AMMAN —
Following the relaxation of the
COVID-19 restrictions, Saudi Arabia this year
accepts pilgrims from all over the world while also suspending all preventive
measures aimed at containing the pandemic.
اضافة اعلان
In conjunction
with the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Grand Mosque and the
Prophet’s Mosque, umra trips are now open to anyone.
At the outbreak
of COVID-19 two years ago,
Saudi Arabia, which houses the world’s most
important religious site for Muslims, was forced to close its mosques to
worshipers in order to save lives and avoid infection, as the faithful flock
from all over the world during hajj periods, which could endanger the devotees.
It had
authorized umra trips under limited circumstances and with fewer people, as well
as rigorous health requirements, while hajj trips were suspended.
In an interview
with
Jordan News,
Jordan Society of Tourism and Travel Agents (JSTTA) member and representative of hajj and umra companies Essam Al-Shaer said that
the number of pilgrims this year does not exceed 45 percent of the number of
pilgrims in 2019.
This year, in
order to be able to perform umra, the faithful have to either have got the two
vaccines or take a PCR test 72-hour prior to travelling, said Shaer, adding
that “these limitations may be lifted when the hajj season approaches, as all
past umra rulings have been reversed”.
According to
Shaer, Saudi Arabia decides the numbers allowed to perform religious rites
“because it is better aware about the numbers that it can accommodate”. That
should not deter people from applying to perform the hajj, “despite the fact
that it is impossible to anticipate what will happen in the next years”.
Shaer also said
that thousands of hotel rooms in Saudi Arabia are still closed as a result of COVID-19,
predicting that “if they reopen during the current hajj season, the cost will
be lower, given that the cost of the hajj trip by land in 2019 was JD2000”.
Director of hajj
and umra Trips Department at the Ministry of Awqaf Majdi Al Btoosh told
Jordan
News that Saudi Arabia announced last week the number of pilgrims it will
receive during this hajj season.
Minister of
hajj and umra Tawfiq Al-Rabiah announced on Monday the mechanism for determining the
number of pilgrims for 2022, and said that the ministry is keen to see the hajj
rituals conducted in peace, adding that studies to that end are still under
way, in coordination with the health sector.
According to
Btoosh, 8,000 Jordanians performed the pilgrimage in 2019, while only 3,600 are
doing it this year, as the Saudi Ministry of hajj and umra determined that 1
million pilgrims from all over the world may perform these rituals this year:
150,000 domestic pilgrims and 850,000 from the rest of the world.
In terms of
requirements imposed on pilgrims, Btoosh said that Saudi Arabia requires that
pilgrims be no older than 65 and have received two doses of the vaccine. On the
Jordanian side, the only requirement is that the “petitioner for the hajj must
be doing so for the first time”.
Btoosh would not
make predictions for the following years, as “each year has its own set of
circumstances”, and it would be “premature” to do so now.
In 2020 and 2021
hajj was restricted to Saudi nationals and residents; as such, Btoosh considers
the influx of pilgrims from throughout the world this year to be “a great
success”.
He added that Saudi
Arabia had not announced any adjustments in the conduct of the hajj rites, such
as changes to the areas of walking and tawaf (circumambulating the Kaaba).
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