[Lecom]

In a way I understand the need for such aggressive expansion in Mecca, even at a regrettable cost of historic structures. As worldwide - and Muslim - population has undergone an unprecedented population boom in the last 50 years, it is only natural that the city is becoming less and less able to cope with the ever-increasing stream of pilgrims. What was for hundreds of years a privilege for a few thousand that could afford the time and difficulty of travel to the sacred site, has now become easily available to the new generation consisting of hundreds of millions of believers, many of whom, even if underprivileged, have the means to save enough for a plane ticket for that trip of a lifetime. The only way Mecca could deal with this unprecedented influx is either abolish this centuries-long sacred traditions of built on an unprecedented scale to accomodate new conditions.