Afghan carpet merchants on Jeddah's Bukharia Street are doing a brisk business in prayer mats, an essential item for the estimated 2 million pilgrims flocking to the Saudi holy city of Mecca.
A white-bearded elderly man in traditional Afghan dress seated behind a counter fiddles with his blue turquoise ring as clerks stack up rows of carpets of every color and design at a busy store in the old quarter of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia's second-largest city.
"Turkish prayer mats are big sellers," said Sheikh Ahmed Mohyeddin, 65, as his assistant Hamidallah Khan, 28, displayed several green and brown mats with elaborate patterns and gold glitter.
PHOTO: AFP
The best ones are woven at Istanbul's Kadifeteks factory, said Hamidallah, who has been working in Sheikh Ahmed's store for the past 15 years.
Mats and worry beads are the most popular items bought by pilgrims coming to Mecca to perform the annual pilgrimage, known as the hajj. Mats are used for the five-times-a-day Muslim prayers.
Although they are imported from Turkey, Iran, Egypt and increasingly China, most pilgrims perceive as blessed all purchases made during the hajj, which is one of the five pillars of Islam and a duty for devout and able Muslims.
Nearly 2.5 million pilgrims have arrived in Saudi Arabia for the start of hajj, according to a local press count.
Sheikh Ahmed said shopkeepers and middlemen from Mecca and Medina have been coming to his store for months to stock up on mats in preparation for the hajj season, the busiest time of the year.
The wholesale price of an average Turkish mat is 17 Saudi riyals (US$4.5) and it retails for about 25 riyals, he said.
Sheikh Ahmed, considered the doyen of the Bukharia street traders, is a member of Afghanistan's Uzbek minority.
He fled his native Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan in 1978 in the aftermath of the pro-Soviet coup that brought the communists to power and landed in Jeddah where his uncle was a carpet merchant.
He said he immediately immersed himself in the business and took it over when his uncle died.
"There were only four little shops back then run by Afghans, now there are more than 100," he says.
It feels like little Kabul on Bukharia with bearded men in turbans and traditional baggy trousers and long shirts strolling down the street. Several bakers whip up Afghan flat bread.
Kheir Mohammed, 47, waits in his truck outside Shiekh Ahmed's store as workers load up boxes of prayer mats that he plans to sell in Mecca.
"The trend is toward Chinese mats," he said noting their price advantage at 3 riyals a piece over the Turkish ones.
In another part of old Jeddah, a Saudi store owner concedes the monopoly Afghan rug merchants have on the business.
"They have long experience and a knack for the trade," said Omar al-Attas, 60.
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
RSS