramadan and the pilgrimage. Every Muslim has to travel to Mecca in Saudi Arabia once, in the holiest city of Islam, to the birthplace of the Prophet Mohammed. But this only applies to those Muslims who can afford the trip financially and in terms of health. All others are released from duty.

Abdassamad El Yazidi paid around 4,200 euros for his hajj five years ago. That was the price for the all-round carefree package with all registrations, visas, accommodations and transport. On-site catering was also included. A good price, because the hajj gets more expensive every year. The business portal "Quartz" has calculated that American Muslims already have to pay around 10,000 dollars and more for the trip, Indian Muslims on average around a third of their annual income. This makes the pilgrimage priceless for many believers.

37 years on the waiting list

Despite everything, money and health are not the biggest obstacles on the way to Mecca for most Muslims. The sheer number is the problem: There are around 1.9 billion Muslims worldwide. With two to three million pilgrims a year, it would take around 600 years for each of them to be there once and fulfill their religious duty at the current pace.

That is why many countries have come up with complicated systems to decide who is allowed to travel to Saudi Arabia and who is not. 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 drawing process annually for 17 years until they are lucky," says ZMD General Secretary Yazidi. It is only a small consolation that those who are not drawn are also exempt from the pilgrimage obligation.

This long waiting time is spared for Muslims in Germany. 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 hopes that from 2030 onwards, 30 million pilgrims will be able to travel to Mecca every year – around 15 times more than is currently the case.

Captured by capitalism?

The strictly conservative kingdom invests a lot of money in train connections, roads, tunnels and bridges. Also, in order to be able to guide the pilgrims safely from place of pilgrimage to place of pilgrimage: It was only five years ago that 2,200 people died in a mass panic during the Hajj.

However, the money not only flows into infrastructure and security, but also into comfort and luxury: five-star hotels sprout out of the ground just like fast-food restaurants. "Capitalism has also caught the pilgrimage," complains a disappointed German Muslim after her return.

An argument that Abdassamad El Yazidi does not accept: "These are voices that we hear over and over again. On the other hand, I am sure that the same people say if they fly to Mecca and cannot live there according to European standards Saudi Arabia will take the money and squander it instead of investing it in the hajj and a good trip. There are always two sides to the coin. "

"There is no other hajj"

But one side is that the Hajj is now a billion dollar business. Saudi Arabia thus makes around twelve billion dollars a year. And if 15 times as many pilgrims can come, of course all the more. The general secretary of the ZMD does not believe, however, that it is about exempting wealthy Muslims. It would be much easier, he says. For example, Saudi Arabia could simply increase visa fees. People have no alternative: "There is no other hajj," says Abdassamad El Yazidi. "People can't do it in southern Bavaria."

The German-Moroccan also emphasizes that it is not only Saudi Arabia that wants to enlarge the Hajj. "Other Muslim countries are also putting pressure on them," he says. "They want higher quotas because the demand is so big." And of course Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco earn money when more Muslims book a trip to Mecca with their tour operators.

But not this year. In mid-June, because of the corona pandemic, Saudi Arabia announced that there would be only a "very limited" hajj for a few thousand people living in the Islamic kingdom. After the oil price war and the virus-related slump in the global economy, Riyadh is losing billions of dollars for the third time in just a few months.

Exclusions and boycotts

Abdassamad El Yazidi speaks of a decision for health, which he values ​​Saudi Arabia highly: "We are currently seeing in different countries how they are fighting for the reopening of tourism and trying to open all beaches and hotels best Saudi Arabia could have followed this path. "

Unfortunately, the path of the Saudi Arabian leadership is not always as honorable and noble as in the year of the corona virus. In 2017, after she broke a political crisis with Qatar and cut all diplomatic ties with the emirate, it was said for 1.8 million Qatari Muslims Suddenly: You are no longer allowed to participate in the Hajj. In the same year, Iran, the arch enemy of the Gulf, accused the Islamic Kingdom of excluding its population from the pilgrimage. And the numerous Saudi human rights crimes, such as the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, are increasingly a reason for western Muslims in particular to boycott the country and thereby renounce their lifelong dream. In the vast majority of cases, however, it is still money, health and bad luck in the lottery that ensure that Muslims cannot participate in the Hajj.