Preparation for hajj-2012 started in Dagestan

Reception of requests from the people who wish to make a hajj for free or on charitable quotas allotted by Foundation of Suleiman Kerimov, member of Council of the Federation of the Russian Federation, started in Dagestan since January, 1. Within the framework of this charitable program poor Moslems from different regions of Northern Caucasus annually go on a hajj.

According to Ahmad Khabibov, General Director for organization of the charitable hajj, “in spite of the fact that the hajj campaign itself will begin only this autumn, actions for its preparations have already started”.

According to Khabibov, reception of requests for the charitable hajj will last till June, 1. “This year our organization launches a web-site where, beside reference materials, one will be able to watch updates of the information in the real-time regime. One wishing to make a hajj on charitable quotas will find one’s data there, see at what stage preparation of the document is, who will head the group etc.”.

Members of Religious Board of Moslems of Dagestan told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent that in 2011 Senator Kerimov’s charitable foundation sent over two thousand pilgrims on the hajj. Senator Kerimov’s foundation has been allotting money on organization of the charitable hajj for already five years.

“All in all about 10 thousand residents of the republic have visited Mecca 90% out of whom went on a hajj for the first time. About one third of them went for free, within the framework of Senator Suleiman Kerimov’s program.

A specific feature of the past hajj company was that because of the situation in some of the Arab countries the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation prohibited the tour operators to transport the pilgrims by land transport. So, the workload on local airlines increased by several times. The total number of flights from Makhachkala within the framework of this campaign was 160.

Sakhrat Magomedov was among those who made a hajj in 2011 on the charitable quota. According to him, he was sincerely pleased with his lucky chance to visit the sacred places.

“We are thankful to the organizers for this chance but there are a couple of points worth taking into consideration for next time. The hotels where the pilgrims are accommodated are very far from the places of the hajj which causes a lot of problems. It would also be nice to reduce the number of people in the groups”, Magomedov said.