Close to 6,000 Filipinos have registered with the National Commission of Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) for the 2018 Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
The BusinessMirror learned about this from the NCMF, now headed by Secretary/CEO Saidamen B. Pangarungan, a lawyer who is a former Lanao del Sur governor, among his past government posts.
The pilgrims will be onboard two Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) flights from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
Officials of the NCMF, through the Bureau of Pilgrimage and Endowment (NCMF-BPE), headed by Director Mito-on Ibra requested the Saudi Ministry of Hajj for 5,800 pilgrims’ visas. So far 5,710 already paid their hajj mutawiff (for accommodation, food and transportation) in the course of the five- to six-day pilgrimage rites.
He said the two flights on July 22 will consist of 333 pilgrims and another 335 later in the day.
Saudi Arabia has started receiving pilgrims from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Malaysia as early as July 14 at the two gateways in Jeddah and Medina, the King Abdul Aziz International Airport and Prince Mohammed bin Abdul Aziz International Airport, respectively.
Although the hajj proper will start on August 19 yet and end on August 23, pilgrims usually fly ahead of schedule to Saudi to better prepare themselves for the arduous religious rites, perform pre-hajj worship and go to religious sites they do not normally visit.
The NCMF said the last hajj flight from Manila to Jeddah or Medina was set on August 6.
This year’s cost of hajj mutawiff for Filipinos is around $1,893 (around P100,000) for food, hotel in Mecca and Medina, and transportation inside Saudi Arabia. The ticket to and from Saudi Arabia is not yet included.
In 2017 pilgrims numbered around 2.35 million from across the world, each one performed the yearly intense worship and repentance.
Pilgrims seek to have their past sins forgiven by Allah (God in Arabic).
The hajj, which is obligatory to adult Muslims with financial, physical and emotional capacity, is one of the five pillars of Islam.
Besides the hajj, the four other obligatory duties and responsibilities are Shahaddah (profession of faith, reciting that there is only one God and Muhammad is His messenger; Salat (five-daily prayers), Sawm (fasting in Ramadan) and Zakat (obligatory charity).
Ibra said the paramount rite of the hajj called “Uqof,” or “Standing in Arafat,” is expected to occur on August 20, and the celebration of Eid’l Adha (the Feast of Sacrifice), on the following day, Tuesday, in Mina.
Hajj major rites are conducted in Mekkah, Arafat and Mina. Pilgrims from around the world numbering a million or two are expected to march to the Tent City in Mina on July 19 to start the rites with an overnight stay, then on to the Valley of Arafat, where Jabal Al-Rahma (Mount of Mercy) is located, for the high point of Islam’s biggest religious assembly. Other pilgrims are expected to go direct to Arafat.
Religious leaders say that a pilgrim must spend part of the day and a part of the night in Arafat for their pilgrimage to be valid.
Just after his assumption as NCMF’s new head, Pangarungan flew to Saudi Arabia to personally inspect the Filipino pilgrims’ hotel accommodation in Mecca and Medina (the Prophet Muhammad’s city).
In Arafat and Mina, all pilgrims will be staying in thousands of tents, and in between take a quick sleep in Muzdalifah, then pick up pebbles, before proceeding to Mina for the rites of “Stoning of the Devil.”
Assuming the leadership of the NCMF in the latter part of the preparations for the pilgrimage, Pangarungan, nevertheless wanted to ensure as much as possible the Filipino pilgrims will have a safe pilgrimage and convenient accommodation.
Director Dr. Jun Alonto Datu Ramos of NCMF-Bureau of External Relations said the new secretary flew to Saudi Arabia on July 15 and conducted an ocular inspection on hotels where Filipinos are going to stay.
He said Pangarungan also briefed and provided moral support to the NCMF’s advance Supervisory Group and medical team.
Pangarungan’s priority is the safety and comfort of every pilgrim, which he enunciated when he spoke before the agency’s officials and employees during his assumption of office.
He instructed the medical team in Mecca, headed by Dr. Esmael Abdul, to arrange the clinics in Mecca and Medina and the purchase of equipment and medicines.
Included in the priority reform agenda of Pangarungan is the conduct of the hajj operation, which in the past had been attended with many problems and allegations of corruption.
He cited the reports of malpractices in getting hotel accommodation, where, for example, a room for four persons is filled with eight more pilgrims. He promised that he would not spare any effort in achieving his goals for the pilgrims and the overall well-being of the NCMF.
“I am known for reform-oriented policy in my career history. I will apply it in the NCMF management of the pilgrimage by all means,” he was quoted as saying.
Islamic religious authorities said there are three ways of performing the pilgrimage to Mecca, such as Hajj Tamattu, Hajj Ifradd and Hajj Qiraan. Muslims ought to perform the hajj once in a lifetime.
From Islamweb.net, Hajj Tamattu involves doing the Umrah (minor pilgrimage) and Hajj (major pilgrimage). Here, the pilgrim will enter the state of ihram (purity, symbolized by an unsewn white clothing called ihram) and internalizing the intention to perform the Umrah during the hajj in the months of Shawwal, Dhul Qadah and Dhul Hijjah.
On the other hand, for Ifraad, it means assuming ihram with the intention of performing only the Hajj; Qiraan is combining two things, with the pilgrims entering ihram with the intention of doing the Umrah and hajj together.
In the Islamic calendar called Hijrah (Flight or Migration), the pilgrimage occurs from on Dhul Hijjah 8 to 12, with the dates changing every year in the solar calendar because the lunar-based Muslim calendar is short by about 11 days.
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Usman is a freelance journalist who is on science, information technology, current events, etc. He won the “Best Science Feature Story” in the first University of the Philippines Science Journalism Award 2018 on February 17, and the DOST-PCIEERD “Kabalikat Award” for Print Media on June 27, 2014.
Image credits: NCMF photo