Hajj lottery: How a surprise Saudi decision 'devastated' UK Muslims

Till a fortnight in the past issues had been wanting promising for British Muslims making ready to go to Saudi Arabia for Hajj. Preparations for the annual pilgrimage – which takes place between 7-12 July this 12 months – had been easily gathering tempo.

However then every part all of a sudden modified.

‘The entire thing is simply devastating and heartbreaking. Individuals’s livelihoods in a click on of a finger have simply gone’

– Habibur Rahman, UK-based Hajj tour organiser

Hajj tour operators had been given the inexperienced gentle to promote long-anticipated packages to Muslims throughout the UK, after a painful two-year hiatus as a result of pandemic. 

“Simply 14 to fifteen days in the past we had the utmost perception that we might be going,” Habibur Rahman, a London-based Hajj tour organiser, tells Center East Eye. “That is the suggestions we had been getting on the bottom in Saudi Arabia.”

The Hajj pilgrimage is among the largest non secular gatherings on this planet. It’s thought-about a non secular obligation that must be accomplished through the lifetime of each Muslim who’s wholesome and capable of afford it. 

Earlier than the pandemic, round 25,000 Muslims from the UK had been allotted to go to Hajj every year. 

However after Saudi Arabia introduced that the pilgrimage was to be scaled down in 2022 – with numbers minimize to at least one million pilgrims worldwide as a substitute of the pre-pandemic whole of two.5 million – Britain’s quota was slashed by round half the anticipated determine to 12,348. 

A kind of potential UK travellers was Bushra, a 31-year-old college lecturer from Bradford. She began researching her journey in December and located a tour firm led by British imams who she felt aligned together with her ideology and outlook. 

“After the Hajj ministry gave the journey brokers the go-ahead and the licence, I paid £10,000 to substantiate my place,” Bushra advised MEE.  

Rahman’s tour group, Al-Kabir, usually takes 120 hujjaj (Hajj pilgrims). This 12 months it was allotted 58 – all of whom had paid, requested go away from work, and attended preparatory seminars. 

However then got here one other stunning and sudden assertion final week. Saudi Arabia introduced that pilgrims from Europe, Australia, and the Americas couldn’t e book by means of tour teams for this 12 months’s pilgrimage. 

As a substitute, they must apply by means of a random lottery on the Saudi government-backed Motawif web site. 

“It was an entire bang. Identical to that, all of it modified,” Rahman mentioned.

Anger at Saudi authorities 

Those that had booked packages by means of Hajj tour teams had been advised by Saudi authorities to right away request refunds, and to enter the lottery. 

“My overwhelming emotion was anger on the Saudi authorities for altering issues so final minute,” says Bushra. 

“They really feel they’ve each proper to play about with the system. It takes possession away from the hujjaj and into management of somebody you may by no means see or know.”

‘My overwhelming emotion was anger on the Saudi authorities for altering issues so final minute,’

– Bushra, British Hajj applicant

Hajj tour firms, a lot of which have been round for many years, tailor their packages across the wants of consumers. 

For instance, Al-Kabir largely takes British Bangladeshi pilgrims. Its packages are hosted by Bengali-speaking employees and imams and supply Bangladeshi meals. 

Whereas Motawif has given some details about the fee and itineraries of its packages, lots of the particulars – such because the variety of individuals in every of its groupings, and the way the teams can be determined – stay unexplained. 

Bushra mentioned she didn’t apply by means of the lottery as a result of it failed to incorporate the kind of tailored service she was after. 

“Once I made the choice to go together with a bunch, it was as a result of I trusted the individuals going,” the Bradford-based lecturer says. 

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“I trusted the ideology and thought strategy of those that can be instructing and guiding me. I used to be snug that I’d be guided by a British sheikh who is aware of my context and desires. Underneath this new system, you don’t have any thought what you’d find yourself with.”

She mentioned she had not but requested a refund for her £10,000 down cost in case the portal system failed to draw sufficient numbers and tour operators had been reactivated.

For organisers like Rahman, the last-minute adjustments have been a monetary and logistical hammer blow. 

“We’re the kind of firm that, if we owe anybody any cash, in fact, it is going to be again with them as quickly as potential,” he says. 

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However Rahman says recouping cash from Saudi suppliers has been an ongoing wrestle and he’s nonetheless ready to obtain refunds from Saudi hoteliers after Hajj was cancelled in 2020. 

“The entire thing is simply devastating and heartbreaking. Individuals’s livelihoods in a click on of a finger have simply gone. We’re not simply speaking about UK staff – we’ve got quite a lot of Saudi-based staff for jobs which will now not exist.”

Saudi ‘cuts out intermediary’

It’s not solely clear why Saudi authorities made the choice to alter the system, notably on condition that Hajj is lower than a month away. 

It’s potential that the nation could possibly be piloting a direct-to-consumer Hajj expertise within the hope of ‘slicing out the intermediary’ in future years. 

“This experiment in business-to-consumer advertising and marketing and promoting hasn’t put its pilgrim-consumers on the centre of pondering regardless of the rhetoric. Credibility and belief can’t be taken without any consideration,” Sean McLoughlin, a professor of the anthropology of Islam at Leeds College, tells MEE. 

McLoughlin is the writer of Mapping the UK’s Hajj Business and produced the primary report on Britain’s Muslim pilgrimage business.

“IT programs and on-the-ground service suppliers might want to comprehend Muslim pilgrim-consumers in all of their native and international variety. The issues witnessed to this point recommend that there’s a want for a shift on this regard,” he added. 

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Some British Muslims are hopeful that the brand new lottery system might pave the best way for a less expensive Hajj. 

“The costs on the portal look nice. We’re speaking £3,000 cheaper than what the tour operators had been charging,” Faiyaz, a enterprise analyst from Cheshire, tells MEE. 

The 25-year-old, who’s ready to be taught the result of his lottery utility, mentioned that whereas the rollout of the platform was “a bit final minute and unfair on tour businesses” it could possibly be optimistic for shoppers in the long term. 

However the packages below the previous and new programs can’t be in contrast like for like, in line with McLoughlin.

“For instance, indicative Motawif packages from some nations e.g. Eire, Canada, and Australia, don’t even embrace flights which if organized independently will now be prohibitively costly,” he says.

Rahman believes that the brand new system is not going to work with out the decades-long data of the tour operators. 

“Logistically it is going to be a nightmare,” he says. “Let’s hope they get up and scent the espresso.”