DUSHANBE, January 15, 2016, Asia-Plus — Tajik authorities have introduced new age restrictions for those who want to perform the Hajj.
According to some sources, now citizens under the age of 40 are not able to perform the Hajj.
Husain Shokirov, an official with the Committee on Religious Affairs under the Government of Tajikistan (CRA), has confirmed this information.
According to him, the aim of the decision to introduce new age restrictions is to give older people an opportunity to achieve their dream to perform the Hajj.
We will recall that the CRA in April last year passed a resolution, under which citizens under the age of 35 were not able to perform the hajj.
For the first time the CRA introduced age restrictions on those who want to perform the Hajj on 2010. Only citizens aged 18 to 80 were able to perform the Hajj.
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.
