# Non-Muslims are not allowed into Mecca: How do they check? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 24, 2012, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-muslims-are-not-allowed-into-mecca-how-do-they-check/638721 "2012-10-24T12:53:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-muslims-are-not-allowed-into-mecca-how-do-they-check/638721/1 "2012-10-24T12:53:19Z")
The Saudi authorities do not allow non-Muslims to visit Mecca, Islam’s holiest site. Is there a way to prove you’re a Muslim? Is a formal check done of everyone who enters Mecca? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-muslims-are-not-allowed-into-mecca-how-do-they-check/638721/2 "2012-10-24T12:57:38Z")
They ask you to say “shibbolech”. ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-muslims-are-not-allowed-into-mecca-how-do-they-check/638721/3 "2012-10-24T13:13:04Z")
Around 1850, Richard Burton did it. See here [cite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Francis_Burton) Quote “Although Burton was certainly not the first non-Muslim European to make the Hajj (Ludovico di Varthema did this in 1503),[12] his pilgrimage is the most famous and the best documented of the time.” ---
**Author:** ![KellyCriterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b3f665/32.png) [@KellyCriterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyCriterion)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-muslims-are-not-allowed-into-mecca-how-do-they-check/638721/4 "2012-10-24T13:17:01Z")
Mother-effing ninja’d! ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-muslims-are-not-allowed-into-mecca-how-do-they-check/638721/5 "2012-10-24T13:34:01Z")
Are there any Muslim ninjas? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Coustralee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Coustralee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coustralee)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-muslims-are-not-allowed-into-mecca-how-do-they-check/638721/6 "2012-10-24T13:48:06Z")
from what i’ve read, for hajj everything “underneath” is shaved… that would be one way to tell ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-muslims-are-not-allowed-into-mecca-how-do-they-check/638721/7 "2012-10-24T13:54:51Z")
They check everyone’s genitals before letting them pass? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-muslims-are-not-allowed-into-mecca-how-do-they-check/638721/8 "2012-10-24T13:56:25Z")
> [@am77494](#): > > Around 1850, Richard Burton did it. See here [cite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Francis_Burton) > > Quote “Although Burton was certainly not the first non-Muslim European to make the Hajj (Ludovico di Varthema did this in 1503),[12] his pilgrimage is the most famous and the best documented of the time.” I’ve no doubt people have done it, I’m more interested in what SOP is with regard to weeding out the infidel tourists. ---
**Author:** ![CatherineZeta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@CatherineZeta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CatherineZeta)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-muslims-are-not-allowed-into-mecca-how-do-they-check/638721/9 "2012-10-24T14:05:54Z")
In college one of my professors was Turkish and she told us that her dad who looks very European was asked some question in Arabic about the Qur’an to prove that he was Muslim. She said he didn’t speak any Arabic conversationally, but was able to quote a passage to whoever was questioning him, so that was enough. ---
**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:** [October 24, 2012, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-muslims-are-not-allowed-into-mecca-how-do-they-check/638721/10 "2012-10-24T15:13:08Z")
Okay, a serious answer. You can travel through most of Saudi Arabia with a normal visa. But you need a special visa to travel in Mecca or Medina. You have to carry it on your person and the police will check. And in order to get this special visa you have to submit written proof from your local Mosque stating that you are a Muslim. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-muslims-are-not-allowed-into-mecca-how-do-they-check/638721/11 "2012-10-24T15:17:46Z")
Does it have to be written in Arabic? ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-muslims-are-not-allowed-into-mecca-how-do-they-check/638721/12 "2012-10-24T16:01:43Z")
My Grandpa went- he worked in Saudi for years, spoke some classical Arabic, kept Ramadan but was not Muslim. I believe he went with some Saudi Muslim friends, who were fine with him visiting- though they did ask him not to sneak into the Grand Mosque, which he complied with. He was English and looked it, and his accent was pretty obvious- this would have been about 30 years ago, but it seems they didn’t really check then, at least to enter Makkah- from what he said, I think the Grand Mosque was a bit stricter on who got in. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-muslims-are-not-allowed-into-mecca-how-do-they-check/638721/13 "2012-10-24T16:02:17Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > Are there any Muslim ninjas? 😉 We already know that Jews can’t be ninjas (Cartman 2004). ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-muslims-are-not-allowed-into-mecca-how-do-they-check/638721/14 "2012-10-24T16:20:04Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > Are there any Muslim ninjas? 😉 Tons of them. > **[muslim women - Google Search](https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&q=muslim%2Bwomen&gbv=2&oq=muslim&gs_l=img.1.4.0l10.1469.3188.0.6766.6.5.0.1.1.0.531.672.0j1j5-1.2.0...0.0...1ac.1.oBh3NWH31kA)** ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-muslims-are-not-allowed-into-mecca-how-do-they-check/638721/15 "2012-10-24T19:28:38Z")
There’s always Google Earth. You can practically read the inscriptions on the Ka’aba. Search Mecca. The Ka’aba is the bright white area just northeast of the map marker. ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-muslims-are-not-allowed-into-mecca-how-do-they-check/638721/16 "2012-10-24T19:35:31Z")
Wikipedia mentions that Malcolm X was detained when he tried to go on _hadj_, at the time they may not have required a special visa, or maybe he couldn’t get one from a Nation of Islam mosque. At any rate, he didn’t speak or understand Arabic, nor could he quote the Koran. He did get in eventually, a member of the royal family had met him in the US, spoken with him, and was impressed by what Malcolm X had to say, and went to vouch for him. So at any given time, the rules can be a little more lax. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-muslims-are-not-allowed-into-mecca-how-do-they-check/638721/17 "2012-10-24T20:06:02Z")
> [@Arkcon](#): > > Wikipedia mentions that Malcolm X was detained when he tried to go on _hadj_, at the time they may not have required a special visa, or maybe he couldn’t get one from a Nation of Islam mosque. At any rate, he didn’t speak or understand Arabic, nor could he quote the Koran. He did get in eventually, a member of the royal family had met him in the US, spoken with him, and was impressed by what Malcolm X had to say, and went to vouch for him. So at any given time, the rules can be a little more lax. Well, it’s kind of the dirty little secret of the black Muslims that none of the founders or early members knew much more about Islam than Hassan from the Bugs Bunny cartoon. Malcolm was among the first to study Islam seriously and bring its precepts into the American version. What went before is, uh, pretty embarrassing. So the reluctance of the Saudis to accept him as an authentic Muslim is understandable. ---
**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:** [October 24, 2012, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-muslims-are-not-allowed-into-mecca-how-do-they-check/638721/18 "2012-10-24T20:16:02Z")
> [@Arkcon](#): > > or maybe he couldn’t get one from a Nation of Islam mosque. I don’t know if the Saudis had set up the special visa system in the sixties. But I do know that they do not recognize the authority of NOI mosques. The official view of the Wahhabis is that the Nation of Islam is a heresy. This wouldn’t have effected Malcolm X though. He had withdrawn from the Nation of Islam a month before his trip to Mecca and had announced his conversion to Sunni Islam. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-muslims-are-not-allowed-into-mecca-how-do-they-check/638721/19 "2012-10-24T20:18:10Z")
They could just check your junk to see if it’s been skinned. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-muslims-are-not-allowed-into-mecca-how-do-they-check/638721/20 "2012-10-25T07:10:27Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > There’s always Google Earth. You can practically read the inscriptions on the Ka’aba. > > Search Mecca. The Ka’aba is the bright white area just northeast of the map marker. Does it have a teleportation function yet? 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-muslims-are-not-allowed-into-mecca-how-do-they-check/638721.md?page=2)