CAIRO - A year ago, if someone were to call upon Muslim Egyptians not to repeat visiting Mecca and Medina for the Umrah or Hajj (minor and major pilgrimages respectively), so as to reduce the huge funds being spent every year on these religious rituals, he would be subjected to fierce criticism. However, today things seem different as this call has come from a noted writer known for his religious leanings tendencies and not from a State official continuing to complain about the high Egyptian expenditure on such trips while his Government refrains from cutting its lavish spending on trivial matters. In his column published two weeks ago in Al-Shorouq independent newspaper daily, the reputable writer Fahmi Howeidi suggested suspending the Umrah and Hajj journeys for Egyptians who have previously made the pilgrimages. He proposed channelling the money saved into supporting the national economy at such a critical stage being experienced by the country after the January 25 revolution. Howeidi wrote that the nation's pilgrims are spending an average of LE10,000 each to make the Umrah. Considering the fact that around 500,000 Egyptians visit Mecca every year to make Umrah, this means that LE5 billion is being spent on this religious journey every year. Knowing that the cost of the Hajj ranges between LE 30,000 and LE60,000, one could estimate the kind of funds being spent by Egyptians every year in fulfilling this religious duty. (One dollar = LE5.94) The writer was wise enough to seek the opinion of the noted Muslim scholar Youssef el-Qaradawi who issued a fatwa (religious edict) ruling that the pilgrimage should be restricted to those who have never previously made it, if the country is suffering any kind of economic hardship. The initiative has drawn some commentaries from the scholars of Al-Azhar and its influential arm, the Islamic Research Centre, who plan to thoroughly debate the issue so as to make a statement expressing their concern in the near future. Mohamed Fathi Refaa el-Tahtawi, the spokesman for Al-Azhar (the highest Sunni Islam religious and educational institution), expressed the strongest support to the suggestion. He said that it was the uppermost duty for all Egyptians today to support the national economy instead of spending these huge funds on a nafila (non-obligatory duty. (Muslims are required to perform Hajj and Umrah once in their life if they have the ability and means to do so). The initiative would be better expressed as a recommendation, making a patriotic call upon citizens to voluntarily donate these funds for reviving the national economy from its present dilemma. This call should receive a good response from Egyptians out of their strong conviction of the importance of supporting the country's economy, so as not to abort the gains of the January 25 revolution. However, it would be more fruitful, if we specified certain projects or sectors that badly need an immediate assistance in order to direct the saved funds towards them, reflecting noticeably on the public. For example, a specific fund can be set up for receiving donations of the citizens who had decided to deprive themselves of such spiritual enjoyment. Its revenues could be allocated towards assisting the State with the issue of raising the minimum wage level of public employees, which would improve the quality of life for millions of Egyptians. There is also the crisis of Egypt's once flourishing textile factories that went into decline under Mubarak regime and have suffered a shortage of funds for purchasing yarns and other raw materials for their operation. Some plants have already been closed. Such a call could be extended to cover many other aspects of life such as summer holidays overseas that wealthy Egyptians have been accustomed to make. They could head, instead, to local resorts and spare the foreign currency they would spend overseas, paying the difference in cost to the fund. Similarly, movie stars and TV actors could donate half their earnings to support the economy via this fund. Therefore, the initiative would not be limited to the performance of a religious duty but be widened to cover other donors, both rich and poor, to come together and support their national economy at such a critical stage. More affluent, Egyptians could follow a more austere way of life for a year or two to help float the economy and even finance giant projects to help Egypt in its development and advancement in the shortest possible period of time. Egypt is still in need of foreign assistance, but it should not be in the form of conditional aid, loans at high interest rates or foreign investments not serving the national economy. This latter point in particular, as well as other suggestions for raising foreign money for solving chronic problems such as the massive number of land mines left in the desert from WW2 on the north-western coast of Egypt will be taken up next week in this corner.
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