Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Hajj Apps: Managing the Operations and Piety of the Hajj

Abstract

Since the early 2010s, apps have helped Muslim pilgrims manage nearly every aspect of the hajj. This article uses the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah’s hajj apps as a case study of influential hajj apps, offering a descriptive and analytic review of their functioning, impact, and reception. This case study helps point to the importance of hajj management as a state-level political and religious enterprise, helping widen the focus on religious app research from user-oriented, ritual or scriptural apps to include those that serve the management of religion and believers. This widened focus in turn highlights the need to recognize the internal variety within the category of religious apps: these apps have different target users, do different kinds of work, have diverse impacts, and enjoy differing receptions. While the Ministry’s operations-focused hajj apps garner less attention, they may be more critical to its successful management of the hajj. As research interest in Islam-focused apps continues to grow, it will be important to pay careful attention to apps that address the business of religion, and not just the ritual practices.