Prayer beads with precious stones in demand

While Muslim pilgrims spend most of the day praying at Mecca, they also find time to shop for souvenirs for their loved ones. Shopkeepers in Mecca and Medina offer hundreds of souvenirs. Turkish pilgrims are mostly interested in prayer beads made with precious stones. The shops around the Masjid al-Haram offer prayer beads to their customers starting from one riyal; the highest quality beads cost the same as a luxurious automobile. Prayer beads with black diamonds sold at a luxurious trade center had a price tag of $22,000. Abdulhamid Eşref, the owner of the shop selling the expensive prayer beads, said black diamonds are rare and thus hard to find in nature: "Some people might find these beads, which were brought from India, very expensive but there are people who buy these beads." Eşref told an Anadolu Agency (AA) correspondent that Turkish pilgrims have also purchased some of these beads and continued, "Turkish pilgrims mostly prefer prayer beads with amber stones. They also really value the craftsmanship."