ISLAMABAD – Every year, thousands of Muslims men and women visit the holyland of Mecca – one of the most sacred pilgrimage centres of Islam situatedin western Saudi Arabia.
Haj – the pilgrimage to the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad – gives anopportunity to millions of devotees to seek divine blessings and atone fortheir sins.
However, many females devotees have had some unpleasant experiences duringthe Haj pilgrimage and they are now rallying behind the hashtag Mosquemetooto share their experiences of sexual harassment during their visit to Meccaand other religious centres.
#Mosquemetoo was actually started by Egyptian-American feminist andjournalist Mona Eltawy, who first shared her experiences on social media.
She first spoke out about being sexually assaulted during the Hajjpilgrimage at the age of 15.
Mona Eltawy’s posts caught the attention of thousands of Muslim men andwomen across the globe who started sharing their experiences using thehashtag #Mosquemetoo, which even become one of the top ten trends on FarsiTwitter.
Using the hashtag, several users shared with others how they were groped orinappropriately touched by someone in the crowd during Haj.
Many of them also challenged the idea that wearing the hijab keeps womensafe from assault and harassment.
In Islam, women are encouraged to cover their hair and body in public inorder to preserve decency and keep themselves safe from male attention andfrom harassment and assault.
Importantly, a large number of Iranian women had recently removed theirhijabs in protest against the country’s mandatory Islamic dress code incapital Tehran.