In Mecca, guides are all in the family

MECCA: The Saudi government might manage the haj, but the people who make it run for two million or more pilgrims are a handful of old Mecca families who monopolize the muttawif or haj guide business.

Organized into six companies, each taking care of pilgrims from a specific part of the world, they make sure the people who have waited a lifetime to perform the haj get through it.

"We take control of the pilgrim from when he first puts his foot on the soil of Mecca," said Imad Abdullah, waiting for a busload of Indonesians arriving in the Muslim holy city for the annual pilgrimage.