Lauren Booth – Big Brother Hajj Coming Soon

			Salam brothers and sisters and friends. I hope this finds you well and blessed. In today's video,
I'm going to be reflecting on the Hajj pilgrimage, not from a religious point of view, not from a
traditional point of view. But from the idea of what is it going to look, as we progress through the
century? How are the forces that Ron had? How are they looking to update and upgrade it? You know,
because Hajj is a messy, tumultuous mass of humanity. And it can be really, really tricky to
navigate and find ourselves in the right place. In the past, it was a dangerous experience. So let's
take a look at some of the amazing new ideas that Saudi is coming up with and break them down one by
		

			one. If you have gotten ahead, this
		

			will look
		

			sad actually, I myself
		

			had bad my significant pick.
		

			was suddenly I was on target. It was what it had. It'll be closer to reality now, but she'll add
some margin talk to them. I don't want to let Agia where am I going?
		

			So that looks amazing. When you arrive on the Hajj, the first upgrade that they're looking to do by
2029 Is everybody gets a badge and an earpiece. And something a bit like a Fitbit tells you what to
do, where to go, and can even translate into different languages. So the question I'm asking myself
is why when I watched that video, did it make me think of some dystopian weird matrix future that
had nothing to do with spirituality? I feel like saying is it just me but because what I saw is a
tracking device, telling us where to go, or where we should be at what time and how to do
everything. And that has some good aspects, I suppose, you know, if you're a non Arab speaker, you
		

			know, like me, it's not my first language, then what should you be saying at the right time during
this very, very long ritual. But at the same time, you know, what, the months taken learning how to
do Hajj, these have been for 1400 years, right? Part of the build up to going on the major
pilgrimage for Muslims. You have to take a course you have to meet a Shia hor. or speak to someone
in your family who's gone on Hajj before and say, What do I say how maybe you'd have gone back to
Scripture and look at some some some ancient manuscripts how would you find out about Hajj now we
press a button and we'd watch videos or join classes? No need to do that anymore. Just arrive, click
		

			your Fitbit Tadge. and off you go.
		

			So no preparation, no learning, no deep dive into the house and the y's that you do things. No
looking at the life of Ibrahim alayhi salam and hedger, his wife, a sacrifice she made and belief in
Allah to Allah, forget that. Let's press a button and say La ilaha illallah for two and a half
minutes. But there is another darker, perplexing side to this big reset of hedge. And it's to do
with the fact that millions of Muslims go to Mecca every single year, trusting innocently that we
can go and be invisible to the world and just, you know, lose ourselves before Allah and be looked
after. And traditionally mashallah Tabata color. The Saudi tribes and then the Saudi government have
		

			been there to take care of pilgrims feeding the poor, helping people find their way making sure that
the water sources are ongoing and you know, you know where to find them. Subhanallah
		

			but outsourcing the help for pilgrims to invisible data collecting services. Hmm. Why on earth would
I be uncomfortable about that? Maybe because this day and age entire elections have been swung
provably by data collection from Facebook, invisible data collectors, have managed to contact voters
through the electronic media and change their minds in a certain way. This wonderful Fitbit is going
to have a tracking device. Yes, because
		

			Who wouldn't want to be tracked every minute of hedge? I mean, the adverts say that you might get
lost, in which case or you lose somebody in your party. You know, Mom, where are you? We don't seem
to have mobile phones on Hajj, although I'd seem to see a lot of people sending photos from there.
So what's wrong with the phone? But no, you can be tracked every second of your hedge and, of course
that will help you track somebody else and find them. This year's hedge in 2022 was the first
attempt to make it a techno hedge is the first time that Western Muslims like other nations had to
go into what they call a lottery dread name. Whereas gambling in the Haram Hillel spectrum, it's a
		

			lottery according to what they have written on the Saudi website. So your name gets plucked out.
Maybe with your mom, maybe not maybe with your group of neighbors and family have been planning it
for 10 years, maybe just on your own. Meaning that actually you definitely would need a Fitbit hadj
thing to track you. Because you're going to be all on your own anyway, aren't you? So not like
you're going to be speaking to anybody, and why you're going to be looking for anybody because you
can't guarantee they're going to be going with you. So you go on your own because you're, you're
chosen through a lottery. And then you're tracked in case you get lost from your group, which you
		

			probably won't be going with anyway. And then your data and all of your privacy. All of your private
details are passed on to invisible third party, big data companies. The minute that you register and
login, and 2022 This year's Hajj was an unrelenting mess, according to pilgrims' have a look at this
tweet here and this year 2022. Part of that hedge data service for God only knows what reason you
can only go through the governing body of hedge. All of the regional companies have now been taken
out of that loop. So there's only one way to go on hedge now. And the company tasked with collecting
and facilitating applications from prospective Hajj victims is Indian Dubai based company travel
		

			easy, which has ties to Indian Prime Minister Modi and the Muslim oppressing BJP party. Why? Of all
of the companies in the world to do this? Why on earth would you give the privilege of handling Hajj
pilgrims who are going to visit Allah's house to an agency to agency linked to a government
torturing tormenting Muslims in their country spiritually going on Hajj means bumping into the
people Allah to Allah has written for us to meet. If you've been on Hajj or indeed on camera, you
know that a good percentage of what happens is not the planned, you know, pilgrimage moments when
you're focused when you're concentrated, but they happen when you just have a spiritual moment
		

			between you and Allah to Allah looking at the Kaaba on my Hajj in 2011 Subhanallah I remember one of
the moments that will stay with me forever was I just paused to take a breath while making Tawaf
while going around the Kaaba. And there was an elderly lady and she was in a wheelchair and I went
and got some water for her and gave us some dates. She didn't speak any English and I said, Where
are you from? And she said Afghanistan and we both started to cry our hearts just ya Robbie
Afghanistan yeah Allah Ya Allah and then we went on ya allah Iraq ya allah Philistine
		

			these moments, having technology at those moments can only take us away from that.
		

			Is that the intention?
		

			It kind of have to wonder
		

			when does having technology on our wrists actually promote spirituality or connectedness to the
faith of Islam? Isn't it what we tried to get away from on holiday to get away from when we're going
on a pilgrimage let me have some time away from technology I don't want the pins at the moment I
don't want the things and I don't want the alerts. But this Fitbit hadj thing is all thing. Do this
now thing. Have you done that thing? Don't forget to this thing. I'd hate it. So what do you think
about these new efforts to digitize Hajj and make it into a technological zone and farming out our
privacy to other companies? Or am I missing out on all of the wonders that could make it a better,
		

			safer hedge? I look forward to the conversation below. And for all of us, may we again get to see
the Kaaba. May we again empty our hearts before Allah and maybe grant us forgiveness. So I'm Monica
Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh