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Performing the haj should not endanger one’s livelihood
In principle, the haj pilgrimage should never cause suffering or difficulty.
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Pilgrims gather before the Kaaba at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca on July 2. (AFP/AFP)
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or the first time after a two-year hiatus, Saudi Arabia will host again the holy rite of the haj for 1 million international pilgrims. This comes as good news for those who have waited for years to visit the holy land.
The number of Indonesian pilgrims this year has decreased more or less by 40 percent to only about 100,000 due to the COVID-19 policy adopted by the Saudi government. The restriction applies to all countries across the globe. The Indonesian share is the highest thanks to its huge (Muslim) population.
The Saudi kingdom had offered 10,000 more slots to Indonesia, but the Religious Affairs Ministry decided to reject it due to time constraints.
Many regulations are introduced by the Saudi government in this year’s pilgrimage as part of efforts to minimize COVID-19 transmission, including setting the maximum age of the pilgrims at 65 years old. All pilgrims must be fully vaccinated or else present a negative PCR test result conducted within 72 hours before arrival in Saudi Arabia.
For Muslims, the haj is one of the five pillars of Islam, apart from the testimony of faith, five daily stated prayers, fasting and alms to the poor. The haj is obligatory only upon those who are capable of doing it financially and physically. The sick or those in debt are not obliged to perform it.
Although the haj pilgrimage is money-consuming, many Muslims, including the poor, are prepared to do everything such as saving money for years to make this once-in-a-lifetime journey to Mecca. There are cases where low-income people sacrifice their other needs just to meet their spiritual yearning to visit the holy land. While this might be acceptable, there are still people who do things that harm themselves especially economically by selling off their only land or property for instance to afford the rite. This group of people might be driven by malevolent motives such as winning prestige from society or pursuing worldly status.
Hence, not all Muslims understand properly the spirit or philosophy of the haj. When misapprehended the haj may indeed become a source of economic turmoil.
