Non-Muslims To Be Allowed In Parts Of The Holy City Of Medina

There's a saying - 'when hell freezes over', for something that seems well nigh impossible, which is what I would have said for Saudi Arabia allowing non-Muslims into either of their holy cities of Medina or Mecca, but it looks like it might just be happening. At least in a certain section of Medina. For those who might like a little taste of what a Muslim holy city is like, they will have their chance to experience it, in five years, when the Saudis build what they call a "smart city".

kec saudi arabia 3LkDE 16105

Knowledge Economic City (KEC), Saudi Arabia’s first “smart city” – its buildings are all connected via voice, data and video links – will open its doors to non-Muslims as the city is planned to be a window on Islam to the world, one of the project owners said.

Sami Baroum, the managing director of Savola group, the largest private owner in the project, said that one-third of the new city, which will be developed on an area of 4.8 million square metres, will be outside of the forbidden area known as the Haram. It is expected to open in five years.

“For the first time, non-Muslims will be able to experience living within a Muslim holy city,” Mr Baroum said. “They will not live inside the Haram area, but they will be very close to it as they can see the lights of the Prophet Mohammed’s Mosque.”

It will take a total of 15 years for it to be totally completed, and will cost 30 billion riyals. Built on one billion riyals worth of land donated by King Abdullah the city is expected to bring tourism to the city and since Abdullah has a 'majority stake' in the KEC, all the money received for sales of property in the city will be donated to his King Abdullah Foundation For His Parents for Charitable Housing. This foundation actually provides poor Saudis with housing. It's nice to see he's not profiting from the city, which looks to be an Islamic Orlando of the Middle East with Islamic theme parks, museums and lots of hotels and restaurants.

According to design plans, KEC will accommodate up to 150,000 people in its residential areas, which will be supported by planned commercial complexes, hospitality facilities, a theme park and an Islamic museum.

“All surrounding countries are interested in building Islamic museums with large investments. Medina should be the city where non-Muslims come to understand the history of Islam instead,” Mr Baroum said.

Non-Muslims, of course, will still not be allowed to enter the 'forbidden zones', but the city is being built to accommodate and attract both Muslims and non-Muslims, with a new airport and train station.

Saudi Arabia is investing heavily to develop a religious tourism sector as part of its efforts to move its economy away from oil, and for the first time, the kingdom hopes to attract non-Muslim visitors.

Mr Baroum said the KEC will also have a train station for a 450km high-speed railway linking the two holy cities to Jeddah.

“The new train station will be built in the one-third area located out of the Haram area, and non-Muslims can come to Medina by land to enjoy Islamic tourism attractions we will build there,” he said.

KEC is also an attempt to curb the so-called 'brain drain'.

As for its business and knowledge core, Mr Baroum said, the city is expected to be home to biomedical and information technology-related industries.

Developers hope the project will position Saudi Arabia and young Muslim entrepreneurs as internationally respected leaders in knowledge-based industries. They estimate that employers based there will create more than 20,000 jobs.

Employees of those industries would be able to live nearby.

“We want to make a reverse brain drain to attract back all the Muslim minds from the West to develop an Islamic knowledge-related economy in one of Islam’s holy cities,” Mr Baroum said.

“Attracting the right people ... is the difficult part,” he said. “Providing them with the right infrastructure to do it is the easy part.

“We already hired the world’s largest network solution company, Cisco Systems, to do the job.”

I have to wonder if with this ultra-modern concept of a 'smart city' the rest of the kingdom will eventually catch up, since it's still one of the most backward nations in terms of their laws and treatment of women. It should be interesting, also, to see what kinds of rules and regulations they will enforce in KEC for tourists. Just how will they manage with all their segregation laws to attract non-Muslim tourists ? I guess, we shall see.