Jordan to 'facilitate' Turkish travel to Jerusalem, Mecca
Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
April 6, 2015
The Jordanian government has announced that they will facilitate procedures for Turkish Muslim pilgrims who arrive in Amman before they head to Mecca or Jerusalem, Tourism Minister Nayef al-Fayez said on Monday.
The ministry has also set up a special program for Turkish pilgrims, which includes tours of Jordan's Muslim sites, al-Fayez said at a meeting with Nezaket Atasoy, head of the Confederation of Turkish Industrialist Businessmen and Businesswomen.
Al-Fayez noted that the measures were being taken in line with a directive issued by Jordan's King Abdullah II aimed at facilitating visits to Jerusalem by Turkish nationals.
Jordanian Ambassador to Turkey Amjad al-Adaileh had told the press earlier that Turkey's Presidency of Religious Affairs had issued a fatwa (religious decree) permitting Turks to visit Israeli-occupied Jerusalem, but only if they traveled via Jordan.
Atasoy, for her part, said she was looking forward to cooperating with Jordanian businesspeople and Jordan's Tourism Ministry.
"Turkish pilgrims sometimes face difficulties visiting Jerusalem after performing pilgrimage [in Saudi Arabia]," Atasoy said.
"But we're sure this will get easier owing to the support of Jordan and King Abdullah II," she added.
The number of Jordanian tourists to Turkey stands at about 130,000 every year, while Jordan only receives some 12,000 Turkish tourists annually, according to Tourism Ministry undersecretary Issa Gammoh.
Turkish investment in Jordan has reached $114 million since commercial partnerships were established between the two nations in the 1980s.
http://www.dailysabah.com/nation/201...rkish-pilgrims
Jerusalem Muslim Tourists: Increase In Visitors From Indonesia, Turkey Amid Israel Tourism Downturn
Muslim tourism to Jerusalem is increasing despite longstanding opposition by
religious leaders in the Muslim world to visiting Israel. A Muslim is pictured
here praying at the compound housing the Al Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site in Islam.
April 07 2015
Israeli tourism is still reeling from the crisis sparked by the 2014 Gaza war and has seen an overall downturn in visitor numbers to hotspots like Jerusalem-- except among one apparently unlikely demographic. The number of Muslim visitors to the country has grown significantly in recent years, as tourists from Muslim-majority countries like Indonesia and Turkey have flocked to visit Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem, despite longstanding opposition across the Muslim world to visiting the Jewish State.
Muslim tourists may still constitute a minority of all foreign visitors to Israel but their numbers have grown significantly over the last few years. At least 10,000 tourists from Muslim countries have already entered Israel in just the first two months of this year, according to a report in Israeli newspaper Haaretz published on Tuesday. In 2014, Israel welcomed 26,700 tourists from Indonesia, an almost threefold increase from the 9,800 who visited in 2000. Tens of thousands of tourists also arrived from Turkey and Jordan which, unlike Indonesia, recognize Israel diplomatically. Several thousand more came from states that do not have diplomatic relations with Israel like Malaysia and Morocco.
This increase comes as Israeli tourism suffers, even during its typically busy spring season during which Christian and Jewish pilgrims throng to Holy Land for the Passover and Christian Holy Week festivities. The director of the Jerusalem Hotels Association told Haaretz that hotel reservations in the ancient city were down 20 percent from the same time last year.
Travel agents organizing trips to Jerusalem for Muslim tour groups report the opposite, however. Bookings by Muslim tourists, particularly those from Indonesia and Malaysia, have ramped up over the last two months, said Murad Najib, an employee at the Amman to Jerusalem Tour agency in the Jordanian capital. Traveling to Jerusalem is seen by many of these tourists as a pilgrimage and part of the religious obligation to visit Islam’s three holy cities, Najib said.
The Al Aqsa Mosque, located in the compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount, is revered by Muslims, who believe that the site is where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven. The mosque is considered the third-holiest place in Islam after the cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. Islam requires Muslims with the financial means to do so to make a pilgrimage to Mecca once in their lifetime.
Seeing all three holy cities in one trip is highly appealing for Muslim tourists traveling from countries in the Far East in particular, Najib said. The most common itinerary for these travelers is flying into Jordan and proceeding to Israel from the Allenby Bridge crossing between the two countries. From there, many will continue on to Saudi Arabia via Jordan after ensuring that border inspectors do not mark their passports with an Israeli stamp in order to avoid problems entering Arab countries.
