August 24
Selfie fever has taken the world and it has taken a toll on the Hajj pilgrims and visitors to the Two Holy Mosques, much to the chagrin of scholars who condemn such ‘touristy behavior’.
“I saw pilgrims at Kaa’ba taking selfies with it in the background and this selfie is then posted on Facebook, Instagram, making the Hajj a social media event and ruining their act of ibadah by ‘bragging’,” a pilgrim, Mohammed Shafi who visited the Hajj last year told The Kashmiriyat.
The trend of documenting every move at the holy mosques of Mecca and Medina by the pilgrims, and later share these precious moments with friends and families on social media has only resulted in more pilgrims using their phones inside the holy mosques.
Many people including some prominent Islamic Scholars believe that such behavior can be a deterrent to achieving tranquility and peace while performing divine acts of worship, especially during Hajj, performed once in a lifetime.
A Jeddah-based scholar Sheikh Assim Al-Hakeem last year had argued that, “Photography without a legitimate reason is an issue of dispute among scholars. However, despite this difference of opinion, there shouldn’t be any dispute when it comes to the real meaning of Hajj.”