THE TELEGRAPH: The Saudi government might manage the hajj, but the people who make it run for two million or more pilgrims are a handful of old Mecca families who monopolise the muttawif, or hajj guide, business.
Organised into six companies, each taking care of pilgrims from a specific part of the world, they make sure the people who have waited a lifetime to perform the hajj get through it.
"We take control of the pilgrim from when he first puts his foot on the soil of Mecca," said Imad Abdullah, waiting for a bus load of Indonesians arriving in the Muslim holy city for the annual pilgrimage.
"We organise the shelter, food, transport, the rituals, and try to resolve any problems that come up," said Abdullah, who specialises in pilgrims from south-east Asia.
In what is a lucrative trade, the families deploy their members for the few weeks a year to manage pilgrim groups for all the time they are in Mecca: holding onto their travel documents, organising visits to important sites, and at the end, shopping trips so they can return home laden with gifts and souvenirs.
It is a gruelling job, having to be on call day and night for a few weeks, but thousands of young Meccans, men and women, seek the job and its good salary.
For several days' work they earn from $800 (£481) to more than $5,000 dollars each, depending on their experience.
Knowing foreign languages is a particular asset for a muttawif guide, and some excel in the tongues of the region they handle.
It is an ancient business, helping foreigners unable to speak Arabic navigate their way through the lengthy hajj ritual.
Families have long controlled it, but before the 1930s it was not very disciplined.
Then King Abdul Aziz bin Saud, the founder of modern Saudi Arabia, organised the families into six companies, each with rights to handle pilgrims from a specific region.
Abdullah's family - in the business for 150 years, is part of one of the companies, and he has been a muttawif for 30 years.
"Our sons will inherit the job," he said. >>> | Monday, November 23, 2009
