PIA has been involved in overbooking and flight delays in its slot of Umrah flights, which made the airport authorities of Saudi Arabia, strictly rejected the request of PIA to operate PK-731/2, PK-735/6, and PK-741/42 with delays.

Earlier, Saudi aviation authority pointed out that frequent arrival and departure delays by the PIA flights has disturbed the schedules of other airlines at the busy airports of Jeddah and Riyadh, the sources said.

Resultantly, the PIA country manager in Saudi Arabia passed on the reservations of the Saudi aviation authorities to the PIA headquarters with a request to give an undertaking that the summer flights would adhere to the scheduled timings, they said.

It is this Sufi history which happens to be the theme of Prof. Nile Green’s latest tome Making Space wherein he explores the role of itinerant “saints” and “blessed men” in the emergence of Muslim communities in early modern India. Most of these saints, according to Green, sought refuge in India after the sacking of “the great Sufi cradle of Khurasan” by the Mongols, and the mass persecution of Iranian Sufis under the Safavids. Green’s thesis is that Sufi shrines serve as “gates through time” (dargah means gateway) where the past is recounted in narrative and rendered visible in architecture and ritual, and therefore, have been crucial to the making of Muslim space on Indian soil.

These dargahs, or “the death spaces” as Green calls them, helped define Muslim identity by linking community to territory and territory to hagiographic texts of memory known as tazkirat. In other words, a mausoleum that immortalised a saint was kept alive through the stories and rituals that surrounded it, and the resulting “architectural embodiment of collective memory” helped create a Muslim space by acting as a bridge between the past and present.

Interestingly, Green does not go into the “intellectualized doctrinal abstraction” of Sufism. He confines his research to a dispassionate analysis of the historical role of the Sufis as social actors — both during their lifetime and after their death — in the creation of Muslim settlements in India.

But he does mention quoting Hujwiri that Sufism should not be talked about in a different breath from Islamic law or the study of Hadith. For, to the likes of Hujwiri the notion of a discrete ‘Sufism’ at even a step’s removal from ‘Islam’ would have been “a troubling and unfamiliar idea.”

Rise of shrine cults

And, even while treating them as purely historical events Green drops enough hints to suggest that most of the rituals that have come to be associated with the shrines today did not have the approval of the buried Sufis. For instance, he speaks of how “shrine cults” rose to a high degree of importance a few centuries after Hujwiri’s death. Even today many shrines in India are said to facilitate the exorcism of jinns in clear violation of the teachings of the very saints in whose name it is done.

Green feels that such commemorative rituals extolling the miraculous powers of the buried saints were meant to attract the more material forms of investment required to maintain and preserve the sacred space. This argument is substantiated by the huge monetary contributions some South Asian Muslim shrines regularly get, the most recent example being the donation of a million dollars by the President of Pakistan to the Ajmer dargah.

A substantial part of Green’s research is devoted to the Mughal imperial expansion into the Deccan (1640-1690) and their policy of co-option and creation of Sufi shrine complexes in south India which was continued by Aurangzeb’s successors, the Nizams. Green recounts the story of how Aurangzeb himself came to be buried at the shrine of Zaynuddin Shirazi (d.1369) in Khuldabad on the advice of Sufi Shah Nur as expiation for killing Sarmad, the free thinker and close associate of Dara Shukoh. Mention is also made of the migration of Sufis to Arcot where they were patronised by the Nawabs of Carnatic especially Sadatullah Khan and Muhammad Shah who built shrines in their honour.

One of the most significant findings of Making Space is the absence of communal overtones in the Sufi narratives. Extracting from the works of leading Deccan litterateurs, Azad Bilgrami and Sabzawari, Green highlights the presence of numerous Yogis at the shrines in Khuldabad and says that if at all there was rivalry during those times it was not between Hindu and Muslim power centres but between the Muslim saints and the sultans. The saints refused to bow down to the kings.

Pilgrims usually want to perform the umrah during ramzan and they start making a beeline for visas at travel agencies and airline offices as soon as umrah visa issue dates are announced, a month and a half after haj. Mohammed Shoaib and Mohammed Adeeb of Link Travels in Diwan Devdi say, “In the last three months alone, 1,200 umrah pilgrims have travelled to Saudi Arabia from our agency. Passengers are flying in large numbers in spite of the stringent visa regulations imposed by the Saudi government. Because of the high demand, almost all major international airlines are booked at least for the next two months.” Only families and men above forty years of age are allowed to make the pilgrimage, they inform.

Mir Farkunda Khan from Alton travels agrees that this year has witnessed a sharp increase in the number of pilgrims. He says that all travel agents design packages for pilgrims that include visa stamping, airline tickets and accommodation. However, there are many who live with relatives. “People are giving up vacations in western countries such as the US and UK for umrah,” he says. Travel agents attribute the surge in pilgrims to the lifting of the cap in issuing visas to Indian citizens two years ago. Agents say that after an agreement has been reached with the agents in Saudi Arabia and India, stamping is a matter of only four days.

