Guests pose with Culture and Information Minister
The hosting of over two million persons at one location for a faith-based occupation such as the Hajj demands experience in a wide range of endeavours. Such expertise spans security management in an age of crazy extremism, to health and even shelter matters. The Saudi authorities under the supervision of the custodian of the Two Holy Mosques of Makkah and Madina, King Saud Ibn Abdul Aziz Al Saud have what it takes to undertake this yearly assignment.
With barely a year to plan for the next Hajj, the assignment bestowed upon the relevant state institutions to manage the pilgrimage is enormous and demanding.
Managers of the Hajj in the Kingdom have done this since this important cannon of Islam drew the faithful from across the globe to the holy cities of Madina and Makka. Mansa Musa of the Old Ghana Empire did it in style travelling with millions of dollars worth of gold from his Western Sudanese Empire on camels to these holy sites.
Today, managing the Hajj has become even more complex more so with the advent of security challenges posed by extremists.
Managing the Hajj is a serious business undertaken by a whole ministry established for that purpose. The Ministry of Hajj Affairs is charged with managing the annual congregation of Muslims from across the world. It does so with a synchronised coordination alongside such important departments of the Kingdom as the Ministry of Health, The Police, The Department of Public Security and many others without whose cooperation success would elude the authorities the repercussions of which would be far-reaching.
Someone humorously juxtaposed the organisation of the annual Hajj with that of international football tournaments such as the World Cup. He gave a thumbs-pp to the Saudis, given the relative shorter period at their disposal to receive the world relative to the sometimes four year or even more given to host nations to organise sports fiestas.
As part of an international group assembled by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Culture and Information Ministry for a trip to the Kingdom, ours was a two-pronged mission- to partake in the Hajj and to report, thereof, including excursions to historical sites, among others.
We were expectedly awed by the amazing skills exhibited by the assortment of agencies involved in the management of the Hajj.
The trip to the Kingdom started at the Kotoka International Airport on an Ethiopian Airline flight to Addis Ababa en route to Jeddah on August 17, 2017.
Transit trips are not my favourite means of international travels, the inherent inconveniences being my headache.
The long wait at the Boles International Airport, Addis Ababa, came to an end when boarding of the Saudia Airline was announced. The giant Boeing 787 Dreamer aircraft contained the long queue of passengers which finally landed us in Jeddah from when a representative of my hosts, Culture and Information Ministry, who conveyed me alongside a media person from Libreville, Gabon to the Jeddah Movenpick Hotel.
The international media group, guests of the King through the Culture and Information Ministry was made up of media persons from Sudan, Sierra Leone, Gabon, Indonesia, Russia, Afghanistan, Comoros, Maldives, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Egypt, Uganda, among others.
Jeddah, like other Saudi cities, is a beautiful large city a part of which overlooks the Red Sea, a major port of the Kingdom.
Surveying the infrastructural development which continues to take place in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, one can conclude without dispute that the Saudi government have put their wealth to good use unlike others for who the oil resource has turned out to be a curse haunting them daily as they seek ceaselessly the cause of their predicament in spite of the natural resources bestowed upon them by God.
Security
The security visibility, if I may put it that way in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is as awesome as it is enormous. There is a police presence every four hundred yards or so. It is either a Toyota Landcruiser or another vehicle of equal stature, engine running for 24 hours and the cop manning it equipped with his side arm parked not too far away.
Committing a crime and escaping can hardly take place in Makkah and Madina and for that matter in Saudi Arabia.
There are countless plainclothes in white jalabas with red and white kafaya or scarves supported by iqbal pacing up and down at strategic points their presence a constant reminder that ‘don’t try anything funny.’
Saudi Arabia is a country where you are most likely to recover your lost wallet or even mobile phone because most citizens would not take what does now belong to them such thievery punishable according to Islamic law.
Infrastructure
Saudi Arabia is a country constantly upgrading its infrastructure and with an abundant supply of stones provided by the numerous mountains making up the topography of the country more and more roads are being constructed.
With a countless number of interchanges, the traffic logjams in the major cities do not last as much it is the case with other places in other parts of the world.
If there is a country making good use of its natural resources, it is Saudi Arabia, especially when it comes to the management of the two Holy Sites of Makkah and Madina two holy cities restricted to only Muslims.
It is for a reason that the King of Saudi Arabia is designated the custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. For some of us who have been on the Hajj on two occasions we are in a better position to assess the developments so far.
The last time I was on the hajj, 2007, there was a stampede at the Jamarat, the place where the symbolic stoning of Satan takes place. It had rained on that occasion and the stampede that took place was fatal.
As it is standard practice in Saudi Arabia anytime an untoward occurrence takes place such as a fatalistic stampede there is an immediate return to the drawing board to seek a means of obviating a future occurrence. The expansion of the location was immediately ordered a decision which ensured that the utmost safety measures are unfolded.
No security breach took place until the event of a couple of years ago when many died through a stampede and the subsequent crashing of a crane at the Haram or Kaaba which also claimed some lives.
The custodian of the Two Holy Sites must be congratulated for constantly ensuring that the necessary upgrading of facilities is done.
When I turned up for this year’s Hajj coverage as part of the international media group, I witnessed yet again a massive upgrade of the Jamarat making it a very safe place to perform the applicable rites.
That is not to, however, rule out the possibility of pilgrims missing their way and requiring redirection from the police officers and other security personnel deployed throughout the various stations of the Hajj rituals.
Health Management
There is an emergency health unit, including an air ambulance unit, equipped with state-of-the-art equipment including a squadron of choppers which I was privileged to visit as part of the King’s guests.
Saudi Red Crescent Authority
This equivalent of the Red Cross is a state affair manned by qualified personnel. Their coordination with the existing security agencies adds to the efficiency of managing the Hajj.
At the Minna general area, we visited the chopper squadron where a few of them took to the skies in their constant patrol of the city of Makkah ahead of the climax of the Hajj.
At the 911 office where the coordination of the security arrangements are undertaken we were taken through the procedures.
Electronic means of monitoring the rituals at the Kaaba and other places are passionately undertaken by the uniformed personnel of this unity. Where necessary, the appropriate unit is alerted about an emergency.
Managing the Hajj is a complex exercise involving massive human and financial resources which the Kingdom provides adequately.
Research
The Umm Al Qura University Research Centre in Makkah undertakes constant research into the Hajj, their findings informing the annual upgrading of the facilities which eventually enhance the religious exercise.
Our visit to the centre opened our eyes beyond our expectation into the hard work which goes into the Hajj.
The eggheads engaged the media team; a medium by which they elicited suggestions on how to make the management of the Hajj even better.
This year, the King showered praises upon all agencies which worked hard to ensure that the Hajj 2017 was the safest in recent times.
To Be Continued Next Saturday Â
By A.R. Gomda