PM’s Haj claim: It was Saudi Arabia, not India, says RTI activist

Shahira Naim
Tribune News Service
Lucknow, January 2

The decision to allow women to travel to Haj without a mandatory male companion—called a 'mahram'—was taken by the Saudi government, an RTI activist has said, countering Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's claim on the policy change.

In a press statement on Tuesday, RTI activist Saleem Baig said although Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mention of it in his monthly radio talk ‘Maan Ki Baat’ gave the impression of it being a decision by the Indian government, it was in fact Saudi Arabia that changed its rules.

“The actual credit goes to Saudi Arabia for relaxing the 'mahram' requirement for a woman going for Haj. One needs to understand that these rules have been made by Saudi Arabia and not the Indian government”, he pointed out, after Modi called it a step toward “empowering” woman.

Quoted Saudi Arabia’s revised guidelines, Baig said: "Women over the age of forty-five (45) may travel without a mahram with an organised group. They must however, submit a no-objection letter from their husband, son or brother authorising her to travel for Haj with the named group. This letter should be notarised. This has also been highlighted on the visa requirements column on the Saudia.com the official website of Saudi Arabian Airlines. which is the national carrier airline of Saudi Arabia”. 

He also said that the question of 'mahram' was not homogenous across the schools of Islamic jurisprudence.

He informed under the Hanafi sect women are not allowed to travel without a 'mahram' for Haj, but other schools did not follow this. For example, a Shia woman can perform Haj alone without a mahram.

According to Baig, there were some 25 ayats or verses in the Quran referring to Haj as a pillar of Islam and spelling out the rules of what is lawful during pilgrimage. “However, not one of them mentions that a woman needs to be accompanied by a mahram.  But as this had been the rule that had been prevailing in Saudi Arabia where Kaaba is located, one had to obey the law of the land,” he said.

Modi had claimed on Sunday that his government had removed the restriction, after which hundreds of women have applied to travel alone for the pilgrimage.

A day later, MIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi called the claim false, and said women over 45 from several other countries had been travelling to the pilgrimage alone for years.