abdulhakeem
06-02-04, 09:18 PM
Saturday, February 07, 2004
MECCA: Fortified by one of the greatest spiritual experiences in Muslim life, pilgrims returned to more mundane chores on Wednesday, searching the bazaars of Mecca for souvenirs of the annual Hajj.
The great pilgrimage made by nearly two million people came to an official close on Tuesday with the third and final day of the ritual stoning of the devil which on Sunday left 251 dead in a stampede as the faithful surged forward for a vantage point.
Those who lived to tell the tale earned the respected title of “Hajji” after completing the rituals with a farewell walk around the Kaaba stone at the heart of the Grand Mosque in Mecca.
The masses flooded the shopping streets surrounding the shrine on Wednesday as municipal workers cleaned up tonnes of rubbish.
“I am buying presents to take home like traditional (Arab) clothes to give relatives and friends but also toys for the children,” said Bawa Enujah from Ghana.
The 52-year-old farmer beamed at the mention of the epithet “Hajji”.
He was considering a plastic water pistol shaped like a machine-gun, but admitted he did not have “enough money to buy gifts for everyone I know.”
The Hajj is an expensive business with prices ranging from high to exorbitant and ordinary hotel rooms at 500 dollars a night.
“Prices have gone down since the start of the pilgrimage,” Enujah added optimistically.
A dozen Nigerians were stocking up on household goods ranging from teapots to coffee cups and plates at a neighbouring store.
“Business is good,” said Said Zeid, a Yemeni at the till of a small shop in the heart of the city. “The pilgrims are doing their shopping before leaving.”
Communication is often difficult between Arabic-speaking shopkeepers and the “guests of God” from the four corners of the earth — 1.4 million foreigners and nearly 500,000 Saudis this year. However sign language and electronic calculators ensure the tradition of bargaining is maintained.
Five pilgrims from Chechnya haggled over 50 Muslim skullcaps and managed to get the price down 50 percent. “These are gifts and the client is not a businessman,” shrugged the stallholder.
Beads and prayer mats as well as white Gulf Arab robes called dishdashas are the most popular purchases.
The Hajj also sees a run on plastic water containers, which are requisite items to carry home the holy but sterilised waters of the spring of Zamzam, which Muslims believe originated from heaven and still flows today under the Grand Mosque.
But as the pilgrims shopped and departed, an army of 7,000 workers moved in to tackle the aftermath. Some 4.5 million people visit Mecca and Medina each year for the major Hajj and minor Umra pilgrimages to the holiest sites in Islam.
“We make sure the town is clean,” said Iqbal, a Bangladeshi dustbin man, sporting the Mecca municipal uniform.
Okaz newspaper reported that 270 garbage lorries were doing the rounds. —AFP
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_5-2-2004_pg5_15
MECCA: Fortified by one of the greatest spiritual experiences in Muslim life, pilgrims returned to more mundane chores on Wednesday, searching the bazaars of Mecca for souvenirs of the annual Hajj.
The great pilgrimage made by nearly two million people came to an official close on Tuesday with the third and final day of the ritual stoning of the devil which on Sunday left 251 dead in a stampede as the faithful surged forward for a vantage point.
Those who lived to tell the tale earned the respected title of “Hajji” after completing the rituals with a farewell walk around the Kaaba stone at the heart of the Grand Mosque in Mecca.
The masses flooded the shopping streets surrounding the shrine on Wednesday as municipal workers cleaned up tonnes of rubbish.
“I am buying presents to take home like traditional (Arab) clothes to give relatives and friends but also toys for the children,” said Bawa Enujah from Ghana.
The 52-year-old farmer beamed at the mention of the epithet “Hajji”.
He was considering a plastic water pistol shaped like a machine-gun, but admitted he did not have “enough money to buy gifts for everyone I know.”
The Hajj is an expensive business with prices ranging from high to exorbitant and ordinary hotel rooms at 500 dollars a night.
“Prices have gone down since the start of the pilgrimage,” Enujah added optimistically.
A dozen Nigerians were stocking up on household goods ranging from teapots to coffee cups and plates at a neighbouring store.
“Business is good,” said Said Zeid, a Yemeni at the till of a small shop in the heart of the city. “The pilgrims are doing their shopping before leaving.”
Communication is often difficult between Arabic-speaking shopkeepers and the “guests of God” from the four corners of the earth — 1.4 million foreigners and nearly 500,000 Saudis this year. However sign language and electronic calculators ensure the tradition of bargaining is maintained.
Five pilgrims from Chechnya haggled over 50 Muslim skullcaps and managed to get the price down 50 percent. “These are gifts and the client is not a businessman,” shrugged the stallholder.
Beads and prayer mats as well as white Gulf Arab robes called dishdashas are the most popular purchases.
The Hajj also sees a run on plastic water containers, which are requisite items to carry home the holy but sterilised waters of the spring of Zamzam, which Muslims believe originated from heaven and still flows today under the Grand Mosque.
But as the pilgrims shopped and departed, an army of 7,000 workers moved in to tackle the aftermath. Some 4.5 million people visit Mecca and Medina each year for the major Hajj and minor Umra pilgrimages to the holiest sites in Islam.
“We make sure the town is clean,” said Iqbal, a Bangladeshi dustbin man, sporting the Mecca municipal uniform.
Okaz newspaper reported that 270 garbage lorries were doing the rounds. —AFP
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_5-2-2004_pg5_15