I divested myself of my tailored clothes, bathed, put on the garment of my consecration and made a prayer of two bowings. I entered the pilgrim state and in my enthusiasm I did not cease crying “Labbaika Allahumma” through every valley and hill and rise and descent...
Mecca is a large town, compactly built and oblong in shape, situated in the hollow of a valley, which is so shut in by hills that the visitor to her sees nothing of her until he actually reaches her...
She lies, as God has related in His glorious Book, “in a valley bare of corn”, but the blessed prayer of Abraham has anticipated her needs, so that every delicacy is brought to her, and fruits of every kind are gathered for her.
This was the celebrated Arab traveller Ibn Battuta’s account of the time when he reached Mecca in November 1326 to perform the annual pilgrimage of Haj.
His road to Mecca was one of difficulty and danger, taking the 14th-century explorer 18 months after leaving his hometown of Tangier in Morocco at the age of 21.
About the same month, but 650 years later in 1977, a young man of about the same age as Ibn Battuta was performing his first Haj.
Like hundreds of thousands of other pilgrims, he bid farewell to his loved ones and to “all worldly things”, as anything can happen while performing Haj.
The first pilgrims arrived on foot, crossing the desert in camel caravans and on donkeys. With the onset of modern transportation they began to arrive on buses and on ships from far-flung parts of the Muslim world.
“We sat inside crammed old buses, and walked hours upon hours and slept inside tents that were known to easily catch fire,” recalls Malek bin Nizar.
Only two years earlier, in 1975, as pilgrims celebrated Eid Al Adha, a gas-tank explosion caused a fire that ripped through Mina’s city of tents, killing more than 200 pilgrims and injuring more than 150.
“News of deaths during Haj was common,” says Mr bin Nizar. “It was chaos then. There wasn’t a permit system in place yet, and so there was a great lack of organisation and order.”
The crane that collapsed almost two weeks ago at the Grand Mosque, killing 108 pilgrims and injuring another 200, happened before this year’s Haj.
It was employed in a reconstruction of the area, part of the constant efforts to expand and accommodate one of the world’s biggest gatherings of people in one place.
Back in the 1970s and for the next 30 years, there was one place during Haj that tended to be the most dangerous for worshippers – Jamarat, where the ritual of stoning pillars representing the devil takes place. It left the strongest impression on Mr bin Nizar.
“There was this overwhelming sense of suffocation from the crowding, where everyone was coming from all directions, not listening to the cries and pleas from the Saudi police,” he says.
“One felt helpless against the flood of people.”
At that time, the civil engineer had no idea that 28 years later, he would be back on the same spot, working on a multibillion-dollar expansion of the Jamarat Bridge and overseeing the construction of ramps on several new levels.
“Given the many years of deadly stampedes due to limited space, we added four new levels and one basement with connecting ramps, allowing more controlled and organised flow in and out,” says the retired engineer, who has more than 40 years of construction experience in Saudi Arabia.
“The capacity was increased five times, where, instead of just one crammed location, there were five locations where one could stand and perform the stoning ritual.”
The changes were clearly needed. The last major stampede was in 2006, when at least 364 pilgrims died in a crush.
Officials said it was caused when luggage spilt from moving buses in front of one of the entrances to the Jamarat Bridge, causing pilgrims to trip.
Two years earlier, 251 pilgrims were trampled to death after some skipped safety procedures put in place at the stoning ritual.
Crushing caused by huge crowds had long been a challenge for Haj authorities. In 1998, at least 118 pilgrims died and more than 180 were hurt after panic erupted when several people fell off an overpass.
In 1994, at least 270 died during the stoning ritual.
But the worst such incident took place in 1990, when 1,426 pilgrims died in a tunnel leading to Mecca’s holy sites. The authorities said most died of asphyxiation after the tunnel’s ventilation system broke down.
The new Jamarat Bridge partly opened in 2007 and was fully completed by 2008. Since then there have been no repeats of these kind of tragedies.
“It is a very difficult and challenging task to continue construction at a site that is always busy and packed with pilgrims. There is also a great rush to finish as soon as possible to help accommodate the worshippers and to make it as safe as possible for them,” says Mr bin Nizar.
From improvements to accommodation, such as fire-proof tents and a growing number of five-star hotels, the Haj has become a smoother and safer experience overall. Security cameras have been set up everywhere, while thousands of volunteers now assist pilgrims.
“Mecca has changed beyond recognition, from its landscape to the services provided for pilgrims. And the many ways to get around have improved drastically, with better roads and trains,” says Mr bin Nizar.
From 1981 to 1984, he supervised the construction of a highway from Mecca to Medina, named “Tareq Al Hijra”.
“It was the road taken by Prophet Mohammed through the desert as he migrated out of Mecca to Medina,” he said.
The migration or hijra also marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar in AD622.
“A trip that before took over five hours along an older road, now would take three hours,” he said.
“For decades so much of construction has been dedicated to improving conditions for pilgrims.”
Today, most pilgrims arrive by air, their journey facilitated by the 1981 opening of King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, with its vast Haj terminal.
Throughout Islamic history, rulers have assumed the title “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques”, caring and protecting the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina and the important mosques they house, the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina.
Sultan Selim I of the Ottoman Empire is said to be the first ruler to use the title in 1517. That tradition continues.
“The first instruction I received from the king as governor and adviser was to put the welfare and progress of Mecca residents and pilgrims on top of my priority list,” said governor of Mecca, Prince Khaled Al Faisal, adviser to King Salman of Saudi Arabia, earlier this year.
The Saudi Haj ministry offers a virtual service through its website, in seven languages – Arabic, English, French, Urdu, Turkish, Farsi and Indonesian – with services that can be downloaded for smartphones and tablets.
There is information on rituals, maps, weather forecasts, contact numbers, flight schedules, currency exchange and even a Hajjis’ satisfaction measurement programme.
It also has health updates, linked to updates from the Saudi Ministry of Health.
With the onset of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or Mers, the ministry says it has taken all necessary measures to control the disease, with a 24-hour surveillance system in place in Mecca and Medina, portable clinics and 25,000 extra medical staff.
“The ministry of Haj seeks to facilitate the performance of Haj, Umrah and the visit of the Sacred Places for every Muslim, in a manner that involves serenity, tranquillity, security and safety, so giving him psychological comfort and enabling him to perform his acts of worship easily,” says the official website.
“It is keen on making the Haj, Umrah or the visit a wonderful memory, letting the guest of Allah form the best possible impressions and mental image about the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
rghazal@thenational.ae
