KHUJAND, October 7, 2010, Asia-Plus — Additional quota of 21 seats has been allotted for Muslims in Sughd province who are going to perform Hajj this year, Mahkam Mirkamolov, a leading specialist with the Sughd department for religious affairs, told Asia-Plus Thursday afternoon.
According to him, 1,422 residents of the province will perform Hajj this year. “The additional quota has been allotted because the number of Sughd residents wanting to perform Hajj is increasing,” Mirkamolov said, noting that they have received 1,443 applications, including 604 applications from women, to this day.
Air companies Tajik Air and Somon Air will carry Sughd pilgrims and the first group of pilgrims is expected to leave for Jeddah on October 25, he added.
We will recall that Saudi authorities have allocated a quota of 5,500 hajjis to Tajikistan this year, which is 500 more than last year. This year, Tajik pilgrims will have to pay 3,191 U.S. dollars (this amount includes travel expenses, board and lodging, and purchase of animal for sacrificing during the Hajj), which is 151 U.S. dollars less than last year.
This year, the Committee on Religious Affairs has introduced age restrictions on those who want to perform the Hajj. Only citizens aged 18 to 80 will be able to perform the Hajj, the source said.
This year’s Hajj will take place in November.
The Hajj is the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is currently the largest annual pilgrimage in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so. The Hajj is a demonstration of the solidarity of the Muslim people, and their submission to God. The pilgrimage occurs from the 8th to 12th day of Dhu al-Hijjah, the 12th and last month of the Islamic calendar. Because the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, eleven days shorter than the Gregorian calendar, the Gregorian date of the Hajj changes from year to year. As of 2009, about two million pilgrims participate in this annual pilgrimage.
