Muslims from all over the world are now performing the pilgrimage of Hajj, the journey that every Muslim hopes to achieve at least once during his or her lifetime. During Hajj global Muslims will perform the rites of Hajj in the Holy Cities of both Makkah and Medina. Among the vast millions of global pilgrims will also be Israeli muslims. Although Saudi Arabia and Israel do not sustain diplomatic relations, in the case of Hajj there is no discrimination based on ones nationality.
In addition to the highlighted article written by Rachel Kliger of Media Line, the following short video clip also explains how Israel’s muslims are able to perform this significant pillar of Islam:
Just prior to posting I received an update from Rachel with statistics on the number of Israeli Muslims performing Hajj this year. Ahmad Juma provided the following link, from an Israeli-Arab newspaper:
The link list of all the names of people doing the Hajj this year, and where they are from in Israel.
According to figures from two organizations that help arrange the Hajj (Salam Association for the Hajj and Umra, and the Association for Israeli Arab and Muslim Hajj Pilgrims), there will be around 4,500 Israeli Muslims carrying out the Hajj this year, and many of them already departed for Saudi Arabia a week ago.
Thanks again to Rachel for bringing this topic to my attention and acquring current statistics.
Filed under: Freedoms, Saudi Arabia, Saudi culture, Saudi customs, culture, hajj, islam, politics, religion, travel | Tagged: culture, culture shock, customs, hajj, heritage, islam, KSA, Mecca, religion, Saudi, Saudi Arabia, Saudi culture, Saudi customs, travel
I am amazed to see the total figure of Israeli Muslims going to perform Hajj this fall.
I think your post title should be tilted Arab-Israelis in Makkah as it makes the picture more clear. Most of these people are Palestinians by nationality and Israeli by citizenship .But still i don’t get it that why such a minor community opts to live in Israel. Perhaps you can give an insight on it
Thanks for the comment Oss. I’d have to defer to others wiser than me on the topic of why a minor community chooses to live in Israel though.
that’s the best Hajj, all are equal
absolutely…and masha’allah for all who are fortunate to perform Hajj this year.
@Oss,
I guess the choice is to live on the land where their families have been for 1,000 years and more, or flee. They stay in the hopes one day they will be equal citizens in the country where they have always lived.
I’m sorry, but I don’t understand the question. Are you asking why Palestinians choose to live inside of Israel? They were born there, their parents were born there and their grandparents generations back were born there. Where else would they go? Those I know choose to be called Palestinians from inside the Green Line, or if they must, Palestinian-Israelis, but not Arab Israelis, as that does not show their true relationship with the land.
Abu Sinan,
Palestinian Israelis are not equal citizens in their country? What rights do they not have that other Israelis have? I hope those Palestinian members of the Israeli Parliament can do something to help them get their equal rights.
These are Palestinians (Arabs of 1948) living with Israeli occupied territory
you may read about them here :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_citizens_of_Israel
Sorry typo.
living within …etc
@Lynn,
No, they are not equal citizens. They get different fundind for schools, hospitals, education and many other things. Being that they are not Jewish many things are not open to them that are open to Jewish Israelis. Land ownership and purchase is one of the big ones.
Many pro Israelis here in the USA like to say that “Israel is just like us”. I would agree if the “us” they are talking about is a militarised Jim Crow/segregated America, then yeah, they are “just like us”.
The only difference is that we have long since abolished the very things that once made us “just like them”.
According to Wikipedia only 7 out of 120 seats in the Israeli parliament are occupied by Arab parties which wouldn’t put them in a very strong position to improve the rights of Arab citizens of Israel.
There was even an attempt by the Central Elections Committee to ban the participation of the two Arab parties United Arab List-Ta’al and Balad for alleged disloyalty to the state and support of Israel’s enemies, the ban was, by a vote of 8 to 1, overturned by the Israeli Supreme Court, allowing the parties to participate. One would hope something like this wouldn’t happen in the USA or any other country claiming to be a democracy.
Interesting … putting all politics aside, this is the great message of Hajj … all are equal in front of Almighty God …
I am also seeing the discussion about Israelis, Arab-Israelis, or Palestinian –Israelis are all irrelevant in regard to Hajj. If they are Muslims, they are welcomed to Makkah.
Saad Al Dosari, According to the link that Carol provided they are not quite readily welcomed
‘Israeli Muslims wishing to embark on the journey usually contact one of several associations dealing with pilgrims. Non-Muslims cannot take part in the event. The pilgrims register their details and submit passport photos, which are then sent to the Jordanian Ministry of Islamic Trust (Waqf).
Once they cross the border from Israel into Jordan, a local official collects their Israeli passports and they are issued temporary Jordanian passports. The documents are valid for a month or two months, depending on the season.
The Jordanian passports are presented at the border crossing with Saudi Arabia, and the pilgrims then head for Mecca as Jordanian nationals. ‘
Sounds to me like politics trumps God in KSA and creates a ‘tax’ on Israeli Muslims.
In Saudi Arabia we don’t know that there is a country called Isreal…it never exists in our dictionary. It’s Palestine only, so it’s not shocking to see Palestinians perfroming Hajj.
Regardless of all the political agreements, on any Arabian map of the world, there is no such country called isreal. Look at any Arabic georaphy book, and you will discover the shocking truth about the Third World
By the way, those books are revised and updated annually
Thanks for the refreshing and inspiring post. I loved it!
Maha Noor Elahi
http://www.saudirevelations.wordpress.com