In the best of times, it’s hard to land one of the slots Saudi Arabia parcels out for the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca that all Muslims are duty-bound to make at least once in their lives. In the worst of times — cue the coronavirus — it’s well-nigh impossible, with the numbers for this year’s event, now underway, capped at just 1,000.
But in these most technologically advanced of times, what if Mecca could be brought to you? That’s what some app developers are trying to achieve, in hopes of giving worshipers a virtual way to experience the holy rites of Islam that the COVID-19 pandemic, or more common impediments such as age and poverty, has denied them this summer.
“People save money their whole lives to do this pilgrimage, and we don’t want to be considered as a substitute,” says Adnan Maqbool, project director for the British-based company Labbaik VR, which has created a virtual-reality simulation of the hajj and the umrah, a shorter, optional version of the hajj.
“But what we do want is for people to at least feel what they’re missing out on — and during these times it’s the most important thing to have.”
To achieve this, Labbaik VR technology, which took 8 years to complete, uses tens of thousands of high-resolution photographs that are then painstakingly placed in a detailed three-dimensional style of Mecca. People notice the site’s real virtual headset, like Oculus Rift. They can walk around the Kaaba, the black stone design that is Islam’s holiest shrine, among pilgrims dressed in undeniable sponge cloth, a fabric historically used for the pilgrimage.
“We are very distracted, it is only a component of life in those days with smartphones. But once you put on your helmet, you get rid of everything else. It is imperative to feel something spiritual,” shehriar Ashraf says. , CEO of Labbaik VR.
“We’ve also re-created Mecca in the time of Abraham. It’s fascinating, and we’ve done it exactly to scale from historical records,” Ashraf adds.
The company proposed its product as a tool for long-term pilgrims to exercise in the stages of hajj, a type of dry running before experiencing the genuine experience.
But due to this year’s blockades, not to mention the chains of hull fountains interrupted through COVID-19, the pilgrims in education were lucky enough to arrive in Mecca with less priority, Ashraf said. Instead, the company turned to Wuzu, a cell phone app that also recreates the hajj and umrah experience.
“Our goal is to mix it with duaa [prayers], dhikr [repeated statements of Allaah] and a virtual visit,” he says.
Another hajj practice session tool that discovers a new relevance is Muslim 3D, a ludo-educational video game developed through the German corporate bigitec. The demo edition of the app, according to Bigitec CEO Bilal Chbib, has been downloaded a million times, 60% of which in the last 3 or 4 months.
In the app, users control an avatar in 3-D, exploring the tale of vital Islamic figures. They can also interact with characters in a play environment and be informed of how the various Islamic rites were born.
“Using this generation is a great opportunity to make it very immersive,” says Chbib. “You can witness those events.”
The genesis of Chbib’s assignment goes back ten years, when he saw that the top video games featured Muslim characters such as cannon fodder or, at best, villains. Professional game developer, he sought to create anything that would mix his love in the middle with his own career.
“Corona has accelerated things, but we are exploring how we can offer a solution, how to play a role,” he says. “It’s creating something like this Array … I don’t think this virus will leave us so easily.”
The effects of coronavirus have been felt profoundly on Muslims around the world this week, either in hajj, which began on Wednesday and ends on Sunday, and in Eid al-Adha, the “feast of sacrifice”, which accompanies the last days of the pilgrimage. And that on Friday.
In pre-coronavirus times, the festival would be a satisfying occasion, with families dedicated to day visits, sacrificing sheep and handing out gifts before receiving pilgrims returning from the hajj.
Instead, it was a dark moment in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, where a new lockdown, not to mention an economic crisis only annoyed by contagion, kept communication channels empty and celebrations under control. The scene has been repeated in other Muslim countries, such as Iraq.
But the effect on hajj has been even more drastic, with the Saudi government implementing ordinary measures to prevent any threat of infection. Collectively, they made a surreal iteration of one of the highest vital occasions in the Muslim calendar.
Although the 1,000 legal participants this year are permanent or transient citizens of Saudi Arabia, they had to be quarantined at home for a week before arriving in Mecca, where they underwent another 4 days of isolation.
At the pilgrimage site, the same weight as other people traveling replaced by buses that make staggered departures to reduce overcrowding. Medical staff carried out normal one-off checks, and pilgrims received care packages with masks, antibacterial wipes and disinfectants. The tawaaf, or ring road, of the Kaaba saw the faithful march solemnly along colored-coded lines, wielding matching umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun.
Technology has also played a role in security, foreshadowing what could soon become permanent features of Hajj. The government used tracking wristbands connected to a smartphone app, while giving pilgrims a “smart card” loaded with their non-public data and a barcode for travel. Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs said it had introduced a robot that connected pilgrims to academics via videoconferences for devoted advice.
A similar preference for incorporating generation into the ritual led Kenyan businessman Ahmed Haddad to create iUmrah.World, a platform that connects the faithful with others in Saudi Arabia who need to make the “little pilgrimage” on their behalf. Umrah cancelled through Saudi Arabia in February due to coronavirus.
Even without the restrictions of COVID-19, Haddad says, many Muslims will not have the chance to make a stop in Mecca, either for age, expenses (they can charge more than $3,000) or how long it takes them. Although the Saudi government has a greater capacity of sanctuaries to accommodate an increasing number of pilgrims (12.5 million people celebrated hajj or umrah last year), it still imposes quotas on the number of pilgrims a country can send. In Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, the wait can take 20 years or more.
“Before the crown era, other people paid little attention to it. Now they are much more willing to settle for hajj and omra through power,” Haddad said of his inception, which he founded in 2015. He added that the Corporate was now waiting for the deployment of the 5G generation to launch iHajj, which follows a style similar to that of iUmrah.World, however, allows to transmit without solving the five days of rituals.
Ashraf, the head of Labbaik VR, hopes that his product can lead to greater understanding among other religions through virtual delivery to non-Muslims, who are not allowed to make a stopover in Mecca.
“When we exhibited in Dubai last year, we had a lot of interest from non-Muslims, who seemed excited,” he said. “We had a phenomenal response. Honestly, we didn’t expect it.”