Largest group of haj pilgrims departs for Jeddah

SINGAPORE - The largest group of pilgrims who are undertaking the haj this year (2018) left for Saudi Arabia on Monday (Aug 13).

Numbering 326 in total, the pilgrims left for the city of Jeddah, accompanied by Haji Mohammad Alami Musa who is leading a 22-member delegation from the Singapore Pilgrims' Affairs Office. The delegation will provide medical and welfare services for Singapore pilgrims in the holy lands.

This year, more Muslims will have the opportunity to perform the pilgrimage, which they are obliged to do if they are able, with the completion of construction work in Mecca. This allowed the haj quota to be increased to 900, a hundred more than last year's quota.

The group was sent off by Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs and Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Mr Masagos Zulkifli. Mr Amrin Amin, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Health, and Haji Abdul Razak Hassan Maricar, chief executive of the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis), were also present to see them off.

Said Mr Masagos: "Annually, Muis gets a good number of quota to fulfil the haj obligations for our citizens, and this year we are very happy that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has also given us a good number of quota to enable our citizens to perform their haj.

"We hope that in years to come, we can even get more (quota) for fellow citizens to perform their haj in the future."

The last group of pilgrims will leave on Aug 16. Pilgrims are expected to arrive back in Singapore by Sept 15.

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