KUWAIT: The high cost of performing the Hajj pilgrimage, which can reach up to KD1,500 per person, means that many Muslims worldwide are increasingly unable to afford to perform it. Despite this, however, tens of offices or individual agents in Kuwait are licensed to offer a complete Hajj service for those who can bear the expense, with costs varying widely.

A number of illegal pilgrimage-organizing agencies have sprung up, however, with some offering a complete but dubious Hajj travel package for only KD250 per pilgrim, less than half the price charged by the legal and licensed agents. The Kuwait Times called one such unlicensed pilgrimage-organizer who has been illegally advertising his services via cards pinned on memo boards at local mosques after finding one of the cards at a Hawally mosque.

Variations in pilgrimage prices depend on a number of factors, such as means of transport - flying to and among the holy cities during the pilgrimage is obviously more expensive than travelling by bus, for example. Then there's accommodation, with the pilgrims' choice of lodgings making a big difference in prices, amongst a host of other services which can add to the expense.

The organizer of the bargain basement KD250 Hajj pilgrimage, who preferred not to give his name, insisted that pilgrims choosing to use his services would face no problems or obstacles in performing the Hajj pilgrimage, although each would need to pay an additional 1,000 Saudi Riyals (KD73) on top of the fees paid as an entrance fee to get into Saudi Arabia in lieu of the more traditional - and legal - visa issued to authorized Hajj pilgrims.

Hajj pilgrims using his services will travel by bus, he explained, adding that they will be accommodated in flats in apartment blocks near the pilgrimage sites rather than in hotels.

Many individuals who performed the Hajj pilgrimage with such illegal individuals or agencies in previous years have complained at being cheated and offered substandard services, however. Due to the unlicensed and legally dubious nature of the organizers' business, these pilgrims are unable to claim any compensation or to file charges against them for poor conditions. - Kuwait Times