High cost of hajj compels poor pilgrims to flout the law

In the Hajj season, pilgrims place their tents in areas they are not supposed to be stationed at and scores of visitors added more traffic to what the Mina valley can accommodate.

Living on the streets, unlawful and risky, but these pilgrims opted for such option.

This has also created a lucrative opportunity for vendors to earn more, benefiting from the legal loopholes or the lack of law enforcement.

The pilgrims’ frugality to live in their tents on the streets is justified at least for them. Poverty as they claim and the expensive price of performing the fifth pillar of Islam push them to break the law.

This man says he was smuggled in by a car. He said that there are some people that bring the illegal pilgrims up to the inspection center, let them walk past the inspectors then carry them again.

Some came here from remote areas, distant countries to fulfill a pledge they made to perform Hajj in lieu of a deceased friend or to bring curse over a persecutor.

In spite of the awareness campaigns to have hajj permits, there were many violations indicative of the increased number of illegal pilgrims and those sleeping on the streets compared with last year.