From prayer beads to clocks, the retail rituals of holy pilgrimage

After spending thousands of dollars to reach Mecca for the Haj, Muslim pilgrims face another unavoidable cost — for the armfuls of gifts they are expected to take home.

Even before this year’s pilgrimage rites begin on Saturday, Sidi Mokhtar Dembele from Mali said he has already spent the equivalent of more than $850 on prayer beads, prayer rugs and other souvenirs for family and friends.

The annual pilgrimage is first and foremost a spiritual journey, with close to two million faithful visiting the sites where their Prophet Mohammed performed the same rites 1,400 years ago.

But religious tourism is also an industry which Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s two holiest sites, plans to develop under its wide-ranging “Vision 2030” project to diversify its oil-dependent economy.

While the number of annual Haj pilgrims is relatively constant, the kingdom wants to foster a year-round religious tourism sector relying on those who perform the umrah, or lesser pilgrimage, at any time of the year.

By 2020, Saudi Arabia wants 15 million umrah visitors annually, up from six million.

Dembele, 54, a customs inspector who wears a traditional blue robe and a white skullcap, said shopping was part of the religious obligation.

“It’s what the Prophet Mohammed asked us to do. Bring back gifts for family and friends,” he said in a cluttered street of Mecca lined with stalls.

Another pilgrim, Mohammed Hassan from Egypt was making purchases just a few dozen metres (yards) from the Grand Mosque, the holiest site in Islam.

There, on Ibrahim al-Khalil Avenue, shops compete with flashing lights and signs in a myriad of languages. “I already bought some abayas, prayer beads, perfume, prayer rugs and incense,” the 61-year-old Egyptian engineer said.

Abayas are head-to-toe black robes worn according to tradition by Saudi women. Grimacing, Hassan said his total budget is $800.

The cost is unavoidable, he said, because “family and friends will be proud of these souvenirs.