A French Consulate in Mecca

Four French ministries have joined forces to issue a two-page document, Pèlerinage à la Mecque, décembre 2005 à janvier 2006: Conseils pratiques ("Pilgrimage to Mecca, December 2005-January 2006: Practical Advice") that offers advice for pilgrims on how to organize their hajj, dealing for example with contracts, tickets, and potential problems with both. Though the very existence of this advisory is surprising, and all the more its pious tone ("The pilgrimage to Mecca is a voyage every Muslim hopes for"), what really shocks it to learn the existence of a satellite French diplomatic office in Mecca. The document includes this information:

Vous pouvez contacter, à tout moment pendant votre séjour, l'antenne consulaire à La Mecque aux coordonnées suivantes :
• Adresse :
Hôtel MERCURE – 12e étage
Avenue Ibrahim Al Khalil
Mizfalah – La Mecque
Boîte postale 51 177
• Téléphone de l'hôtel :
En Arabie Saoudite, composez le 02 539 70 05 extensions 12.10 /12.11/12.12
À partir de la France ou d'un portable français, composez le 00 966 2 539 70 05

The first line, translated: "You can contact, at any time during your stay, the satellite consulate in Mecca at the following coordinates."

The British government also has a presence in Mecca, but at least it is unofficial, as explained on the "Hajj Pilgrimage 2006: Advice to British Hajjis" page at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office:

We hope that you have a trouble-free Hajj. If something does go wrong British pilgrims will be able to get assistance from either the Consular General in Jeddah or the British Hajj Delegation in Mecca. The 2006 Delegation headed by Lord Patel of Blackburn, is a team of volunteers from the British Muslim Community. They will be in Saudi Arabia throughout the Hajj to provide help and assistance to British Hajjs. The Delegation comprises a team of doctors and counsellors, who will offer initial support and advice. Muslim staff from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office will accompany them, and working with the British Consulate General in Jeddah, the Delegation can provide you with a range of Consular services.

The Delegation will be located in the Al Hateem Tower Hotel, Al Misfala, Ibrahim Al Khalil Street, Makkah (Mecca).

Working with the British Consulate-General in Jeddah, the delegation will provide you with a full range of consular services.

The Delegation can

• Advise you on how to transfer money
• Provide contact details for local lawyers and hospitals
• Arrange for a next of kin to be told of an accident or a death and advise on procedures
• Offer initial medical advice and assistance

The Delegation cannot

• Rearrange travel bookings
• Get involved in lost baggage disputes
• Pay your hotel, legal, medical or travel bills
• Get you out of prison
• Give legal advice
• Intervene in court cases
• Investigate a crime

Comment: The Saudis permit only Muslims into Mecca, which implies that the French foreign ministry imposes a religious litmus test on employees who staff its Mecca office. So much for laïcité. The privileging of Islam proceeds apace. (December 15, 2005)

Sep. 14, 2009 update: The Globe and Mail reports that the Defense Ministry of France is providing its Muslim soldiers and sailors a plane to fly them to Saudi Arabia and then is organizing their pilgrimage to Mecca.

For any western government to arrange a hajj trip would be unusual. It is especially so here, in a country so protective of its secularism that it regulates what Muslim girls can wear in school and is considering a blanket ban on the face-covering Islamic niqab. But for Mohamed-Ali Bouharb, a spit-and-polish gendarmerie captain who put together the final pieces for the pilgrimage last week, it is one step toward making Islam as "banal" in France as any other religion. "The army is always in advance of society," said Capt. Bouharb, one of the 30 Muslim chaplains recently recruited by the armed forces. "And it is anaesthetized from all the social questions and debate outside."

Related Topics:  Mecca and Medina, Muslims in Europe, Saudi Arabia receive the latest by email: subscribe to daniel pipes' free mailing list This text may be reposted or forwarded so long as it is presented as an integral whole with complete information provided about its author, date, place of publication, and original URL.