There are several settlements on the planet, the stay in which is either forbidden to mere mortals or dangerous to life. Moreover, the last criterion is very relative: in another city, which is considered unsafe, you can move without fear in the dark, and vice versa.
Another thing is that prohibitions are usually absolute, and the presence or absence of the ability to circumvent such a ban depends on the laws of the country where such restrictions are in force. The holy Muslim city of Mecca is controlled by the royal government of Saudi Arabia, which is known for draconian laws and support for Islamic terrorism around the world. The King of Saud is also one of the leaders of the religious department of the state, so it is forbidden for non-believers to enter and enter Mecca.
Experts in religious studies and lawyers note that the regime interprets the sacred suras somewhat broadly, because it speaks only about the inadmissibility of contacts of people who do not profess Islam with the sanctuary called the Kaaba. And there are no words about the city!
On the other hand, this is a fairly typical decision for the Islamic world, in addition, it is an internal affair of the country, which already earns good money on hundreds of thousands of pilgrims visiting the city every month: they do not need us.
According to unconfirmed rumors, it is still possible to get there - through Jeddah, provided that there is a guide who will be greedy enough to take a chance. Another solution could be the help of diplomats. However, resorting to such methods, we should not forget: the death penalty is regularly in force in the country through beheading or stoning. And this is not to mention the tradition of dismembering journalists right in the embassy.
Therefore, if the desire to look at at least an eye at the sacred place is intolerable, we advise you to use Google: thanks to this service with the images on the map, it becomes approximately clear how and what this city lives.
How Mecca Works: The View of the Wrong
In the eastern part there is a suburb called Mina:during pilgrimages, it turns into a colossal tent camp. To make it easier to assess the scale, we clarify: during the Hajj period, the population of the city grows three times, up to 6 million people. Despite the huge number of hotels and inns, they physically have nowhere to stay. Therefore, you have to live in tents - nothing can be done.
In addition, a couple of important rites of Muslims are held in the Minsk valley: throwing stones into columns symbolizing the devil and offering sacrifices. It's funny: now the pillars have been replaced with walls so that the pilgrims do not inadvertently stab anyone, but every year a couple of dozen still die. It is understandable - the event is massive, so all participants of the pilgrimage risk falling under the blow of the crowd, being crushed or crippled. For a couple of decades, the holy city has twice had major stampedes – in 1990 and 2015. In total, more than four thousand people died in them, tens of thousands suffered.
The total area occupied by tents exceeds 20 kilometers, but this is still not enough for everyone and people have to live and spend the night on the pavements. One good thing is not cold.
During the Hajj, carpets are of great importance in urban types - usually they pray on them, but they also sleep. What's funny is that all Arabs are intolerant of the people of Iran, because they are apostates for them (the Iranian population is mostly Shiite), but 9 out of 10 carpets are made there: when it comes to business, religion recedes into the second role. In addition to lodging and prayer, the mat serves as a decoration for mosques. There are many of them in various parts of the city, but the purpose of the people making the pilgrimage is always al-Haram, the Forbidden Mosque,built around the holy stone of the Kaaba.
By the way - in Mecca there is a subway. Trains in it for 10 years go without drivers, it is fully automated. The line is the only one, it is intended for the transfer of pilgrims from Mina to the center and back. Trains by standards are long - twelve cars in the composition. In those days, when there are few seekers of holy places, they get from comfort (there is even air conditioning), but more often there is no breath from religious admirers. Another way of communication is by bus. This is the rarest case in the world when urban passenger transport is not unprofitable, but profitable - solely due to pilgrimages.
Everything has to be paid for – and the city pays for its sacred role and profits from seekers of divine grace with an even carpet of waste – from food to biological. Therefore, after the armada of pilgrims comes down, thousands of guest workers from the countries of Southeast and Western Asia take their place. The only condition is a suitable religion. Even the waste must be collected by the faithful!
The center of the Saudi religious capital every year acquires new hotels, hotels and hostels, and it is unlikely that this business is destined to disappear in the historical perspective. The only difficulty is the selection of personnel, but in the same Indonesia or Pakistan without difficulty for a ruble there is a bunch of applicants.
Another feature is separate rooms and even establishments. Women in this country move in separate groups, although they inevitably mix with men: cramped.
The purpose of the trip is to go around the Kaaba in a ritual tavafa. This is done counterclockwise, some even manage to touch a black pebble mounted in one of the corners: this is the main shrine.
And the Kaaba itself was built from a dark color of granite slab on a marble base, and on top of it was covered with silk - apparently, so that pilgrims would not fall over.
