Opinion- Should Hajj be cancelled?

[FrenchieGirl]

Should hajj 2009 be cancelled?

Swine flu is threatening to turn this year's hajj into a viral hot zone. Are fever-detecting cameras enough ensure pilgrims' safety?

Riazat Butt
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 4 July 2009 15.00 BST
Article history

Swine flu has hit the hajj and the Saudi health ministry is telling the unfit to stay away to avoid catching it, but performing the pilgrimage is an obligation for Muslims. What should they do?

Earlier this week Saudi health minister Abdullah al-Rabeeah called for the old, the infirm, the pregnant and the very young to stay away from the hajj in order to minimise their risk of being exposed to swine flu.

The announcement follows a prevention and precaution workshop in Jeddah ahead of a busy pilgrimage season, kicking off with Ramadan next month and then going full throttle in November with hajj.

Thrillingly, there are at least a dozen "fever-detecting" cameras at Jeddah airport, the kingdom is boosting its reserves of Tamiflu and encouraging people to have a seasonal vaccination before the pilgrimage season begins in earnest. In all, several million people will be eating, sleeping, praying, coughing, sneezing and wheezing cheek by jowl. Nice. The dilemma at the heart of all of this is: what course of action should observant Muslims take? Chances are that if they're going, they're already paid up for the trip of a lifetime. Hajj can cost thousands of pounds. The hygiene factor is low ? although face masks are very popular. But just how responsible is it to exacerbate a global pandemic by proceeding with their plans, knowing they are heading to the centre of what could turn out to be a gigantic incubator for the virus? They might consider a bout of flu to be a small price to pay for a purified soul.

Off the top of my head, I don't know that Muslims would rather stay at home, instead of exposing themselves to swine flu, catching it and taking the illness back with them. I got really ill while I was out there and I was a young and healthy women dosed up on vitamins and minerals and anti-bacterial wipes. A photographer got pneumonia, someone else I know got bronchitis and the British Clinic ? which provides a mobile medical service for UK pilgrims ? was inundated with people suffering from cold and flu symptoms. At one point the press corps was a chorus line of temperatures and runny noses and chestiness. Some, but not all pilgrims, leave hajj until their twilight years, knowing that should they die while performing the fifth and final pillar they will go to heaven. I have read that people should not pray to die on hajj.

While some of you will not care for Muslims or hajj, despairing at people's fascination with superstitious ritual, there are interesting ethical questions involved. It might be blasphemous to suggest this, but in the interests of global health, perhaps hajj should close for 2009.

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[Comment: unless I'm mistaken, the Koran does not obligate one to travel when one is sick, nor to pray if bad health makes it impossible. One may "catch up" and do later. On the other hand, Haj is the ultimate vow of religiousness, and it also procure respect from society. Some people only do business with "Haj" people. It must be a terrible quandary for Muslim believers to find themselves in. Perhaps one of our members more knowledgeable than I could chime in? Spiritual wellness is important. Thanks.]

 

[the doctor]

Re: Opinion - Should Hajj be cancelled?

Re: Opinion - Should Hajj be cancelled?

This is a very serious issue for Islam and the faithful to decide for themselves. Any attempt by those outside that community to interfere will only harden their position to hold the Hajj.

One of the primary reasons many within the Islamic world are angry with the West is our attempt to force our views of modernity on them. Our view of influenza and its prevention by avoiding crowding is one form of modernity.

While this may well be good advice, it must come from those within the Muslim world not from us in the West.

If they do hold the Hajj, God save and protect them all.

GW

 

[FrenchieGirl]

Re: Opinion - Should Hajj be cancelled?

Re: Opinion - Should Hajj be cancelled?

The journalist who wrote this story is a Muslim. From what I understand, she is Haj. She writes for one of the most influential newspapers in Britain. There are millions of Muslims living in industrialised societies. Ultimately a decision to do Haj should lie with individuals and their spiritual authorities, after well-considered thinking. This article provides a few pointers on what people must think about before making this decision.

 

[FrenchieGirl]

Re: Opinion - Should Hajj be cancelled?

Re: Opinion - Should Hajj be cancelled?

First Published 2009-07-05

Travel agencies who specialise in pilgrimage trips will be hit hard

Tunisia suspends Mecca pilgrimages

Religious affairs minister says suspension of omra trips, annual hajj due to swine flu is necessary decision.

TUNIS - Tunisia suspended Saturday lesser pilgrimages to Mecca for fear of swine flu infection, but reserved judgment on whether the main hajj pilgrimage should be undertaken in November.

As well as the annual hajj, which all Muslims are required to make once in a lifetime if they have the means, the faithful can also make a lesser pilgrimage to the holy places, known as omra, at any time of the year.

The suspension of omra trips was "a necessary decision" which does not contradict Muslim doctrine, said Tunisian religious affairs minister Boubaker El Akhzouri.

He was speaking to a crisis cell set up by Tunisia's health ministry, and said the rapid spread of the A(H1N1) pandemic meant that officials should "reflect on whether or not to postpone the hajj" later this year.

In the meantime, Tunisia has toughened selection criteria for hajj candidates, doubling medical checks and ruling out the elderly or chronically sick on the grounds they would be "more exposed" to infection.

Some 30,000 Tunisians complete the omra pilgrimages, with peak numbers making the journey during the Holy month of Ramadan, which is this year due to begin some time in late August.

The suspension of the omra will affect travel agencies who specialise in pilgrimage trips, with BusinessNews website estimating the loss of revenue to the industry at around 150 million dinars (more than 80 million euros or 120 million dollars).

Tunisia has announced just three infections to-date, but with millions of Muslims preparing to converge on Mecca, the whole Islamic world is concerned about the pilgrimage season's potential to make the pandemic far worse.