Posted on 09/15/2009 8:30:35 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
CAIRO — For Mohamed-Ali Bouharb, the soul-searching journey of hajj he plans to embark on this year will be exceptional, since the Muslim soldier will be traveling all the way to the holy sites on a special trip provided by the army of the secular European country.
"The army is always in advance of society," a jubilant Captain Bouharb told the Globe & Mail on Tuesday, September 15.
For this year’s hajj, Muslims in the French army who will go on the journey to Saudi Arabia will not have to travel on private commercial flights with ordinary civilians.
In a break from tradition, the Defense Ministry will provide its Muslim soldiers a plane to fly them and organize their stay.
The new hajj journey is the first to be sponsored by the army for Muslim personnel.
Longtime before, the army has sponsored annual trips for its soldiers to Catholic shrines in Lourdes with its long history of bonds with the Catholic Church.
Soldiers and officers willing to embark on the hajj journey next November would pay about €3,000, an amount less than most private travel agencies.
On the other hand, accommodation and guide will be provided by the Saudi Defense Ministry.
Muslim soldiers hailed the army's upcoming hajj trip for providing them security.
Military personnel who travel on their own for the hajj could fall victim "to thieves or swindlers or disreputable travel agencies," Bouharb said.
"Or imagine the situation of a serviceman who goes on his own and stays in a place where there's some incident – I don't know what kind, but maybe a bomb or a fire."
Hajj, Makkah pilgrimage, is one of the five pillars of Islam.
Every able-bodied adult Muslim -- who can financially afford the trip -- must perform hajj once in their lifetime.
(Excerpt) Read more at islamonline.net ...
wait. you can’t wear a burkha, but they’ll fly you to the hajj?
Just when you think the French are starting to get a backbone. Surrender is a way of life for them, obviously.
The middle panel of the French tricolor is white, and that’s for a special emergency reason.
Some people say they should have velcro tear-aways for the outer panels, but some people say there should be snaps, instead.
is that a photograph or a still from “the night of the living dead?”
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