Traveling to Jerusalem, which has been under Israeli control since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, has long been frowned upon by religious and political authorities in the Arab world. Prominent clerics like Yusuf al-Qaradawi have discouraged the practice, arguing that it would amount to recognizing Israel’s occupation of the city. This view has been challenged by the Palestinian Authority amid its push to encourage greater Muslim tourism to Jerusalem, which it says would help Arab-operated businesses in the city and serve as a symbol of solidarity with Palestinians.
That argument has recently been taken up by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the world’s largest bloc of Islamic countries, which declared Jerusalem the capital of Islamic tourism for 2016. The move was hailed by the PA as a step toward breaking Israel’s “siege of Islamic holy sites.”
Iyad Madani, the secretary-general of the 57-nation organization, also paid a notable visit to the Al Aqsa mosque in January and urged Muslims to follow suit in order to strengthen Palestinian claims to the holy site. "Coming to the mosque is a right for me as well as every Muslim," Madani said, in comments reported by the Associated Press. "It is our right to come here and to pray here. No occupation authority should take this right from us."
But for many of the tourists traveling from Muslim countries, the opportunity to see the important religious site is far more significant of a motivator than any political agenda, Najib said. “We don’t really get questions about the Israeli occupation,” he said. “In general, people want to hear about the history… and religious stories more than anything.”
http://www.ibtimes.com/jerusalem-mus...ourism-1873012
Jerusalem has hosted more than 3,000 Moroccans in 2014
07.04.2015
Jerusalem welcomed more 3000 Moroccan tourists in 2014, according to figures published by the Israeli daily Haaretz. Last year, Israel welcomed 26,700 tourists from Indonesia, 23,000 from Turkey, 17,700 from Jordan, 9000 from Malaysia and 3300 from Morocco, the daily said.
According to the newspaper,
the Muslim tourism in the city is experiencing a growth in the past three years. Religious Gulf countries have even issued a fatwa encouraging visits to Jerusalem.
The visits usually last four days and includes a full day dedicated to the visit and prayers at the Al Aqsa Mosque. The trip also includes the Old City, Bethlehem, Hebron and Jericho and the site Nabi Musa. Many Muslims come to Jerusalem as part of a pilgrimage in the three holy cities of Islam after their visit to the city, they go to Makkah and Madinah via Jordan.
http://www.yabiladi.com/articles/det...ains-2014.html
@Ahmed Jo
Kaaba doors cost SR13.4m to renovate and install
Monday, 06 April 2015
JEDDAH — The cost of renovating and installing
the door of the Kaaba and the Tobah door inside the Kaaba is estimated at SR13.4 million as stated by a General Presidency of the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques’ report, Makkah daily reported.
According to the report, the Kaaba door was first renovated during the reign of King Abdulaziz in 1944. Its second renovation was during the reign of King Khalid and King Fahd.
In 1977, King Khalid noticed scratches at the bottom of the door while he was praying inside the Holy Mosque. He immediately ordered for the door to be remade and for Tobah door to be installed inside the Kaaba and coated with a golden layer. King Fahd supervised the project and completed it during his reign.
The report stated the Kaaba door was redesigned after King Abdulaziz’ reign. The door was made out of 2.5cm-thick aluminum and measured 3.10 meters in height. The door was coated with silver plates dipped in gold. King Fahd ordered for the highest technology to be used in designing the skeleton of the door so it functions without needing a lot of maintenance.
What stands out about the design is its Arabic and Islamic embroideries. The door has 15 of the 99 names of Allah embroidered in Thuluth (an Arabic calligraphy style). The embroidery was done in gold and silver and it starts from the edges of the door and continues to its center. In the middle, there are circles containing Qur’anic verses, Islamic phrases and historical annotations. Even the door’s lock is embroidered.
The best and most prestigious designers and calligraphers worked together to exhaust the aesthetic potential of the Kaaba’s door.
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index...20150406239390
On the plan of the Kaaba, the 2 doors of the Kaaba are indicated
There is the main door and the inside door (Babut Tawbah)
The main Door of the Kaaba
The door of the Kaaba saw two changes in the Saudi Arabian era
