All ready to welcome Umrah 2017 pilgrims | British haj travel

All ready to welcome Umrah 2017 pilgrims | British haj travel

JEDDAH — Following the successful completion of Haj, Umrah packages 2017 have started arriving in the Kingdom, the Ministry of Haj and Umrah announced on Thursday.

The current Haj season will come to an end on Oct. 5 (Muharram 15) when the last flight carrying foreign Haj pilgrims will leave King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah.

The ministry has issued directives to all its agencies, sectors and Umrah establishments to raise their level of readiness to provide the best services to Umrah pilgrims and visitors.

The ministry announced its preparations for the upcoming Umrah season during a recent meeting between Minister of Haj Muhammad Saleh Banten and key players in the Umrah sector.

The meeting focused on the readiness of all sectors of the ministry for this season, especially with an unprecedented rise in the number of Umrah pilgrims last season, which was put at 6.7 million.

Despite the large number of Umrah pilgrims, there was a considerable drop in the number of Umrah visa overstayers, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, the number of Haj pilgrims who arrived in Madinah totaled 595,635, according to an update issued by the National Establishment for Guides in Madinah on Thursday.

It said 32,336 pilgrims arrived in Madinah on Wednesday while 21,691 left the holy city on the same day for their countries.

With this the number of foreign pilgrims who left Madinah after visiting the Prophet's Mosque after Haj totaled 333,137 as of Wednesday. The number of pilgrims who remained in Madinah until Wednesday evening, the last day of the month of Dul Hijjah, exceeded 262,422, compared to 157,176 pilgrims on the same day last season.

Director General of Saudi Arabian Airlines Saleh Bin Nasser Al-Jasser made an inspection tour of Prince Muhammad Bin Abdulaziz Airport in Madinah on Thursday to check on the smooth departure of pilgrim flights from the airport.

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source: saudigazette.com.sa

Peace, comfort prevail as over 1.5m pray in Makkah, Madinah

source: saudigazette.com.sa

OVER 1.5 million pilgrims, visitors and worshipers performed Friday prayers at the Grand Mosque in Makkah and the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah in peace and comfort after successfully completing their Haj rituals.

In Makkah, the pilgrims and worshipers began arriving at the Grand Mosque smoothly right from the break of dawn.

Authorities were seen exerting all their efforts to provide the pilgrims with the best possible services. The courtyards, gates and walkways were all ready before the arrival of the pilgrims and worshipers. The agencies made sure that the movement of pilgrims and worshipers was streamlined.

With temperatures around 40 Celsius (110 Fahrenheit) many pilgrims carried water and tried to help each other. Pilgrims who could not walk were pushed around in wheelchairs by volunteers and workers.

Regularly-spaced taps provided thirsty pilgrims with spring water. At all the Grand Mosque’s entrances, policemen controlled the movement of pilgrims who expressed joy and happiness for being in the proximity of the Grand Mosque.

They performed their prayers with devotion, tranquility and peace of mind amid an integrated system of services and arrangements provided by the government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman as well as the nongovernment agencies. The services provided were supervised by the Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques within the second stage of the presidency’s Haj plan.

The circumambulation (mataf) area was full of pilgrims performing their farewell Tawaf (Tawaf Al-Wadaa) before their departure from the holy lands. The expansion of the mataf facilitated an orderly, methodical and systemized performance of the important ritual.

The pilgrims and worshipers were able to perform Friday prayer in full security and safety.

Copies of the Holy Qur’an were available in large numbers and were easily accessible. Chilled Zamzam water and plastic tumblers were easily available. Cleaners kept the Grand Mosque clean. Air-conditioners, fans, loudspeakers and facilities for hearing the spontaneous translation of the Khutba (Friday sermon) were available, aside from golf carts and wheelchairs to help the aged and people with special needs.

