Hi Nick
Oh how frustrating, I did a thoughtful long post about this but for some reason it must have got lost in cyberspace ... sorry, wasn't ignoring the issue.
Please remember I can only speak as a Muslim who has never been to Mecca or Medina and who doesn't feel insulted if someone names a teddy bear Mohamed ... so Muslims in Saudi probably feel rather differently to me. As you rightly say, it is not a particularly emotional issue for me so my reaction will differ from other Muslims on the topic. I also hadn't given this any thought until this thread.
That said .. I have completely scrapped my idea for allowing non-Muslims into Mecca or Medina (as cities, not into the mosques) and allow me to explain why.
1. I have been to Sharm el Sheikh, a tourist destination in the Sinai desert ... to me, from a faith pov, it was hell on earth and I fear if tourists were allowed into Mecca and Medina they would inevitably try to turn an area into a tourist town. What's the problem with that? Alcohol, walking around in bikini's, cursing, leading locals astray and how long before they demand bacon and eggs for breakfast ... yes that sounds dreadfully conservative but Islam is a conservative faith. To the tourists drinking and partying is what a holiday is often about and they won't see why it would be a problem.
Now transfer that vision to the holiest site on earth for Muslims. If the Saudi's allowed tourists to drink and walk around half naked it would simply invite corruption among their own population. Alternatively they can ban alcohol and insist all tourists cover up .... but what happens when they arrest someone for being drunk in charge of a bikini? International outrage in the press because of the loony Saudi's and their 7th century attitudes.
It's a no win situation for the Saudi's and as much as I often think they have lost the plot, on this one I have to admire their tenacity in remaining a closed country.
2. Sheer numbers. There are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world and they all want to visit Medina and Mecca .. not just for hajj. Visa's for Muslims are limited in number, so by opening those areas to non-Muslims would mean the possibility of Muslims being unable to visit (let's be honest if a hotel can get £5 from me or £50 from you let's guess which they will go after).
3. Religious intolerance ... we know that certain groups of Muslims are intolerant to the point of near insanity (as we have seen on this thread) and such actions tend to lead to hatred and/or retribution. I would rather the mosques in Mecca and Medina are protected from all nutters .. including our own.
You said "
On this particular issue, it is easy for me to decide. I have no desire to become a Muslim, and I am perfectly willing to let Muslims decide who can and cannot enter a particular mosque. (It does make me less likely for me to enter any Muslim mosque, I must admit.)"
and this is really what I keep coming back to. You have no reason, other than sheer curiosity, to visit Mecca or Medina. If you started to read about Islam and were genuinely interested in finding out more I would be surprised if you refused to enter any mosque in the world simply because Saudi doesn't allow you to enter the sacred mosques.
Granted such exclusions appear to go against the process of preaching Islam but converting is a gradual process in my experience and not something which would have turned me away from the faith.
That is the general gist of my long post but I'm afraid it's rather late and my brain is on downtime
