KARACHI:

Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and is a necessary pilgrimage to Makkah that Muslims who are physically and financially capable must conduct at least once in their lifetime. However, for a woman to undertake the religious journey, the criterion is that she must be accompanied by a male guardian or "mahram," who is usually her husband, father, brother, or son. This rule is founded on the concept of ensuring modesty and protection for women on their journey.

With time, many amendments have been created to facilitate hajis, from relaxing the timings for rituals during Hajj to extending options. One landmark change was allowing women to go on pilgrimage without a male guardian. Specific exceptions have been made for women who do not have a mahram, particularly in cases of acute necessity or having genuine difficulties. This was the first year in Pakistan when women across the board and from every sect were allowed to travel alone. Previously, only those belonging to the Shia community were allowed to perform Hajj alone. Women usually added themselves to other families as either they didn’t have a mahram or they didn't have much finances to afford the journey.

“Six years ago, while scrolling my social media, I came across photos of my friend who is from the Shia sect leaving for Hajj alone,” said Zareen Ahmed speaking to The Express Tribune. “She had posted pictures from the airport as she departed for Saudi Arabia. That’s when I thought why aren’t [Sunni women like myself] allowed to go for Hajj that easily? At that time, my children were studying in school and my husband was working hard to make ends meet.” Since then, Zareen started putting aside money for Hajj. She had some savings and got some money from her father’s inheritance. She decided to go for Hajj either alone or with her husband when the expenses were manageable. This year when she was submitting the forms, she still didn’t have enough money and could not apply.

As inflation soared this year, increased prices saw a major decline in Hajj applications. The quota for Hajj till the very last week of the deadline was returned to the Saudi government and people were encouraged to apply until the last day. A special hardship quota was announced for applicants in the last week if they had not been able to submit forms on time because of any problems.

“It was one week before the last flight was to leave that my cousin's sister shared a forwarded message about the hardship quota,” Zareen said. “I called her and asked her to get more information. She told me the details as one of her friends works in the Ministry of Religious Affairs and who helped me submit my form without any problem.” Zareen was required to submit a machine-readable passport, pictures, and vaccination certificates for COVID, polio and seasonal influenza. “Nothing else was asked and no special permission or documents were required,” the 29-year-old told The Express Tribune. Zareen left her three-year-old daughter and five-year-old son with her mother and performed Hajj.

“The condition for Hajj without mahram was from Saudi Arabia and not from Pakistan. This is the reason why as soon as they allowed, we also followed the rule and sent women from our country,” explained Aneeq Ahmed, the minister for religious affairs. He also told The Express Tribune that no special documents are required from women who are travelling alone; the same documentation is required from every person who is applying for a Saudi Arabia visa.

“I had been thinking of going for Hajj for 10 years,” shared Asiya* whose father is bedridden. When Asiya got to know that the restriction had been lifted, she asked her brother if he could accompany her or else she would go for Hajj on her own. After incurring a business loss last year, her brother could not afford to spare 1.5 million rupees. To spend 40-43 days in Saudi Arabia, one needs a budget of at least 300,000 rupees other than the 11,65,000 rupees that are charged for Hajj through the government package. “Given our financial condition [Hajj] was a far-fetched dream for someone like me. It was more and more difficult to save money and each year I had more of an urge to perform Hajj at a younger age,” said Asiya who is 35, and teaches in a government school.

“When we had previously submitted the Hajj forms of five family members, the total was something above one million rupees. This year, it was one million rupees for just myself,” Asiya said. This year she performed Hajj without a mahram.

“My relatives were quite against the idea,” Asiya shared. “They tried to scare me saying Hajj is a very difficult task to complete and without a man, it would be difficult. Travelling in Saudi Arabia would be hard, even travelling alone in taxis isn’t safe there. But I stood my ground. I decided to go because only I know that with each passing year, it would get more difficult and the condition of mahram cannot be fulfilled for me,” explained Asiya, who had been saving up for Hajj since she started working at the age of 20.

Lifting the limitation for travel for women has brought light and joy in the lives of those women who were waiting for the men in their families to perform Umrah. Hajj is a long and tiring process and many Muslims try to go for Umrah. However, there was the same limitation on women to travel accompanied by a male guardian in this case too. So many women possessing the finances were unable to perform Umrah as they were still dependent on mahrams to fulfil the criterion for the journey.

