It all begins with bribe

Bangladeshis' pilgrimage to Makkah is plagued by corruption and enormous greed of brokers, and the hajis, going on the spiritual journey of a lifetime, almost never make any complaints.

It starts from the very beginning of the haji's preparation for the pilgrimage when many have to bribe police up to Tk 1,000 for a verification report. It ends with private hajj agents' broken promises of quality services in Saudi Arabia.

That is of course if the hajis make it to Makkah as some of them get swindled out all of their money by dodgy hajj agents at home.

The hajis have very little under their control in Bangladesh and in Saudi Arabia. A section of government officials and hajj agents are all powerful.

Pilgrims who perform hajj under private hajj agents' management pay over Tk 50,000 more than the government-managed hajis for better services and are often let down by the agents.

There have been cases in which hajis discovered that the flat in Makkah they paid for was not booked by the agent. Or they paid for a room in which two people could stay but the agent gave six people the same room.

Quite often people who paid for flats close to the Al-Masjid al-Haram discover their flats were on the edge of the holy city.

In cases, meals are delayed, like breakfast being served in the afternoon, and transport to Mina scheduled to arrive in the morning arriving in the evening.

There have been instances where hajis have been left under the desert sun when they had paid for tents in Mina.

Dodgy hajj agents also take less money than the government-fixed rate only to cheat the poor, illiterate pilgrims from remote villages.

“As per Islam, pilgrims are the guests of Allah when they reach Saudi Arabia, and they hardly ever complain about the hassles and sufferings they endure due to unscrupulous hajj operators,” said Anisur Rahman, who works as a photojournalist for a national daily and performed the pilgrimage in 2014.

“It's common that hajj guides of private hajj operators do not take proper care of hajis in Makkah and Madina. People, especially senior citizens from remote areas, are often at a loss when they are placed among millions of pilgrims during hajj,” Anisur said.

“Believe it or not, some hajj guides intentionally snap communications with hajis to avoid responsibilities. Hajis often do not become angry with their guides as they think they are spending time and money to please Allah.

“The Saudi Arabian government bears all costs of treating hajis who become sick. But guides often take money from the sick hajis or from their relatives citing medical expenditures,” Anisur explained.

Sharing his experience, he said his agent had promised hajis that they would be provided quality food and accommodation in Saudi Arabia. “But in reality, we found six to seven people crammed into one room, instead of two people in one room as was promised. Breakfast was served in the afternoon with no plates or table.”

“Instead of taking care of hajis, many guides are more interested in making profits by arranging sacrificial animals for hajis, a must ritual during hajj. In many cases, guides charge exuberantly for sacrificial animals,” he said.

Bazlul Haque Biswas, a retired official who ran the Ashkona Hajj Camp for more than a decade, said, “Unscrupulous private hajj operators gobble up Tk 25,000 to Tk 30,000 from each such pilgrims by arranging poor quality accommodation far away from the centre of Makkah and Madina, bad food and other services.

“Some of those victims of fraud do not even get to go to Saudi Arabia while others do not even realise they have been had until they reach Makkah and find that they have not got those promised services. 

“Most of the people engaged in hajj operations try to extract money out of pilgrims, preying on their emotions that they are performing hajj, an opportunity of a lifetime.”

Hajj is the fifth pillar of Islam. Every able-bodied adult Muslim must undertake it at least once in their life if they can afford. Many Muslims save up for years for the pilgrimage as the cost of going to Saudi Arabia increases every year.

The humble hajis usually endure all the pain and suffering inflicted on them by the agents and stay completely focused on their spiritual journey. They refuse to file complaints even though the government encourages them to do so. 

“The hajj tour operators' misdeeds are under reported because people feel embarrassed to report it when they are making a pilgrimage. Hajis like to think of it as an act of Allah when such things happen,” Bazlul said.

Only a few hajis complain as their journey is spiritual and emotional, he added.

Mosque imams, madrasa teachers or moallems [hajj guides] usually pick religious people in their areas and try to convince them to go for hajj, Momtaz Uddin, a moallem from Trishal said.

Momtaz has been collecting hajis from Trishal for the last 12 years. He said a moallem usually makes profits between Tk 10,000 to 15,000 for every haji he brings in while a hajj operator makes Tk 20,000 or more.

A pilgrim needs to go through at least six stages to go to Saudi Arabia.

Several aspirant hajis at city's Ashkona Hajj Camp told The Daily Star that they had to go through bitter experience from the very beginning. They had to bribe police Tk 500 to Tk 1,000 for a positive report.

“Hajis are called the guest of Allah. But I felt very disappointed and upset. It really does destroy your life to be honest when you start the pilgrimage by giving bribe to police and middlemen,” said Shawkat Hossain, a haji from Faridpur.

In the second stage, a haji needs to pay Tk 30,000 for pre-registration. The haji also has to pay Tk 2.75 lakh or more to complete the rest of the stages, including visa, ticket confirmation, accommodation, food and transport.

And there are problems in the government side of things as well.

“Getting hajj visas usually take long due to delay in issuing Demand Order that creates negative impact on the rest of the hajj procedure,” said Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (HAAB) President Ibrahim Bahar.

HAAB leaders also blame red tape in the religious affairs ministry and incompetence of government officials.

Ibrahim said in exchange for undue benefits, some hajj officials favour select hajj agencies.

Some agents took to the streets and even issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the government for removing Director (hajj operations) of Ashkona Hajj Camp Abu Saleh Mostafa.

According to them he is incompetent and corrupt.

Mostafa rejected the allegations and accused HAAB leaders for the delays in procedures.

“Due to HAAB members' negligence in buying tickets for intended hajis, at least 15 hajj flights of Biman had to be cancelled,” he said, adding, “It is also a common allegation against hajj operators that they do not deliver quality services as promised to hajis.”

Mostafa said every year the religious affairs ministry sends an administrative team to Saudi Arabia to oversee how hajis are being treated by hajj agents.

“The administrative team takes pro-active role to find faults in hajj agents,” he claimed, adding that after holding hearings, the ministry takes punitive measures, including scrapping of agency licences.

WHO DID NOT MAKE IT

Jahirul Islam of Trishal lost all his money, over Tk 3 lakh, as the owner of Mawna Tours and Travels disappeared after taking his hajj money.

Like him, 69 other hajj aspirants from Trishal and different areas of Tangail gave Tk 1.79 crore in total to Momtaz Uddin and his friend Mohammad Hanif who had been working as moallems for the last 12 years.

The two, after haggling with several hajj agencies, selected Mawna Travels and Tours at Mawna of Gazipur Chourasta since it offered them the lowest fees for sending the 70 people for hajj. They gave the agent around Tk 1 crore for tickets, visas for hajjis and other expenses, like accommodation rent and food in Saudi Arabia.

After contacting agency owner Ali Asgar over the phone, Momtaz and Hanif visited the agency in Gazipur but found the office locked.

“The mobile phone [of Asgar] remains switched off all the time. Mawna Travels has taken the money of hajis. I don't know how I will pay back the money,” Momtaz told The Daily Star.

“The experience I had is very painful and it affected all my family members,” Jahirul said, adding, “It's a thing you wait for and you feel that you are ready spiritually to go there and make your dream come true.”