As the child of a conservative Muslim family, I grew up with deep faith in and respect for religious discipline. My father was a government employee. When I was seventeen or eighteen, he went on Hajj. That a Muslim would perform Hajj late in life if he could afford it was the custom of middle-class Bengali Muslim families. Whether a village farmer or a town trader, anyone who could afford it went on Hajj in mature age. In those days most people from this country travelled to Hajj by sea, on ships.

The ships left from Chattogram, and I went with my father as far as Chattogram. He was going to perform Hajj; I was not, yet I sensed its sanctity from watching him prepare. It was then that I took to heart how important Hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, truly is. In those days, when someone left for Hajj, neighbours and relatives came to see them and everyone asked for their prayers. The pilgrim, too, sought everyone's prayers and settled all worldly dealings before leaving.

Preparing for Hajj was like preparing to return to the Great Creator. Wearing two unstitched pieces of white cloth, devout Muslims from every corner of the world gather at the House of Allah, calling out "Labbaik Allahumma labbaik…"

In today's age of satellites and information technology, people can watch Hajj live from home. Saudi television broadcasts Hajj and Umrah live from the holy city of Makkah all year round, so people can see Makkah at every hour of the day, including the call to prayer and the prayers of each time. My first chance to perform Umrah came in 2004, with my wife and our two children, Ayon and Bijoy, who were very small then.

The programme Kafela began on Channel i that same year. Along with Umrah, I had the chance to see many famous places in holy Makkah and Saudi Arabia. The next year the whole family went to perform the full Hajj. Since then I have been able to perform Hajj and Umrah every year or two, and this year I had the chance to go again. Over these years I have noticed many changes in the surroundings of the Haram Sharif, Baitullah, the Kaaba, and Madinah Munawwarah and the Prophet's Mosque (Masjid an-Nabawi). There have been changes in infrastructure, and the area has been enlarged to make room. As the world's population grows, so does the number of pilgrims.

When I first went, I saw people of different countries and colours showing the utmost devotion and respect while circling the Kaaba in tawaf. The setting itself made people deeply attentive. Truly, everyone gave themselves wholly for the sake of Allah. Forgetting all distinctions of rich and poor, high and low, they showed each other the greatest goodwill and respect and prayed with the fullest concentration. People paid no attention to anything worldly then. Seeing the devotion and self-surrender of people from different countries, others learned how to become absorbed in the path of faith.

The world is moving forward and technology is keeping pace. There is no doubt technology has taken people a long way, and it is used for good as well as harm. Even then, entering the Kaaba area with unnecessary items or cameras was prohibited, and those bans still exist. But the atmosphere is no longer the same. People's tolerance has declined, and so has their absorption in worship. Now, even at the Kaaba, the devotion of many worshippers is constantly broken by someone's unruly behaviour. This time I was hurt beyond measure, and that is why I am writing this.

Every Muslim knows that the most important act of Hajj is the tawaf of Baitullah. Tawaf begins by declaring aloud the message of presenting oneself before Almighty Allah, "Bismillahi Allahu Akbar wa lillahil hamd", and kissing the Black Stone (Hajr-e-Aswad). Each of the seven circuits of tawaf has its own supplications, which grow deeper and deeper in turn.

Every supplication is about surrendering oneself completely and seeking refuge with Allah, declaring His greatness again and again. There is no room for any lapse of attention; one must still the mind so that nothing enters it, even in imagination. A pilgrim finds fulfilment in worship through a constant effort to take the mind into the depths of faith. But I did not see that atmosphere this time. Even while performing Hajj, people had not given up worldly things; rather, they had brought the clutter of the outside world into the holy Kaaba.

Today everyone has a smartphone in hand, and with it a selfie stick. Even while circling the holy Baitullah, many are busy with selfie sticks and Facebook Live videos. Within a foot or a foot and a half around the holy House of Allah, people are completely out of control. An elderly mother posed as if kissing the Black Stone while her son took photos. The same tendency is seen among people of all countries and colours. I also noticed people forgetting the sanctity of the House of Allah, rushing to embrace an acquaintance they had not seen for a long time and taking photos on their mobiles.

As far as I know, there are restrictions in Saudi Arabia on the free use of mobile applications such as Facebook, Viber and WhatsApp. But people find alternative ways to use them as soon as they reach Saudi Arabia, and set up video links on social media between the Kaaba and their homes, their gatherings or anywhere else.

Islam neither accepts nor indulges this habit of destroying people's absorption in worship. I also saw many pilgrims praying while, right beside them, others talked loudly on the phone about everything from business to needless family matters. Once there was the chance to pray and worship in a very quiet and sacred atmosphere at every spot of the Kaaba; now that chance is shrinking. Mobile technology now plays the leading role in breaking everyone's concentration, and the sanctity of holy places is being damaged by mobiles at every step.

After five days in Makkah I went to Madinah, Madinah Munawwarah, cooler than Makkah, home to the blessed tomb of the Prophet (PBUH) and the Prophet's Mosque. There I had once seen examples of deep devotion and respect; this time I saw the same picture as in Makkah. Even while visiting the Prophet's (PBUH) tomb, unruly people were busy taking photos on their mobiles and talking freely on the phone. Far from respecting another person's prayer, what greater example of disregard for it could there be? At Jannatul Baqi, the graveyard of the Prophet's (PBUH) wives, his daughter and countless Companions, where the heart of a devout Muslim becomes most tender, I saw the same activity.

The mobile phone is no longer just a device for talking. It is a broadcasting medium and a means of many kinds of entertainment at once. Today's online world holds a store of useful things, but also plenty of unnecessary and harmful entertainment. It is this mobile that is destroying people's meditation and absorption at every step, and people are unknowingly becoming responsible for ruining the worship of others. I very much wish this article would reach the appropriate authorities in Saudi Arabia. My humble request to the Saudi government, and to the administration in charge of holy Makkah and Madinah, is that a ban be imposed on taking mobiles into the holy houses of Allah and His Messenger.

This is not only disturbing my worship; it is also compromising my personal safety. When we sit in a meeting, we usually switch off our mobiles out of respect for those present and to keep our attention whole. That is today's courtesy. Yet at the holiest place on earth, instead of showing that courtesy, we are displaying distorted taste and thinking. Out of respect for the worship of devout people, mobiles should be switched off in holy Makkah and Madinah.

Moreover, protecting the utmost sanctity of Makkah and Madinah, the holy places of the world's Muslim Ummah, deserves serious attention. If people going on Hajj remain free to behave so unruly, the atmosphere may grow worse day by day. Allah will surely protect His holy House in full sanctity. But no Muslim can walk away from his own responsibility in this.

Source: Shykh Seraj. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.