Over 25,000 pilgrims leaving from France obtained visas from the Saudi authorities in 2006. Like every year, several hundred were victims of unscrupulous travel agencies. The French march towards the hajj continues to suffer from a lack of regulation.
A month after the removal of six imams from a U.S. Airways flight spurred accusations of harassment, the federal government has given airport security trainers cultural awareness training about the Islamic pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. This year, an estimated 16,000 American Muslims are making the annual pilgrimage, called the hajj – including several hundred from…
