We have all heard of Mecca, "The trip to Mecca", "is like going to Mecca" and phrases like that, but perhaps very few of us have met someone who has actually gone there.
And is that Mecca is for Muslims only so if it is not Islam your religion you will never be able to turn the phrase into fact. Saving the distances, traveling to Mecca is a kind of Camino de Santiago, a truly unique, unrepeatable and unforgettable pilgrimage so let's see what it is about.
Mecca
In principle you have to know that it is a city that is in Saudi Arabia. This country occupies a large part of the Arabian peninsula and borders Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain. Yemen, Oman and the Red Sea.
By having two deeply important cities for Islam it is a sacred land. I speak of Mecca but also of Medina. Since the discovery of oil in the 30s of the XNUMXth century, the country has been transformed and as you well know, today the area is of vital importance to our western and capitalist lifestyle.
Mecca is the holiest city in Islam and for that very reason Who does not practice this religion is prohibited from entering. On the other hand Every Muslim must, even once in his life, make the pilgrimage to Mecca.
This trip is called Hajj and it is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. Every Muslim adult should do so, whether he is a man or a woman, if he has money to undertake the journey and his health permits. Poor families cannot always afford it so money is invested so that even one member can make the trip.
El Hajj can only be done during the month of dhu to the-hijjah so there are thousands and thousands of people who make the pilgrimage. More than billions and some figures speak of the movement of two million people to Saudi Arabia by that date.
The trip always includes the visit of the Holy Mosque, the Kaaba, Mina, the Hill of Arafat and Jabal Rahma, Muzdalifah, Jabal Al Thur, Jabal Al Noor, Masdij e Taneem, Hudaibiyah, Ja'aronah and Jannat ui Mualla. They are sites considered sacred because Muhammad passed by, gave his last sermon, his companions were buried, where he walked, and so on.
If this pilgrimage takes place in another month it is known by another name: Umrah. Mecca is sacred because it is the place where the Word of God was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad..
The Kaaba and its surroundings contain stories that are lost in the origin of time. For example, there is the story that Adam was buried in Mecca or that Abrham's father, Ibrahim, built it with his son Ishmael.
Visit mecca
Special visas are granted for the pilgrimage so the Muslims of the world should approach the embassies and process them. It is a lot of paperwork and very strict information is requested from the traveler. On the other hand, Muslim women must make the trip yes or yes with a man who acts as guardian unless they are 45 years old or older and travel in a group and with the permission of their husbands.
Each country is assigned a specific number of pilgrimage visas. This number considers the number of Muslims living in that country and of course also depends on the number of travelers who request it over the months. The idea is that there are not millions of people too many because it could be chaotic.
Can someone who was not born a Muslim travel? Not at all. A non-muslim should stay 15 kilometers away from Mecca and Medina. If an infidel is discovered closer, he risks being severely punished.
To visit the holy sites you have to be a Muslim, born or converted. But if it is the second case, that must be clarified in the visa application and an authorization from the Islamic center that has intervened in their Muslim training and the corresponding certificate of conversion must be presented.
Promptly, How do you get to Mecca? The fastest way is by plane to Jedah. This city has an international airport that is only used for the Hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca. This on the shores of the Red Sea, to the west of the country, and it is his second city with the most inhabitants.
From Jeddah la Mecca or Medina are a few hours away. You can arrive by car, by highway, traveling by car or bus. The bus company is SAPTCO but you will also see many charter type buses.
In Jeddah there are two terminals, one is mixed and the other is for Muslims only, the Haram al Sharif. At one point along the route there is a police booth and there are non-Muslims. People, in short, move around in cars, buses and small vans They are not expensive and you have signs in Arabic and English.
Since 2010, the metro has operated with five modern lines and work is being done to connect the system with all the sacred sites, so perhaps in the future it will be a bit easier and faster to move around.
It can also be reached by different land routes. For example, from Damascus down the coast of the Red Sea. The closest Saudi city is Tabuk and on the border the police are quite careful because they do not want foreigners who come to look for work and lie with the excuse of pilgrimage.
Thus, you have to present a round trip ticket and money. You even have to pay money to a special agent, called mutawwif, who takes care of accommodation, transportation, guide and other assistance in Mecca.
From taboo one can continue trip to Medina, the city that the Prophet Muhammad visited from Mecca in 622 after rejection for his activities. Here the foundations of Islam were laid and it is where there is the tomb of Muhammad. While Medina is the city of Muhammad, Mecca is the city of Allah.
The entrance to Medina is very controlled because as a sacred site the infidels cannot enter. There are many controls all the time. After the obligatory visits, pilgrims usually take a long-distance taxi to reach Mecca, crossing the desert.
In Mecca there are many hotels, of all kinds, even a Hilton, so prices vary. The closer the hotel is to the Sacred Mosque, the higher its rates will be. There are even some very luxurious ones with great views of the city, but imagine the prices.
Pilgrimage and crowds
Many of us have grown up with these images in the news: bullfights and squashed crowds in Mecca. And it's true, every so often is what happens. Imagine two or three million people together ...
No matter how many controls there are, it is difficult to prevent a stampede so over time there have been hundreds of deaths, both around the Kaaba, the famous black cube, and on the road, on the old and new bridges.
Millions of people move from one holy site to another, like a dense human tide that departs from Muzdalifah towards Mina, some three kilometers away, to see where Muhammad humiliated Satan. Sometimes the tide flows, other times it locks ... like life itself.