Guardian free Hajj - Trendinginsocial

With her husband back at home in Tunisia and draped in a national flag, Laila al-Qarni urges all Muslim women to attend Saudi Arabia’s Hajj without a male guardian, after the requirement was shelved last year.

The Saudi authorities’ move has brought a whole new dimension to the annual pilgrimage.

Speaking near the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Laila al-Qarni said: “Women are capable of handling themselves. I encourage every woman to come here without a male guardian,” the 60-year-old added.

This year’s Hajj, the first large-scale edition since the guardian requirement was dropped in 2021 amid Covid, has taken on a different hue with thousands of unaccompanied women joining the rituals.

Many of them have abandoned the black robes traditionally preferred by Hajj organisers, adding a dash of colour with reds, greens, oranges and blues dotted around the crowds.

Arab women should be “courageous and able to adapt” to different circumstances, said Al-Qarni’s sister, Hayat Abdul Malek.

“A woman is worth 100 men,” said the mother of three, who managed 1,400 employees at the company where she worked before retiring.

Last year, the Saudi Hajj ministry allowed women of all ages to make the pilgrimage without a male relative, known as a “mehrem”, on the condition that they go in a group.

Authorities previously stipulated a male guardian for any female pilgrim under the age of 45, preventing many women around the world from performing one of the five pillars of Islam.

Al-Qarni’s husband could not attend because he is over the maximum age of 65.

The new ruling has also encouraged women over 45 who had been hesitant to attend without their brothers, sons, fathers or husbands.