The Hajj for heathens

[Apocrypha]

Really beautiful photowork

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/11/15...-heathens.html

[RandyWayne]

Yes, the photo's are impressive.

Can one imagine the job of an airport screener during this event!!?? Of course they are probably all so PC that they would pick the ONE white 78 year old grandma to strip search rather then being accused of "profiling".

[Praxeas]

How about the poor saps that have to pick up after them all...maybe they hire heathens to do it

[pelathais]

Originally Posted by Praxeas

How about the poor saps that have to pick up after them all...maybe they hire heathens to do it

"Heathens" are prohibited from entering most of these areas, particularly around Mecca (The author didn't mention visits to the Tomb of Mohammed in Medina).

The "poor saps" who do the clean up are probably highly paid Saudi contractors. The minions doing the stoop labor may be from the pool of foreign labor that outnumbers the Saudi population. In some cases these folks are treated and handled like slaves, but since they are Muslim "slaves" they are permitted to clean the toilets at the Mecca Masjid.

To be fair, the Saudis are hardly the only ones to be guilty of this. Still, with the repression of a free press and massive restrictions against "foreigners" snooping around, the abuses here go largely unnoticed and are grossly under reported.

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/04/2...igrant-workers

[Walks_in_islam]

True

Originally Posted by pelathais

"Heathens" are prohibited from entering most of these areas, particularly around Mecca (The author didn't mention visits to the Tomb of Mohammed in Medina).

The "poor saps" who do the clean up are probably highly paid Saudi contractors. The minions doing the stoop labor may be from the pool of foreign labor that outnumbers the Saudi population. In some cases these folks are treated and handled like slaves, but since they are Muslim "slaves" they are permitted to clean the toilets at the Mecca Masjid.

To be fair, the Saudis are hardly the only ones to be guilty of this. Still, with the repression of a free press and massive restrictions against "foreigners" snooping around, the abuses here go largely unnoticed and are grossly under reported.

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/04/2...igrant-workers

[Praxeas]

Originally Posted by pelathais

"Heathens" are prohibited from entering most of these areas, particularly around Mecca (The author didn't mention visits to the Tomb of Mohammed in Medina).

The "poor saps" who do the clean up are probably highly paid Saudi contractors. The minions doing the stoop labor may be from the pool of foreign labor that outnumbers the Saudi population. In some cases these folks are treated and handled like slaves, but since they are Muslim "slaves" they are permitted to clean the toilets at the Mecca Masjid.

To be fair, the Saudis are hardly the only ones to be guilty of this. Still, with the repression of a free press and massive restrictions against "foreigners" snooping around, the abuses here go largely unnoticed and are grossly under reported.

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/04/2...igrant-workers

I thought Muhammed rode off on a white horse from the DOTR into heaven?

[pelathais]

Originally Posted by Praxeas

I thought Muhammed rode off on a white horse from the DOTR into heaven?

That was a "one time ride." He is said to have returned and lived out his life with his family, companions and the ever growing numbers of his followers.

An interesting note about the Tomb of the Prophet in Medina: The Wahhabi sect which controls Saudi Arabia and thus the holy sites in Medina and Mecca wants to tear down much of the Tomb. That's right, Saudi Muslims want to tear down a mosque AND the Tomb of Mohammed.

There is a huge green dome over the mosque that covers Mohammed's grave/tomb. According to some interpretations of the Sunni tradition, all grave markers must be "level with the ground" so that no one human grave is given preeminence over another.

http://sunniworld.wordpress.com/2010...et-maaz-allah/

I'm not really too keen about this particular fight one way or the other, but I do think it's interesting given the debate surrounding where and how to build mosques in this country. Needless to say, this proposal isn't going over very well with much of the rest of the Muslim world.