Currently, 45 flights per week operate from Hyderabad to Jeddah via Mumbai that carry pilgrims and regular travellers. Only two of these flights are operated by the national carrier Air India. Travel agents rue that most seats are taken up by passengers from Mumbai leaving only close to 15 per cent of seats for travellers embarking at Hyderabad. Representations by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) members in Hyderabad to Air India officials for additional flights from Hyderabad to Jeddah have fallen on deaf ears, they say.

M Iftekhar Ahmed from Saudi Arabian Airlines branch at Hill Fort Road says that religious tourism now is like never before. “This is the first time we have witnessed such a demand. The need is such that I had to send requests to the head office for an extra flight in addition to the five flights per week. The 341 seats on all our planes are completely booked till the last week of August. Since January this office has issued close to 3,200 tickets. Apart from the lifting of the cap on visas, the expansion of the mosque area and the low cost of travel are reasons for the increase in the number of umrah enthusiasts. Also, e-ticketing has made things easier for them. Many pilgrims stay in the Rubaat, a serai which was set up by the Nizam. Accommodation here is free and is reserved only for Hyderabadis,” he says.

Evidently Vietor is not aware of the Brotherhood’s violent and anti-democratic history.  But obscuring its history was the group’s intent in coming to Washington — it needs President Barack Obama’s support as Egypt transitions from a caretaker military council government to one monopolized by Islamists.

The Brotherhood wants to conceal its real intentions, says Said Sadek, a Cario-based political sociologist.  “The Brotherhood and the Freedom and Justice Party are trying to appease the growing fears of an Islamist takeover.  They want to appear liberal.  But what they are saying is just lip service,” Sadek said.

They expect Obama to lend his support in part because the president’s fingerprints are all over Egypt’s 2011 revolution.  Recall that Obama called for former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s “immediate” resignation.  Then, instead of working with the moderates, Obama embraced the Brotherhood and boasted “I have an unyielding belief that you will determine your own destiny.”

They did determine their “own destiny” by electing a majority Islamist parliament that declared Israel “enemy number one” and now is drafting a Shari’a-based constitution, with liberal and Christian groups withdrawing for lack of roles.   Next month Egyptian voters go to the polls to elect a president, who will likely be an Islamist as well.

That election concerns Obama because the leading candidate is a radical Salafist.  The threat of a Salafist presidency prompted Obama to embrace the Brotherhood’s more “moderate” candidate and host meetings with representatives last week as a tacit endorsement to the skeptical ruling military council and the Egyptian people.

There are seven candidates for Egypt’s presidency with three running on Islamist platforms.  Khairat el-Shater, the Brotherhood’s former deputy supreme guide and presidential candidate, has met with many American officials “who have praised his moderation, business savvy and effectiveness,” according to the New York Times.   Shater says his top priority would be installing Islamic law.

Shater’s late entry into the race turned the campaign into an election over the degree of Islam the voters want in their government.   He faces a more liberal former Brotherhood leader (Aboul Fotouh) and Abu Ismail, an ultraconservative Salafist.

But the Islamist challenge changed late last week when Ismail was effectively disqualified, after the election commission determined that his mother had been an American citizen.  Whether Ismail is really out, an Islamist will eventually win because 95 percent of Egyptians favor an Islamic leaning government, according to a 2010 Pew Research poll.

At this point no single candidate is expected to earn the required 50 percent of the votes in the May 23-24 first voting round.  Then the two top-scoring aspirants face off in the June 16-17 voting round.

Likely, Shater will emerge victorious this June and then take the reigns of government unless the ruling military council refuses to relinquish power.  What could that mean for Egyptians, their neighbors and the West?

First, Egypt’s expected Shari’a-based constitution will be “the main source of legislation” which could radically transform that country.  Brotherhood chief cleric Shaykh al-Qaradhawi said on al-Nahar TV this January that Islamic law should be implemented gradually in Egypt.  “There should be no chopping off of hands in the first five years,” Qaradhawi said.

Qaradhawi promotes other Shari’a-based legislation as well.  He accepts wife-beating as a “last resort,” believes homosexuality should be punishable by death and female circumcision for “whoever finds it serving the interest of his daughters.”

The Brotherhood’s Salafi partner, the al-Nour party, calls for laws mandating a shift to Islamic banking (no interest or fees for loans), “just and equal distribution” of income to the poor, restricting the sale of alcohol, providing special curriculums for school children, and impose restrictions on the freedoms of religious minorities such as the Coptic Christians.

Islamic law could radically transform the country’s trade arrangements, use of the strategic Suez Canal, and tourists visiting Egypt — a main source of income — could be required to abide by “Islamic principles, values, and laws.”

Second, an Islamist Egypt would realign partnerships and international obligations.  Cairo would grow closer to the Palestinians, Syria, Lebanon and Iran while becoming hostile to Israel and most of the West.

Tensions with Israel and the West will skyrocket.  The Brotherhood’s supreme guide, Muhammad al-Badie, said Muslim regimes must confront Islam’s enemies, Israel and the U.S., and that waging jihad against them is a commandant of Allah.  Also, Qaradhawi publicly supports Palestinian suicide bombing and Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel.

