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Al-Ahram Weekly 18 - 24 March 1999 Issue No. 421 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 18 - 24 March 1999 Issue No. 421
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters A season for repentance
ONCE A YEAR, able Muslims converge on Mecca to fulfil the fifth pillar of Islam: the Haj or pilgrimage. Now is the time. Cars are speeding towards the airport with white flags fluttering outside their windows, indicating that a prospective hajj (pilgrim) is inside. The departure lounge at Cairo Airport is filled to capacity, with men and women in their white pilgrims' garments brandishing passports and copies of the Holy Qur'an.Decades ago, Egyptians heading east carried with them the mahmal, or the embroidered drapes used to cover the Kaaba (sacred building in the courtyard of the Great Mosque in Mecca). In those days, the process of purification or ihram, after which the pilgrims don their white garments, would take place at the departure seaport, before the voyage towards Saudi Arabia began. Today, ihram takes place at home before the prospective pilgrim starts his or her journey -- the well-off by plane, the less fortunate by ship.
In the 1960s, a quota system was introduced to regulate the number of Egyptians who perform the ritual annually in order to prevent a drainage of the nation's limited foreign currency reserves at the time. Today, it is estimated that approximately 70,000 Egyptians will be in Mecca by 27 March -- the day when Muslims climb Mount Arafat -- concluding the ritual and ushering in Eid Al-Adha or feast of sacrifice, which is expected to begin on 28 March with the sacrificial slaughter of sheep.
Saudi Arabian authorities have decided to close airports and seaports next Monday, a move aimed at ensuring maximum organisation of this year's event.
(photo: Abdel-Hamid Eid)
