This year, Tajik Muslims will undergo fingerprinting before leaving for Hajj, Afshin Muqim, a spokesman for the Committee on Religious Affairs (CRA) under the Government of Tajikistan, told Asia-Plus in an interview.
According to him, Hajj pilgrims can undergo fingerprinting in Dushanbe, Khujand and Bokhtar (formerly Qurghon Teppa).
Hajj pilgrims for the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) ad districts subordinate to the center will undergo fingerprinting in Dushanbe.
“Our Hajj pilgrims had previously undergone fingerprinting on arrival in Saudi Arabia. At the request of the Saudi authorities, Tajik Hajj pilgrims now will undergo this procedure before leaving for Hajj for the purpose of simplification of entry of pilgrims into Saudi Arabia,” Muqim noted.
According to him, some 6,000 Tajik Muslims will perform Hajj this year. The first group of Hajj pilgrims numbering 180 people will fly to Saudi Arabia from Dushanbe on August 6.
The cost of Hajj for Tajik nationals this year is reportedly set at 33,410 somoni, which is 739 somoni more than in 2017 (32,671 somoni) and 4,761 somoni more than in 2016 (28,649 somoni).
Recall, Tajik authorities in 2016 introduced new age restrictions for those who want to perform the Hajj. Citizens under the age of 40 are no longer allowed to perform the Hajj. The aim of the decision to introduce new age restrictions is reportedly to give older people an opportunity to achieve their dream to perform the Hajj.
The new age limit of 40 has been raised from the limit of 35 that was instituted in April 2015.
For the first time the Committee on Religious Affairs (CRA) under the Government of Tajikistan introduced age restrictions on those who want to perform the Hajj in 2010. Only citizens aged 18 to 80 were able to perform the Hajj.
In 2011, the CRA designed a new Hajj uniform; men don two-piece suits, while women wear long-sleeved dresses complete with headscarves. The Tajik Hajj uniform is embroidered with the country’s symbols.
Each year, Saudi Arabia welcomes millions of Muslims from abroad traveling on Umrah and Hajj. Hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, is a pilgrimage to Mecca which adult Muslims must make at least one in their lifetime, provided they are physically and financially able. 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.
