According to the Brookings Institute's study on Hajj pilgrims, hajjis report more positive views of women's abilities and a greater concern for their quality of life after performing the pilgrimage.
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In 1987, a large outbreak of meningitis "rapidly spread to Hajjis of all nationalities participating in the pilgrimage and to the Saudi indigenous population," the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases reports.
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A diplomatic spat between Saudi Arabia and Canada over a human rights statement resulted in the closure of one of the main flights between Canada and the kingdom, reportedly complicating matters for hajjis, or Muslim pilgrims.
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The DRA controls participation in the Hajj and imposes restrictions on pilgrims ("hajjis"). Tajikistan require air travel for the Hajj and controls local tour operators, citing hygiene and safety concerns as reasons for limiting other means of travel. Hajjis are required to register with the DRA and deposit $2,500 (8,625 Tajik Somoni) prior to departure. In 2007, the DRA apparently lifted the previous quota limit of 3,500 citizen hajjis; as a result, 4,622 citizens participated in the Hajj in 2007, compared with 3,450 in 2006 and 4,072 in 2005, out of the overall quota of 6,000 hajjis that the Saudis allocated.
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Care is taken to assure that pilgrims do not remain in the kingdom after the Hajj to search for work. An elaborate guild of specialists assists the Hajjis. Guides (mutawwifs) who speak the pilgrim's language make the necessary arrangements in Mecca and instruct the pilgrim in the proper performance of rituals; assistants (wakils) provide subsidiary services. Separate groups of specialists take care of pilgrims in Medina and Jiddah.
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Very few Mashhadi converts permanently assimilated to Islam. It is estimated that the remaining community members proceeded to live dual lives as crypto-Jews through the 1920s. During this time, the Jadid-al-Islam (a term meaning “New Muslims”) boasted of two known Sheikhs, fifty-seven known Hajjis, and twenty- one known Karbalais while preserving their secret Jewish identities. Their ties to the Islamic religion were complex at times.
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Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the Iranian Chargé d'affaires, intended for the post of Ambassador, was expelled. The Iranian government did not send whose language assets had been to poor to be designated as an diplomat. Power conservation interests led to the regulation of mutual pilgrimage. On July 31, 1987, 402 people lost their lives in conflicts between Iranian Hajjis and Saudi Arabian Crowd control (275 Iranians, 85 Saudis, including police, and 42 pilgrims from other states).
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The Saudi government had invested in improving crowd flow at Jamaraat Bridge, by widening it to eight lanes. Plans for the bridge to be demolished and rebuilt as a four-storey structure with air-conditioning were approved in 2005. This work went ahead immediately after the January 2006 Hajj and was completed prior to the 2009 Hajj. These infrastructure improvements were not accompanied by adequate signage telling pilgrims which direction to travel, a problem given that most Hajjis have never visited before.
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The four-storey hostel, Lulu'at al-Khair, situated on al-Ghazal Street, just from the walls of Masjid al-Haram, was in demand as the Hajj was about to begin, and at least 30 people were known to be staying there. As well as housing Hajjis, the building also contains a restaurant and shops. At its base it is surrounded by market stalls. The building was at least 25 years old and its operator, Habib Turkestani, claims that the building was structurally sound and in "good shape".
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Al-Bahah, Saudi Arabia Hafar Al-Batin, Saudi Arabia Turkish hajjis, visiting Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah, are seen at the valley of Jabal Thawr. A part of tourism in Saudi Arabia consists of pilgrims visiting holy sites for their historic significance rather than any religious obligation. Saudi Arabia is the second biggest tourist destination in the Middle East with over 16 million visiting in 2017. Although most tourism in Saudi Arabia still largely involves religious pilgrimages, there is growth in the leisure tourism sector.
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Having conquered the former Muslim defenders of the hajj, the Ottomans, being the successor of those states, was charged with protecting and providing safe passage to all undertaking the hajj. Portuguese hegemony in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, however, gave them some control over hajjis. In the same vein, other Muslim states in the region saw the Ottomans as their defenders as Muslim brothers: :The Shah of Hormuz, Sharafaldin, wrote a letter to Sultan Süleyman to provide him with military help in order to expel the Portuguese from Hormuz. The ruler of Gujerat [Gujarat] also sought Ottoman military help.
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Hajjis in Hajj 2010 Hajji () (sometimes spelled Hadji, Haji, Alhaji, Al hage, Al-hajj or El-Hajj) is an honorific title which is originally given to a Muslim person who has successfully completed the Hajj to Mecca. It is also often used to refer to an elder, since it can take time to accumulate the wealth to fund the travel (particularly before the advent of mass air travel), and in many Muslim societies as an honorific title for a respected man. The title is placed before a person's name; for example Saif Gani becomes Hajji Saif Gani. "Hadži" is also used in Orthodox Christianity for people who go on pilgrimage to the grave of Christ in Jerusalem.
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The British Food Standards Agency has in the past issued warnings about water claiming to be from the Zamzam Well containing dangerous levels of arsenic; such sales have also been reported in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where it is illegal to sell Zamzam water. The Saudi government has prohibited the commercial export of Zamzam water from the kingdom. In May 2011, a BBC London investigation stated that water taken from taps connected to the Zamzam Well contained high levels of nitrate, potentially harmful bacteria, and arsenic at levels three times the legal limit in the UK, the same levels found in illegal water purchased in the UK. Later in that month the Council of British Hajjis stated that drinking Zamzam water was safe and disagreed with the BBC report. They also noted that the Government of Saudi Arabia does not allow the export of Zamzam water for resale.
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