BENNAIM: Death at the Hajj

September has been a very eventful month for the major religions of the West. For Jews, September brought the holy days of Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Sukkot. For Catholics, this month brought Pope Francis’ visit to the United States, where he held mass at New York’s Madison Square Garden before thousands of faithful followers. For Muslims, Sept. 22 marked the beginning of the hajj.

The hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, which the Quran commands all Muslims who can afford it to make at least once in their lifetimes. The hajj is so significant that in most Arabic cultures, a man who has been to the hajj will add the word “hajj” to the beginning of his first name (for example, Hajj Ibrahim). This year, however, the hajj has been the center of some controversy.

That controversy began with the death of Aylan Kurdi, a Syrian child who drowned off the coast of Turkey, where his dead body washed up on shore and was photographed. That photograph woke up the world to the Syrian refugee crisis. After this photo surfaced, the international community seemed to finally take notice that most Arab Gulf nations have taken in virtually no refugees from the ongoing unrest in parts of the Middle East. At the center of this lack of compassion was Saudi Arabia, which has 100,000 air-conditioned family-sized tents sitting empty almost year-round, according to The Washington Post. The Saudi Arabian government claims that those tents are specifically for people making the hajj pilgrimage and therefore cannot be used to house refugees. To most of the world, this notion is completely ridiculous. Saudi Arabia could potentially to take in up to 3 million refugees, who would live in comfort at a tiny cost.

However, the hajj garnered attention recently for another reason. On Sept. 23, at least 717 pilgrims died in a stampede in a busy intersection near Mecca, Reuters reported. This is in addition to 107 other pilgrims who died when a crane collapsed on Sept. 11, which brings the total death toll to 824 people.

Don’t get me wrong, the logistics of an event involving 2 million people are not simple, but 717 deaths have to be considered an unmitigated disaster. Considering the amount of money invested into the logistics of the hajj, it needs to be said that the Saudi government has not done enough to secure the safety of pilgrims. This is exacerbated by the fact that the Saudi Arabia is estimated to make about $8.5 billion a year from the pilgrims flocking to Mecca for the hajj.

Saudi Arabia considers itself the protector of orthodox Islam worldwide. Clearly, the country has failed to fulfill this self-proclaimed mission. It has failed to help any of the millions of Syrian refugees who need to flee their lands just to simply stay alive. It has also failed to guarantee the safety of those who are doing their duty as dictated by the Quran.

The fact is that the Saudi government should set up a non-profit organization to properly handle the hajj. This organization could operate using the money that the country takes in from the hajj with the goal of allowing as many pilgrims as possible to visit Mecca while guaranteeing their safety. This organization should be given free reign to fully organize preparations for the hajj and should have to deal with as little interference from the Saudi government as possible. On top of that, the people responsible for the deaths of so many innocent pilgrims should be tried and held accountable under a court of law.