Do blessings exist in the metaverse? That’s a question that Adnan Maqbool has posed to many people. He’s the project director at Labbaik VR, a Pakistani company that has created the world’s first virtual reality simulator for Hajj and Umrah — the pilgrimage that Muslims take to Mecca and Medina. “Mostly, people’s reaction to that is no, that’s not possible,” Maqbool told Rest of World. “My next question is, when you hear recitations of the Quran on TV, is hearing them a blessing or not a blessing? If that is, then why not this?”
Labbaik’s VR simulator, developed over the course of five years, offers users a 360-degree view of some of the most holy sites in Mecca and Medina. It’s created using 80,000 ultrahigh-resolution photographs, making it possible to see even the smallest details, like the carvings on the pillars.
Labbaik first launched its product in 2019, with the goal of training first-time pilgrims and offering people the chance to view holy sites virtually. After meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Hajj and Umrah ministry, they developed virtual guided walks, and began to offer VR training sessions for potential pilgrims in 2021. “The ministry said the biggest problem they faced [was] people who were traveling there for the first time, usually from developing countries, for whom navigating the journey was difficult,” said Maqbool.
Using VR headsets, groups of pilgrims log in and follow trainers as avatars in Labbaik’s metaverse. The pilgrims are guided through the Great Mosque of Mecca, around the Kaaba, along the paths of the Safa and Marwa hills, the Muzdalifah valley, and the Jamarat walls — all the sites that must be visited to complete the pilgrimage. So far, Labbaik has trained more than 30,000 aspiring pilgrims, according to Maqbool.
When Syeda Shamsa, who lives in Karachi, put on the headset in 2020, she was stunned at how real it felt. “VR was totally new for me, I didn’t know how to operate it,” she told Rest of World. “But they guided us. I recited duas [prayers] at every step.”
Shamsa was joined in the VR exercise by her family — all of whom were hoping to go on pilgrimage soon. “It looked so real. I was standing in front of the Kaaba. Even when I’m remembering it now, I’m shivering,” she said. “My whole family was in tears, we were crying out. I don’t know how to express that feeling in words.” Due to travel restrictions during the pandemic, however, they were unable to visit Hajj that year, or since. Shamsa’s only experience of Hajj has been through VR.
For many users, the experience created by the Hajj simulator is something they never could have imagined, Maqbool said. The company brought the VR devices to people in hospitals, and to remote villages in Pakistan where people could not afford to make the pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. “We’ve seen people fall on their knees. They stand and raise their hands, crying,” Maqbool recalled. When the company showcased it in Dubai, users included people from different religions. “It was the first time they were seeing the Kaaba up close,” he said. “In a way, this opens up a really closed environment for many people. I think technology helps in this way. It’s about letting people in.”