Haj pilgrims advised against carrying pornography, viagra, sexual oils and creams

As pilgrims gear up for Haj to Mecca, the Haj Committee of India (HCOI), a statutory body of Ministry of External Affairs has issued new directives advising them not to carry certain items to Saudi Arabia.[caption id="attachment_551440" align="alignleft" width="380"]

Representational image. AP[/caption]According to a report in Times of India, the HCOI has issued an advisory asking pilgrims to refrain from carrying Viagra, sexual oil and creams, and items such as pornography material, among other list of things.  "Despite the divine commandments that no illegal activities should be carried out during Haj, some pilgrims in the past were found to be smuggling in items like Viagra, sexual oil and creams and many other things, which are banned in Saudi Arabia. We have inserted this advisory in the Haj application forms too," the report quoted Ataur Rahman, CEO, HCOI, as saying.However, the advisory has not gone down well with religious leaders within the community to whom the directives seem unsolicited.According to a report in India TV News, the community leaders believe that pilgrims themselves refrain from sex during Haj and issuing such an advisory will only tarnish the image of Muslims. The general advisory will present Muslims as sex maniacs who cannot do without sex even during Haj.Every year, over a lakh pilgrims travel from India to Saudi Arabia for Haj. The annual pilgrimage will be performed on September 22 this year.Read the entire HCOI guidelines here