DUSHANBE, November 4, 2009, Asia-Plus — This year, Tajik national air carrier, Tajik Air, will carry Tajik Hajjis to Saudi Arabia, Abdughaffor Yusupov, the head of the Hajj department within the directorate for religious affairs (DRA) of the Ministry of Culture, said in an interview the Asia-Plus.
The DRA, which is the primary administrative authority that oversees implementation of Tajik government’s religious policy, controls participation in the Hajj, collecting applications and all fees and making all flight and hotel arrangements.
According to Yusupov, the first group Tajik Hajjis, numbering 360 people, will fly to Saudi Arabia on November 7. In all, 15 flights will be operated to carry more than 5,000 Tajik Hajjis to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The last flight will be operated on November 18 or 19, Yusupov said.
We will recall that more than 5,000 Tajik Muslims performed Hajj last year and they were carried to Jeddah by Iran’s air company, Ajla (phonetically spelled) Air Limited Com.
The Hajj is a pilgrimage to Mecca. It is the largest annual pilgrimage in the world.
It is the fifth pillar of Islam, an obligation that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so. It is a demonstration of the solidarity of the Muslim people, and their submission to Allah.
The pilgrimage occurs from the 10th to the 15th day of Dhu al-Hijjah, the 12th month of the Islamic calendar. Because the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, eleven days shorter than the Gregorian calendar used in the Western world, the Gregorian date of the Hajj is eleven days earlier from year to year.