“I had wanted to go to Umrah for a very long time but somehow couldn’t because my brother didn’t have time or money to go with me. My father has passed away so I had to rely on my brother for this,” shared 38-year-old Sidrah Azhar Dar. When a few months back, she saw the news of an all-women flight from Kerala to Makkah, she called up her friend who had performed Umrah a few years back and they started asking agents for the procedure from Pakistan.

After getting information about Umrah, Sidrah, her friend, and her friend’s sister told their families that they planned to go to Saudi Arabia for Umrah via an agent since the requirement of travelling with a mahram was removed. “Many relatives started sharing details which were discouraging, such as it’s not safe for women to travel alone even in Saudi Arabia, travelling in a taxi won’t be safe, one needs men to go eat in restaurants, etc. However, it was nothing like that when we were there. It is as easy as travelling in Pakistan. Everyone there was very helpful,” Sidrah shared of her experience.

The agent asked Sidrah and her friends to submit their passports, pictures, and vaccine certificates for documentation; no other documents were required. “Even in Makkah or Madina, everyone from Pakistanis to Saudi workers helped us in every way as soon as they knew that we were travelling alone for Umrah,” she added. Sidrah and her friends felt safe in the country despite being warned that Saudis don’t view women travelling alone in a good light. “We even travelled via taxi to Madina and the whole vibe was very safe, everyone facilitated us in every possible way,” she explained.

Despite what has been going on with the idea of going with mahram or without mahram, many women do not decide to go as their families do not allow them and they stick to the idea that if the religion doesn’t allow it then how can the governments intervene in something that the religion has defined.

Javeria Sajjad was at university when she was selected in the campus’ Hajj balloting in 2017. Her family was very happy that she was lucky enough to get selected, but they were mainly concerned whether religious law allowed her to go alone or not. So they sought out the opinion of a religious scholar and asked them about the religious obligation for this. “When we went to an ulema who guided me that one can go alone and can go with a whole tour who can help in performing the pilgrimage,” she said. “We were told that the idea [of being accompanied by a mahram] was 1,400 years old when it was difficult to travel alone as the journey was through day and night in the desert. But in today's world, it’s by aeroplane and very secure, so one can travel.”

She recalled the only difficulty she experienced was in going near Hajr-e-Aswad as it's very crowded, and she needed a man to protect her from the pushing crowds. Similar things occurred at the Jamarat complex but then men from her tour group helped all the women to perform the ritual easily.

The restriction removed by the Saudi Government has helped many women who, due to various issues, couldn’t perform the religious pilgrimage despite having finances. This freedom to perform pilgrimage alone has not only helped women, but also given them the courage to empower themselves. “We tried to facilitate and helped them in every way the offices can, from sharing details to even helping to inform them personally about the instructions and/or any requirement of the documentation,” said Muhammad Zahid, an officer at the Ministry of Religious Affairs talking about Hajj applications this year. He also shared how the ministry worked tirelessly to help such cases where applicants required time, help or any other assistance.

Despite allowing women to perform Hajj with mahram or without mahram, many women are dissuaded by their families to make the pilgrimage alone. Some people stick to the conservative rule that if religion doesn’t allow it, then how can the government intervene in something that the religion has defined?

The idea of women travelling without a mahram is not completely accepted in Pakistan as many schools of thought mention it as anti-religious or amending the religious laws for your convenience when such rules cannot be changed no matter what. “There are families who do not allow their women to go alone and the same rule is applied for any kind of travel while women have been travelling alone across the globe but not for a religious journey,” Javeria pointed out.

Javeria was not married at the time she performed Hajj and was comparatively much younger. She shared that she too had to suffer many taunts from relatives and friends. It will be counted as just a trip, they said, and that her Hajj was not acceptable. “People even said that Allah doesn’t accept such things where you don’t obey the basic rule of going with a mahram, you can't call yourself Haji even,” she said sadly.

It is crucial to remember that precise Hajj obligations and restrictions may alter depending on interpretations within different schools of Islamic jurisprudence. As a result, if someone is considering performing Hajj without a mahram due to exceptional circumstances, they should speak with a knowledgeable Islamic scholar or authority to understand their options and ensure they are acting according to their specific beliefs and circumstances.