14 November 2019
The Presidency of Religious Affairs (DİB), the
state-run authority overseeing Muslim pilgrimages abroad, is prioritizing
Jerusalem as a top destination for umrah travelers. Umrah, a lesser pilgrimage
compared to the annual hajj, involves a visit to Saudi Arabia where Islam’s
holiest site Kaaba is located. Jerusalem hosted the first-ever qiblah, or
direction Muslims should turn to while praying, before it was replaced with
Kaaba as the new direction. The DİB lowered prices for Jerusalem tours, which
travelers can attend without visiting Saudi Arabia or combine with the umrah
pilgrimage.
Authorities aim to raise interest among Turkish
Muslims in Jerusalem. Pilgrimage trips for the Muslim faithful with a stopover
in Jerusalem were introduced in Turkey for the first time in decades four years
ago, but they have not been regularly organized since then. Pilgrims have to
register with the DİB and pay fees for trips. The first group of pilgrims will
leave on Dec. 5 for a three-day trip to Jerusalem, and the DİB also offers a
16-day umrah pilgrimage with a Jerusalem stopover.
Remzi Bircan, head of the religious authority’s
pilgrimage and umrah services, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that they held a
workshop earlier this month for a comprehensive assessment of umrah tours with
Jerusalem stopovers and analyzed possible challenges. “We want to increase
the number of tours so we can maintain our citizens’ admiration of
Jerusalem,” he said. “Jerusalem was our first qibla, and we want
Turkish people to visit it, so we kept the prices low. We offer all the
services people needed on tours,” Bircan said. He also said there were no
security concerns for tours and that they offered a hassle-free tour of the
city. Israel is known for its past practices of randomly restricting Turkish
nationals’ travels to Jerusalem or denying visa applications.
Jerusalem is home to Al-Aqsa
Mosque, one of the holiest sites in Islam. Muslims’ access to the site is often
subject to severe restrictions by the Israeli government, while severe clashes
between Israeli forces and Palestinian faithful seeking to pray at the site are
common. Jerusalem also houses tombs of the prophets Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and
David, as well as Salman al-Farsi, a loyal companion of the Prophet Muhammad
and Rabia al-Adawiyya, a renowned Muslim mystic.
Like umrah, visiting Jerusalem is
not compulsory in Islam but Al-Aqsa Mosque is highly revered among Muslims as
it is also believed to be the site of the Prophet Muhammad’s ascension to
heaven. Turkey
has had strained relations with Israel after the infamous raid on a Turkish
vessel carrying activists to Gaza under the Israeli blockade and criticism of
Israel by the government leaders over attacks on Palestinians. The inclusion of
Jerusalem onto the itinerary of pilgrims dates back 10 years when Turkey and
Israel had relatively good relations. The Israeli Ministry of Tourism was
working to promote Jerusalem as an additional pilgrimage destination, according
to Turkish media outlets, the year before relations went downhill.
Jerusalem was Ottoman territory until 1918 and
even after its capture by British forces that year, it remained part of the
pilgrimage for Turks for decades. The Six-Day War in 1967 forced pilgrims to
change their course.
SOURCE: Daily Sabah
