Khaled Al-Maeena on Hajj, media coverage

(CNN) -- Khaled Al-Maeena is a well-known media personality throughout Saudi Arabia and an expert on Islamic affairs. He is editor in chief for the Arab News, the largest English daily newspaper in the Middle East.

Throughout Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Maeena led the Arab News team covering the Gulf crisis, and is credited as the first person to bring newspapers back into liberated Kuwait. In addition to his work in the media, he has represented Saudi Arabia on diplomatic missions such as the Arab summit meetings in Baghdad and Morocco. After Saudi Arabia established relations with China, Maeena was a member of the diplomatic delegations that went to that country.

Chat moderator: Welcome to CNN.com chat room, Khaled Al-Maeena. Thank you for joining us today.

Khaled Al-Maeena: Well, hello, it is always a pleasure to be on CNN, whether it is online or on television. CNN is not only one big family of staff but also of viewers around the globe.

Chat moderator: What is the significance of the Hajj for a Muslim? Why is it so crucial?

Khaled Al-Maeena: The Hajj is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. It is incumbent upon anyone who can fulfill the prerequisite. It is a ritual that when performed is believed to cleanse one's self of past sins. It is considered the most important event in a Muslim's life because, for the pilgrim who has successfully completed the pilgrimage, there comes a feeling of being newborn or born again.

Chat moderator: If a Muslim is unable to perform the Hajj during his or her lifetime, is there another way perhaps to compensate for it?

Khaled Al-Maeena: The holy mosque in Mecca -- if not during the Hajj, which is in the 12th month of the Muslim calendar -- can be a visited at any other time throughout the year. But the Hajj is itself unique. There is a pilgrimage called Umrah or a lesser pilgrimage that can be done at any time.

Question from chat room: I just want to know the number of people expected for the Hajj next year.

Khaled Al-Maeena: Well, the number of people will vary between 2 and 2 and a quarter million. And it is limited due to the confines of space and other logistic details. The government here has made a ratio of 1,000 pilgrims per 1 million of a country's population. For example, if a country has a population of 20 million people, it would be allowed to send 20,000.

Question from chat room: Should the authorities restrict the pilgrims to perform the Hajj only once every five years, like with local pilgrims?

Khaled Al-Maeena: Yes, I think they are now as far as the locals are concerned. Outside the country it is up to the government there to see to it that different people should be given the chance to perform Hajj. For example, in Pakistan and India they have a lottery system. In other countries, people apply and their applications are accepted.

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Question from chat room: Based on your coverage of the Hajj, what sort of measures do you feel the Saudis have taken over the past few years to make it a safe and spiritual undertaking?

IN-DEPTH The Hajj: Islam's Journey of Faith  • Key Hajj facts  • Pillars of Islam  • Hajj image gallery  • Flash map: The pilgrimage  • Video: Scenes of prayer CNN's Riz Khan reports:  • Spiritual meaning  • Logistical challenge  • Women and Islam

Khaled Al-Maeena: I think the first thing was the restriction on the number of pilgrims. This measure was courageous by its nature. The second thing that comes to mind is the usage of technology in all its forms -- new methods of communication providing the highest standard of health facilities, which include fully mobile operational hospitals and fire fighting equipment. And the government is also providing information on how to perform the Hajj in over a hundred different languages.

Question from chat room: Why are women not permitted to enter the Janat al Baqi?

Khaled Al-Maeena: Basically, it is a matter of a social nature. In Muslim countries, women do visit graveyards and even in the surrounding countries, but here also, both women and men are allowed to come around the perimeter of the graveyard. However, this action has no religious bearing.

Question from chat room: What is the Islamic reaction to the irony behind the recent tragedy, being a time of rebirth, but unfortunately accidental death as well?

Khaled Al-Maeena: The reaction would be one of sympathy. There is no such thing as an Islamic reaction, however. Muslims believe that those who died will be rewarded a place in heaven because their intentions were noble in the fact that they came to beseech God for blessing, mercy and forgiveness.

Question from chat room: How has media coverage of the Hajj changed in terms of being televised? Is that something new?

Khaled Al-Maeena: Yes. The Hajj has been brought to the homes of millions of people around the globe, and people have seen for themselves that Islam -- which is one of the three great religions -- is a culmination of the other two great religions, Christianity and Judaism, because it shares with them a similar history and that Muslims believe in all the great figures like Moses, Abraham and Jesus.

You cannot become a Muslim if you don't believe in all the prophets and, especially, Jesus. So once there is an insight into Islamic ideology, that psychological stigma is removed. Unfortunately, there has been a tendency in the Western media to label Islam in a negative manner.

Chat moderator: Pilgrims at the Hajj stress that Islam is a religion of peace, that the true nature of Islam is founded on a bedrock of brotherhood and humanity. Why, then, do many in the West, in particular, see Islam as a religion linked with violence?

Khaled Al-Maeena: Good question. You see it is something that they have ingrained in their minds. And if any misguided Muslim or somebody in a Muslim country commits some act of violence they label it as Islamic terror and the people as Islamic terrorists.

Now, when the IRA in Ireland blow people up, the media refer to them as IRA terrorists and not Catholic terrorists. Or if somebody from any religion bombs a place, they mention the organization rather than the religion.

It is very unfortunate that despite many efforts to build a bridge of understanding and to stress to the various segments -- especially in the United States -- that we are like other people in that there has been no reciprocal action. This causes a lot of uncertainty in the minds of ordinary people about Islam and Muslims.

I will give you an example in the United States. The recent spate of school killings and violence at times in certain cities do not portray a true picture of America because the majority of Americans are good people, who believe in family values and ideals. But yet, if we Muslims looking from outside are to form a perception of America, we will think that America is abound with serial killers and people out on the road committing violent acts, which is far from the truth. That is why, I believe, that not everything said about Islam or written about it should be taken as the truth.

Chat moderator: Do you have any final thoughts to share with us today?

Khaled Al-Maeena: I believe that in this 21st century we face the challenges of environmental problems, water supply and diseases in both the advanced and developing countries. We should put our heads together, stretch our arms to each other, and try to come up with a solution that could help reap benefits for mankind. Because no matter where we come from, what color of skin we have or what religion we follow, we are all the children of God. We can only win if we raze the barriers of intolerance and hatred.

Chat moderator: Thank you for joining our discussion today, Khaled Al-Maeena.

Khaled Al-Maeena: Thank you. My pleasure.

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