In Madinah too, worshipers started arriving at the Prophet’s Mosque from early morning. All the government agencies, the mosque’s administrations and the nongovernment sector exerted their utmost efforts to provide the best services to the worshipers. The pilgrims performed Friday prayer before departing from Madinah for their respective countries after performing their Haj rites.

The pilgrims expressed gratitude to King Salman, Crown Prince Muhammad and Emir of Madinah Prince Faisal Bin Salman for the best services they were provided.

source: saudigazette.com.sa

Sightseeing after Haj and December Umrah with British haj travel

Sightseeing after Haj and December Umrah with British haj travel

SAUDI tour guides volunteered to host 260 Indian pilgrims for sightseeing in historic Jeddah last Saturday.

This initiative was conducted by a group of professional and specialist tourist guides from Jeddah Our Days of Bless Establishment, Unique Tours Company, and the Heart of Jeddah group.

The initiative aims at hosting 1 million pilgrims in historic Jeddah, which was registered as a UNESCO world heritage site in 2014.

The Indian pilgrims started their visit from the historical gate, from where the volunteering tourist guides took them through the narrow alleys of the old city to visit the famous historic houses such as the House of Ba’eeshen, and the House of Salloom, which is more than eight hundred years old. Then they visited the "Jeddah Our Days of Bless Library”, and “Jeddah Our Days of Bless Gallery”, which contains many portraits by local artists representing the culture and heritage of Jeddah.

Samer Komosani, one of the tour guides and executive partner in Unique Tours, emphasized: “A group of volunteers who adore the city of Jeddah and wanted to have a role in serving the pilgrims came up with the initiative. We hope that this first wave of pilgrims who visited the historic Jeddah would be the core for making new projects that serve the sites of historic Jeddah and create more job opportunities for the youth in the tourism industry.”

Francisco Rosique, a Spanish expatriate who adores the Saudi Hijazi Culture and Heritage, joined the group. Rosique was wearing the Hijazi traditional outfit throughout the visit.

He said visits historic Jeddah every weekend. “On weekends, I dress up in traditional Hijazi costume and come to the historical area with my friends to spend some time around the old historical houses," Rosique said.

"I think the tradition and culture of Jeddah is very nice and beautiful. Many times I have visited Madinah Al-Tayebat International Museum of Science and Knowledge in Jeddah," he added.

One of the tourist guides who volunteered in the initiative was the first Saudi female tourist guide, Abeer Abu Sulayman. She noted: “We would like to let the pilgrims experience real tourism inside Saudi Arabia. We want them to see the beautiful parts of our country, one of them the historic area of Jeddah, which is a UNESCO world heritage site.”

Abu Sulayman added, "Today we were lucky to receive 260 pilgrims. All the activities were free for them because we want to elaborate this initiative and to make it a reality for all other pilgrims."

Abu Sulayman said she been working in the historical area since 2011, and with the Saudi Vision 2030, she was sure women were going to have a big role in the country's tourism industry.

One of the Indian pilgrims, Mazhar Khan, expressed his happiness after praying Maghreb at the historic Al-Shafie Mosque, which is one of the oldest mosques of Jeddah. It was built 800 years ago.

“We were happy to see the historical places of Jeddah, from cultural houses to ancient mosques such as the Al-Shafie Mosque. Every one showed us a lot of respect in the historical area," said Khan.

"The Haj trip was so easy. The Saudi government helped us so much. There were many facilities including water fountains that made our trip far easier than it used to be in the past. I thank Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman for making the Haj trip a very easy and comfortable one," Khan said.

December Umrah packages 2017    |    Umrah packages 2017-2018

source: saudigazette.com.sa/

Pilgrims in Madinah after a successful Hajj

Source:arabnews.com

Pilgrims in Madinah after a successful Hajj

Many pilgrims have arrived in Madinah after a spiritually uplifting few days in and around the holy city of Makkah. They are visiting the Prophet’s Mosque, as well as other attractions around Madinah as authorities announce the third phase of their Hajj plan.(Photos by SPA)

Source:arabnews.com