# Is Modern Mecca Good at Handling the Hajj? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 8, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-modern-mecca-good-at-handling-the-hajj/643414 "2012-12-08T15:22:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wheresmymind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@wheresmymind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wheresmymind)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-modern-mecca-good-at-handling-the-hajj/643414/21 "2012-12-10T17:19:00Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The Hajj occurs on the same four days every year. It’s no different than Christmas which always falls on December 25. > > The reason the Hajj appears to occur on different days is because the traditional Islamic calendar does not match up to the Christian calendar. The Islamic calendar is based on the lunar year, which lasts for 354 days while the Christian calendar is based on the solar year, which lasts for 365 days. Yeah I know. **Baker** originally wondered why the Hajj was always at a particular time (instead of spread throughout the year, which would make the logistics much easier), but said said that (s)he understood why, because all of the Christian holidays (s)he celebrates fall on specific days too. **Monty** pointed out that plenty of Christian holidays fall on different dates every year depending when Easter falls. I was trying to say that the moveable feasts in Christianity are no different from the Hajj; everyone celebrates them at the same time, even if they fall on different dates every year. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-modern-mecca-good-at-handling-the-hajj/643414/22 "2012-12-10T17:59:30Z")
Okay, my mistake. I thought you were suggesting that the Hajj was a movable event like Easter or Thanksgiving rather than a fixed event like Christmas or Halloween. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-modern-mecca-good-at-handling-the-hajj/643414/23 "2012-12-10T18:33:34Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Also, does the Hajj happen at specific times (as in, the next Hajj will be March 17th, or whatever)? Or can any Muslim just decide to Hajj today or next week or whenever he can get the time off work? As several posters have already mentioned, the date of the Hajj is fixed. However, Muslims can and do visit Mecca and the holy sites there at other times of the year. It doesn’t count as doing the Hajj, of course. More like a Christian church group on a bus tour of Jerusalem and the Holy Land in the off-season. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-modern-mecca-good-at-handling-the-hajj/643414/24 "2012-12-10T22:01:23Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > There’s a religious issue involved also. The Wahhabi religious movement, which is the branch of Sunni that is the official religion in Saudi Arabia, has a controversial policy on historical sites. They feel that only God and the Kaaba are to be venerated and shrines and other historical sites are blasphemous because they draw pilgrims and worshipers away. So the Wahhabis often target historical sites for demolition. > > Keep in mind, these aren’t rival religions. The Wahhabis are demolishing Islamic religious sites like mosques. As I understand it, they are the more extreme version of the standard muslim view that any depiction - of man, animals, especially religious figures - runs the risk of being converted in the minds of the misguided into a idol, an object of worship rather than a depiction. As a result some of the most historical sites of Mecca are being torn up and replaced by hideous modernist architecture. > **[Destruction of early Islamic heritage sites in Saudi Arabia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_of_early_Islamic_heritage_sites)** > > The destruction of heritage sites associated with early Islam is an ongoing phenomenon that has occurred mainly in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, particularly around the two holiest cities of Islam, Mecca and Medina. The demolition has focused on mosques, burial sites, homes and historical locations associated with the Islamic prophet Muhammad, his companions, and many of the founding personalities of early Islamic history by the Saudi government. In Saudi Arabia, many of the Much o... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-modern-mecca-good-at-handling-the-hajj/643414.md?page=1)