Why pilgrimages to Jordan should be encouraged

In my youth, my parents would often take me to India. There, amidst the plethora of aunties and uncles to meet were regular, and often long, journeys to places of spiritual and historical relevance within Sikhdom. The bumpy hot car journeys to distant sites were a chore for a child, yet in doing them then and growing to appreciate the journey to connect to my religion I grew up both strong in Sikh faith and understanding of the meaning of pilgrimage.

So to be given the opportunity, by the Coalition for Global Prosperity, to visit the site where Jesus was baptised by John, was a special moment of reflection and spiritual uplift. It provided a moment to reflect upon Jordan’s special place in the Middle East, as a place of pilgrimage for People of the Book (Ahl al-Kitab) and its recent role in tackling militant Islamists and providing a safe haven for those fleeing neighbouring conflicts.

It is now more than a decade since the Arab Uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa. I remember well the many anti-government protests and armed rebellions that took hold, for as a Sky News journalist at the time one of my regular tasks was to track and produce maps and infographics about where street demonstrations were happening and to source visuals to help tell the story.

Jordan provided an usual yet intriguing case compared to the likes of Tunisia, Egypt or Lebanon. Its constitutional ruler King Abdullah II dealt with domestic unrest by removing his Prime Minister in February 2011 and creating a Royal Committee to Review the Constitution to address calls for reform. That the Hashemite Kingdom was able to process the concerns of protestors while maintaining its internal stability and political systems
is a testament to the King’s leadership and Jordanian resilience in the face of challenge or change.

Yet, the country would be tested in far greater ways with the civil war and crisis next door in Syria as well as the rise of a new militant Islamist organisation, ISIS, which found a footing amid the chaos and quickly spread across the Levant. Faced with brutal extremism, Jordan became a key strategic ally for the UK and USA in the fight against Islamic State. I know full well the role Jordan played and just how crucial it was to the alliance against ISIS, as in 2015 I deployed to the country on Operation Shader (Inherent Resolve) working within a highly restricted environment as we sought to degrade the violent extremist organisation.

The result of the fear spread by both Assad’s Syrian regime and ISIS was a mass influx of Syrian refugees into Jordan. Thousands of desperate people arrived across the border into North Jordan each night, fleeing both regimes. While 660,000 refugees registered in the country, the total including those who did not declare is estimated to be around 1.3 million. In a country of just over 10 million people with a high unemployment rate of around 22% in 2023, this placed huge strain upon Jordan’s public services.

Our partner Jordan has borne the brunt of this strain for far too long. Whilst the UK has given aid and support through NGOs, there are other ways in which we can now support the country and reap the benefits of its unique position of stability and proximity to antiquity. Jordan has immense potential to educate and entertain tourists, from the Roman ruins at Jerash and Amman to the Gulf of Aqaba with its seaside resorts.

Public transport from north to south is a safe and secure venture, offering an increasingly rare taste of the Middle East and Arab life.

That is why we must encourage pilgrimage-based tax incentives to encourage visitors to Jordan’s Holy sites, such as the place of baptism of Jesus, and other places mentioned in the Old and New testament. This would boost the local economy through tourism and enable Jordan to create jobs.

The impact this can have is already seen in Pakistan, which has significantly increased its tourism sector over the past decade by encouraging pilgrims to the many sites of significance to Sikhs including the birthplace of our faith’s founder, Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji.

What was clear from our CGP Jordan visit is that the country does not require hand outs or goodwill, but the means with which to secure its future both economically and politically. Tourism is the key, pilgrimage-based visitations a sector of growth that the UK should be forward-thinking about and support.