CAIRO, January 1, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – Increasing numbers of young Egyptians are traveling to Saudi Arabia this year to perform hajj.

"I agreed with my wife to start our marriage with the hajj journey," Hossam Hisham, 28, told IslamOnline.net.

Samah, 29, cited a different reason to perform the Islamic ritual.

"I survived a devastating family crisis and want to go to hajj to thank God for helping me through," she said.

"Why should I postpone hajj as long as I'm financially and physically capable of making the journey," wondered Tarik Abdel Raheem, 25.

Despite the lack of official figures, hajj organizers say that large numbers of the Egyptian pilgrims are youths.

"A 40 percent of the Shooting Club members traveling for hajj this year are under 30," a source at the club's hajj committee told IOL.

More than 1.1 million Muslims from the world over have already arrived in Saudi Arabia for the annual pilgrimage, which begins next week.

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.

Many young Egyptians said they are resolved to perform hajj this year to refute allegations against Islam and Muslims.

"I'm going to hajj this year to counter mounting anti-Islam campaigns," said Moataz Ibrahim, 24.

Hend, 20, agreed.

"I'm resolved to perform hajj to prove false allegations that mock at the importance of the Islamic ritual," she said.

She is going on hajj this year with her brother.

Anti-Islam rhetoric has been intensifying in the United States and the West since the 9/11 attacks.

"It is normal for young Egyptians, who have access to Internet and read about campaigns against Islam and Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in the West, to react by going on hajj in high numbers," said Sheikh Farahat Al-Monji, Al-Azhar ex-deputy and the head of the Muslim Foreign Mission City.

Hajj costs in Egypt range between 10,000 pounds ($1600) for the basic hajj services and 50,000 ($8,000) for a very special hajj package.

Estimates of the Central Bank of Egypt show that Egyptians spend $3 billion a year on hajj and `Umrah.

Saudi Arabia allows one percent of the population of each Muslim country to perform hajj every year, in accordance with the resolution of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

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