Once in a lifetime each Muslim with the means to do so is expected to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, but in Azerbaijan religious activists say a monopoly on Hajj passes means few can afford the sacred rite.
For the two busloads of believers embarking from Baku's waterfront this week it was a joyful departure to Saudi Arabia's holiest cities of Mecca and Medina, though they had a five-day journey ahead.
These pilgrims are among the lucky few who can afford to make the journey this year, with many more worshippers left on the sidelines by the high cost of the trip, according to Ilgar Ibrahimoglu, a leading critic of Azerbaijan's ruling regime and a banned Muslim cleric.
Ibrahimoglu alleges that a non-governmental organization, which administers Muslim affairs in Azerbaijan at the behest of the government, has restricted tour agencies from access to Saudi Hajj visas, of which Azerbaijan is entitled to 8,000 per year.
"No more than 3,000 people make the Hajj every year," Ibrahimoglu said, "If people could get the visas independently, more would go."
Ibrahimoglu said the Caucasus Muslim Administration acts as an umbrella for two travel agencies that it has approved for providing Hajj services and thereby monopolized the market driving prices up to around 1,200 dollars, well above the means of many here.
"The constitution of Azerbaijan guarantees freedom of religion so how come people have to get permission from some NGO to make the Hajj?" Ibrahimoglu said, "what if people had to ask permission from an ombudsman to visit European countries?"
The Hajj is one of the five pillars, or requirements, of believers in Islam and centers around the id al-adha sacrificial festival, known as Gurban Bairam in Azerbaijan and other Turkic-speaking countries.
But religious law forbids Muslims who have responsibilities at home, outstanding debts or too little money to support their family and make the trip at the same time, from making the Mecca pilgrimage.
In Azerbaijan, a former-Soviet republic where unemployment is high and average wages equal to around 60 dollars per month, the cost of making the Hajj means many are not eligible to go according to the rules of Islam.
"Of course I want to go, this is something that has to be done before God," said Elmar Abdulaziz a worshipper on his way out from an afternoon prayer at Baku's Gadji Sultanali mosque, "but at the moment the price is too high for me."
The Muslim Administration, which was the official state organ dealing with Islamic affairs in Soviet times, denies it is driving up prices artificially, saying the agencies it has approved for Hajj tours set their rates based on costs they have no control over.
"We're not taking these prices out of thin air," said the Muslim Administration's spokesman Gadji Akif.
As for its role in denying access to Hajj visas to travel agencies it is not affiliated with, Gadji Akif said the companies applied too late.
But Akif Shakhmarov -- the director of local travel firm Prezident, which was denied approval -- said he had approached the Muslim Administration well ahead of Gurban Bairam which falls on January 21 this year.
"Last year we went straight to the Saudi embassy to get the visas and had no problems," Shakhmarov said, "this time I personally met with the Administration's deputy head (Gadji) Salman (Musayev) and he was categorically against it."
Last year Prezident charged pilgrims from 800 to 850 dollars to make the Hajj, this year due to rocketing oil prices the fare would have gone up by 100 dollars, but still considerably less than the Administration's rates, Shakhmarov said.
Meanwhile, the Saudi embassy in Baku has been keeping a low profile over the row saying matters of pilgrimage were the prerogative of the Azeri government.
"Our job is just to give out visas," a source at the embassy said, "if the Azeri authorities want us to give out visas on the recommendation of the Muslim Administration, it's their own business."