40 Percent of Ramadan Umrah Pilgrims Repeat Visitors

40 Percent of Ramadan Umrah Pilgrims Repeat Visitors Abdul Wahab Bashir, Arab News JEDDAH, 14 November 2004 — Over forty percent of the pilgrims visiting Saudi Arabia for Umrah (minor pilgrimage) during Ramadan are repeat visitors, according to a recent study. Many pilgrims say they have performed Umrah several times. During this Ramadan, which ended Friday, an estimated two million pilgrims visited the Kingdom for Umrah in Makkah and the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah. The study by King Fahd Haj Research Center found that 43 percent of visitors during Ramadan said they had performed Umrah more than once during Ramadan to enjoy the spirituality of the month during which Muslims fast from dawn to dusk. Osama Al-Bar, the director of the center, said 81 nationalities from 71 countries made up 71 percent of the pilgrims. Between them, they spoke 50 languages and local dialects, although Arabic was found to be the most widely spoken language during Ramadan in Makkah and Madinah. It was spoken by 40.3 percent of the visitors. Urdu made up 6.1 percent, Malay 5.5 percent, Mandingo 3.1 percent and Persian 2.7 percent. The study showed that the highest Umrah repetition rate has been registered by pilgrims coming from Egypt at 6.2 percent, followed by pilgrims from Malaysia 3.8 percent, Morocco 3.7 percent, Pakistan 3.4 percent, Iran 3.3 percent and Mali and Kuwait 3.1 percent. The age of the pilgrims generally fell in the 31- to 41-year-old bracket. Families accompanying the husband and other relatives accounted for 46.7 percent of the total number of visitors. The education level among the pilgrims was high with college graduates accounting for 30.6 percent of the total. Forty-seven percent of visiting pilgrims stayed in hotels, 15.4 percent in furnished apartments and 9.1 squatted outside the Grand Mosque. People constituting the latter group spent most of their time there and even slept in the open spaces surrounding the Holy Haram. The Ministry of Haj, which accused Umrah tour operators of failing to honor their contractual obligations toward pilgrims, said it had to move 10,000 squatters from areas around the Grand Mosque and settle them in hotels in the city and threatened to punish erring agencies. Some 8.6 percent of the pilgrims were found to stay with relatives and friends. The study found that 66 percent attended the five obligatory prayers in the Grand Mosque daily. It also found that 38.7 percent of pilgrims performed tawaf (circling the Kaaba) once during their sojourn to Makkah and that nine percent circumambulated at least three times a day throughout their stay. http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=54500&d=14&m=11&y=2004