VIENNA,
December 26, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Canadian Muslims prefer to
transit at European airports en route to the holy city of Makkah to
perform hajj to spare themselves humiliating treatment and extra
frisking at American airports.
"The
excessive security measures targeting Arabs and Muslims at American
airports since the 9/11 attacks have alienated many Canadian
Muslims," Monzel Bakash, the supervisor of hajj journeys
organized by the Islamic Center in Toronto, told IslamOnline.net on
Monday, December 26.
"Canadian
Muslims are ready to take the agony of undue delays and extra journey
hours instead," he added.
Bakash
said most Canadian pilgrims used to go to Saudi Arabia via New York,
but not any more.
"Giant
US airliners which offer direct flights to Riyadh fail to lure
them," he added.
The
first batch of Canadian pilgrims arrived in the Austrian capital
Vienna on Sunday, December 25, on their way to Saudi Arabia.
Hajj
consists of several ceremonies, meant to symbolize the essential
concepts of the Islamic faith, and to commemorate the trials of
Prophet Abraham and his family.
Every
able-bodied adult Muslim who can financially afford the trip must
perform hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, once in their
lifetime.
Proper
Hajj
Bakash
said organizers offer this season a full-board hajj with estimated
costs ranging between 3,000 and 9,000 Canadian dollars
(US$2,571-7,761).
"Average
costs stand at 5,000 Canadian dollars (US$4,286)," he said,
adding that the Islamic Center in Toronto offers payment facilities
for pilgrims at their request.
Bakash
maintains that the figure is affordable for the majority of Canadian
Muslims, citing an increase in the number of the center's pilgrims
from 138 last year to 150 this year.
Ayman
Sahebb, an Islamic jurisprudence researcher, told IOL that several
Muslim organizations across Canada have launched a four-session
program to enhance the pilgrims’ awareness on how to perform proper
hajj.
"The
pilgrims become acquainted with the hajj rites starting from their
hometown to Makkah," he said.
The
number of Canadian Muslims has increased dramatically over the last
decade, according to a national census.
With
approximately 600,000 Muslims in the country, Islam became the number
one non-Christian faith in Canada.
There
are some 200 mosques and prayer rooms in the capital Toronto.
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