Haj selfie craze sparks debate among pilgrims

Thousands of Muslims posed in front of holy sites for a selfie during the Haj, angering some conservative clerics and sparking a debate over legitimacy of such actions during the annual pilgrimage.
After being named the word of the year, selfie craze made it to the Haj with pilgrims seen snapping photos of themselves with the Kaaba in background or other holy sites as mementos of their trip but the phenomenon has been criticised by some scholars while some others see nothing wrong in it.
Many of the pilgrims seen clicking selfies were from the sub-continent.
"A lot of pilgrims are using cell phones for selfies and sending it across to India by Whatsapp and Facebook," Indian Consul General B S Mubarak told PTI.

Asked whether it was a healthy trend, Mubarak said, "It is up to the pilgrims. Everyone likes to retain their memorable times in life."
A total of 136,020 Indians took part in this year's Haj, one of the five pillars of Islam that should be performed at least once in lifetime by every Muslim who is financially and physically capable.

The selfie craze this year has sparked heated debates on the issue of 'Haj selfies' among scholars and pilgrims.
Muhamed Mizic, a pilgrim from Bosnia said, termed it as "totally unacceptable", saying pilgrims should not indulge in such acts as it spoils the spiritual environment and causes hindrances for many others performing the rituals during Haj.

His thought is echoed by Indian pilgrim V M Ibraheem, who said, "There is a sanctity and decorum at such holy sites, such actions undermines the rituals and lead to the practice of show-off by putting it out on social networking websites which is against the spirit of the pilgrimage."
Some pilgrims have been so enraged by selfie craze at Haj that they demanded a ban on cameras and camera phones inside holy sites.
"Smart phones and cameras should be banned at the two Holy Mosques. This is absolutely unacceptable. People cause hindrance in prayers and turn such spiritual places into tourist sites," said Mansoor Jafar, a pilgrim from Pakistan.

But everybody is not against the trend with many pilgrims arguing that in this age of gadgets and gizmos there is no harm in recording some memorable moments of your life.