Americana Group: KFC in Mecca (or Makkah)
RIS ID
81766
Link to publisher version (URL)
Abstract
Once in a lifetime of every able-bodied Muslim, if it was within his means do do so, he must make a pilgrimage to the Holy City of Mecca in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) - called the Hajj. There are about 1 billion Muslims in the world. The period of Hajj would change each year as it followed the lunar calendar and it lasted just 5 days. Pilgrims arrived from all over the world and generally the government provided tents in the twin city of Mina. In 2011, it was estimated that 2.5 million Muslims performed the Hajj out of which 7.2 percent were from outside KSA. The pilgrimage was an annual occurrence, happening for the last 14 centuries. Besides the number of pilgrims, the city of Mecca had additional 63,000 security forces, 22,000 civil defense forces, 20,000 health workers and over 12,000 male and female guides known as 'mutawif' who helped organise the pilgrims' stay.
Publication Details
Balakrishnan, M. Stephens. 2013, 'Americana Group: KFC in Mecca (Or Makkah)', in M. Stephens. Balakrishnan, I. Michael & I. Moonesar (eds), Actions and insights - Middle East North Africa : East meets West, Emerald Group Pub, Bingley. pp. 125-137.