DUSHANBE, December 7, 2009, Asia-Plus — The first group of Tajik Hajjis, numbering 360 people, is returning to Tajikistan today, Asia-Plus has learned from Abdusalo Rajabov, a leading specialist with the international cooperation department at the Ministry of Culture (MoC).
In all, 22 flights will be operated to carry Tajik Muslim pilgrims from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to Tajikistan; of them, 15 flights will be operated by the airline Somon Air, he said. The last flights will be operated on December 19-20.
“There are no dead among Tajik Hajjis; however, two of them are seriously sick,” Rajabov said.
This year, 5,200 Tajik Muslims accompanied by 10 medical workers have reportedly performed the Hajj. This year, the pilgrimage took place from November 25 to November 30.
The Hajj, which is the largest annual pilgrimage in the world, 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.
