Women who participate in Hajj or Umrah will no longer have to be accompanied by the “mahram”. The Saudi minister’s confirmation puts an end to controversial interpretations of previous announcements. The rule applies “to women from anywhere in the world.” The Great Mosque is undergoing renovation works for 55 billion euros.
Riyadh () – Women who participate in Hajj or Umrah, the major and minor pilgrimage to Mecca, Islam’s holy place par excellence, will no longer have to go “by law” accompanied by the “mahram”, the male guardian or guardian (father, husband or brother). This has been announced by the Saudi authorities, the main references in the Sunni world, reforming one of the many norms that -in practice- contribute to relegating the feminine universe in the Muslim religion to the background, subjecting it to the dictates imposed by the male. The decision has been made at a complex time for women, who have taken to the streets in Iran (Shiite) to demonstrate for their freedom and their rights after the death of the young Kurdish Mahsa Amini at the hands of the morality police.
In a press conference that took place a few days ago at the Saudi embassy in Cairo, the Minister for Hajj and Umrah, Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al-Rabiaha, confirmed that women traveling to the Wahhabi kingdom can make the pilgrimage without a male guardian. The declaration is aimed at putting an end to the controversies and controversies that arose when it was announced that the “mahram” obligation no longer existed, although in reality it was never fully respected. Now, with a view to freedom and rights, one of the highest Saudi institutional authorities has intervened to confirm freedom of movement “for women from any nation in the world.”
Rabiah added that there will also be no limits on the issuance of visas for minor pilgrimages. “Any Muslim – he clarified – who comes to the kingdom with any type of visa can perform Umrah”. The minister then confirmed the works being carried out to modernize the registration process for Hajj and Umrah through digitization and artificial intelligence. This “includes the use of robots to provide certain types of services to pilgrims”, in addition to the development of the Nusk platform, which makes many structures available to pilgrims and visitors to the Grand Mosque and allows them to obtain a visa “within 24 hours”.
Concluding his visit to the Egyptian capital, Rabiah met with the Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Ahmed Issa, along with the Saudi ambassador in Cairo and other officials. The central themes of the meeting were the bilateral relations between the two countries and the services guaranteed by Saudi Arabia to the pilgrims. Among them, the renovation and expansion works of the Great Mosque of Mecca with an investment of close to 55,000 million euros, the largest and most spectacular in history. At the same time, Riyadh is working to reduce the costs of participating in the pilgrimage, so that it is accessible to a growing number of faithful.
