JEDDAH: The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Haia) has called for a team of translators and interpreters in their ranks in order for them to do their work diligently in the two holy cities.
The commission said a lack of sufficient numbers of interpreters is an obstacle in the discharge of their duties.
"The astronomical rise in the number of Umrah and Haj pilgrims has made it imperative to have a large team of translators and interpreters for the Haia. It is the duty of Haia members to correct any pilgrim committing religiously improper acts," said Saeed Al-Fayedi, chief of the commission's the Baqee branch in Madinah.
Al-Fayedi was referring to the practices of pilgrims without religious education, performing prayers inside the Baqee cemetery facing any grave while the religious rule is that a Muslim should perform prayers turning only toward the Grand Mosque in Makkah.
He said some ignorant pilgrims also prayed to dead persons while some others collected dirt from the graveyard believing that it would cure diseases, bring luck and prosperity or cure barrenness.
He said it was the duty of the members of Haia to prevent anyone violating religious practices. On the other hand, without knowing the language of a foreign pilgrim, Haia members would not be able to interact with them and correct the ignorant.
Only with the help of interpreters the members can explain to pilgrims the difference between legal and illegal methods of praying at the cemetery.
"Since the pilgrims come from all parts of the world, the translators accompanying the Haia members should be conversant with main languages of the world," he said, adding that the Baqee branch of Haia had only six translators. They spoke Urdu, Burmese, Persian and Pashto languages.
The Haia also should have interpreters who are proficient in Indonesian Bahasa, Malay and Tagalog, in addition to Central Asian languages.
He said translators are also required to answer queries on religious rites other than the conduct at the cemetery. Haia workers with multilanguage proficiency are also required to present awareness programs on large screens at public places, Al-Fayedi said.
According to another source, the Makkah and Madinah offices of the Presidency of the Two Holy Mosques Affairs also needed interpreters to deal with foreign pilgrims. The interpreter service should also be available at the Makkah Haram Museum, the Kiswa Factory, Uhud and various ancient mosques in Madinah, where pilgrims from non-Arabic speaking countries visit, the source said.
All Haia members and officials working in offices that have to deal with pilgrims, should undergo short language-learning programs with the help of universities in Makkah and Madinah, the source suggested as an immediate solution.
© Arab News 2011