The 1979 Camp David Accords will be in jeopardy.  Senior leader of the Brotherhood Essam el-Erian told the New York Times that the Accords are a “commitment of the state…and this we respect.”  But other members argue parts of the widely unpopular treaty will be revised and some still call for a national referendum on the pact.

Third, an Islamist-controlled Egypt will eventually purge its American-trained and -equipped military much like the transition that is now happening with Islamist Turkey.

The U.S. has given Egypt more than $70 billion in military aid since 1979 for abiding by the Camp David Accords.  This year those funds plus another $250 million to promote civil society and democracy were granted over congressional objections.  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton disregarded those objections in order to encourage the military’s cooperation during the transitional period.

Egypt’s military has contained the Islamists until the present.  There is little doubt that once the Islamists control Cairo they will purge that military and in the future Egyptian guns financed by U.S. taxpayers will be pointing at Americans, Israelis, and some will find their way into terrorist hands.

Finally, terrorist groups will find support in Egypt to radicalize the region like Pakistan.  Hamas, a Brotherhood off-spring, already enjoys renewed Egyptian support and could be emboldened to re-ignite a new war with Israel.

We have seen an increase in Egyptian-based terrorism.  Last week a rocket fired from Egypt’s Sinai desert hit Eilat, a southern Israeli resort city.  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the Sinai was becoming a “terror zone.” “We cannot grant immunity to terror, we must fight against it.”

The Muslim Brotherhood is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.  It came to Washington to appease the growing fears of an Islamist takeover.  But after taking power this summer expect the Brotherhood and its Salafi allies to abandon all “moderate” pretenses to become a Sunni version of the radical Islamic Republic of Iran.

The South African Hajj and Umrah Council has taken on the role of negotiating with Saudi Arabia over the number of local Muslims allowed to complete their pilgrimage.

However the Hajj Watch organisation says it should be up to government to sign the agreement.

“Our government’s job is to ensure that its citizens have some sort of agreement whenever they go to perform Hajj. I think it’s long overdue, it’s been more than 17 years that we’ve had an NGO signing for Africans. We’d like to see this corrected, and if not, we’ll seek relief from the courts.”

The Saudi Hajj ministry has recently implemented a system where only 1 000 people per million Muslims in a country would be allowed to go to the kingdom. About 9 000 South Africans have applied.

The beauty of this journey is immense and I could sit for hours and hours writing about what I am feeling in anticipation of it. Mostly though my thoughts right now are geared toward being away from distraction and instead finding myself immersed in calmness. There is not a city that I have visited in the entire world that is more tranquil than Medina. The serenity that surrounds one from the moment he or she enters is unlike anything else. And there is not a city that I have visited that hosts a more diverse gathering of people than in Mecca. Any culture, language and skin color that you can think of is found there. It presents a great opportunity for reflection.

The Umrah itself is a fairly simple process and consists mostly of rituals traced back to the prophet Abraham and his wife Hagar. It begins with the pilgrim entering into a state of ihram. This is signified through clothing worn (for men this consists usually of two unstitched, white sheets covering the lower and upper body and for women a simple outfit that is allowed to be stitched) and through refraining from actions that are in other circumstances permissible, such as applying any scents or perfumes, cutting of hair and nails, arguing and cursing, and engaging in sexual activity. One is allowed to eat, drink, sleep and engage in most regular activities while in ihram, but the restrictions apply until the pilgrimage is completed. The entire Umrah would usually take a few hours to finish, as opposed to the Hajj, which takes days.

Similar to most spiritual journeys in other religious traditions, the Umrah consists of a lot walking and physical movement. After entering into a state of Ihram, the pilgrim travels to the city of Mecca and goes to the Sacred Mosque, which houses the Kaaba, a large cube-shaped structure that is said to have been built by the Prophet Abraham and his son. It becomes the focal point for the direction of prayer for Muslims throughout the world. It is recommended that when one sees the Kaaba for the first time, they should pray to God as it is a time that prayers are answered.

The first Umrah ritual consists of walking around the Kaaba counter-clockwise seven times. During this time, one can recite verses from the Quran, say prayers and invocations, and should avoid any kind of futile or idle talk. After completing seven circumambulations, the pilgrim will peform two cycles of prayer behind an area known as the Station of Abraham, Maqam Ibrahim, supplicate for whatever they wish, and then drink water from the well of ZamZam, a well that is said to have been created at the feet of Ismail, the son of Abraham, as he kicked at the desert while his mother Hagar ran between the hills of Safa and Marwa looking for food drink for him. After drinking the zamzam water it is recommended to supplicate again. After that, the running of Hagar is imitated by the pilgrim as they walk between the two hills of Safa and Marwa seven times as she did, taking moments in between at the summits respectively to reflect and pray to God. This running is called sa’ey. Once the sa’ey is complete, the male pilgrim will either cut a part of his hair or shave his head completely, and the female pilgrim will only cut a part of her hair. This signifies the completion of the pilgrimage and ends the state of ihram as well.

I personally have had the opportunity of going several times and each is a great experience. I am excited to go again this year and grateful to be with the people that I am traveling with. I can only imagine what it will be like in the coming weeks.