With less than two months before Haj 1436 kicks off, the South African Haj and Umrah Council (Sahuc) has called on local pilgrims to adequately prepare for the rigours of the journey ahead. Around 2000 South African hujaaj are expected to complete the highly spiritual pilgrimage this year, forming part of a broader two million Muslims from across the globe that will flow into holy cities of Makkah and Medina during the latter part of September.

Recent developments within the kingdom are expected to greatly congestion, particularly in Makkah’s Masjid al-Haram. An increase in capacity means that roughly 105 000 people will now be able to perform the tawaaf at any given time, as opposed to 22 000 in prior years.

Despite this, construction remains on-going in many parts of the city, with a date of completion set for either the latter part of 2016, or early 2017. This means that there will still be several ‘no-go’ zones in and around the Haram, all of which have been demarcated for pilgrims.

“We make dua that they complete it speedily so that we can get back to normalised levels of the (haj) quota,” said Sahuc president, Shaheen Essop, highlighting the fact that the developments have played a major role in limiting the Hajj quota on local hujaaj.

With the pilgrimage set to take place during Saudi Arabia’s summer months, temperatures are likely average around 45° C. This has prompted Sahuc to advise expected pilgrims to hydrate themselves regularly throughout the journey, specifically with the abundance of Zam Zam water available for to them. Hujaaj were also urged to ensure they achieve a certain level of physical fitness, to cope with the substantial amount of walking they are likely to do.

Essop assured hujaaj that if a situation did arise in the kingdom, Sahuc representatives would be there to assist any way possible.

“We will have a team of people that are going to be at your beck and call. You’ve got the workers from the haj operating company there, but Sahuc also sends a team up. We have clinic facilities both in Madinah and Makkah, as well as in Azizia,” he assured, adding that Sahuc’s mission would remain in the kingdom until the last hujjaj departed.

With Muslims from nearly 200 nationalities are expected to compromise this year’s pilgrimage, language barriers are sure to be an issue amongst the different hujaaj. In addition, this is likely to lead to a difference in cultural practices where the religion is concerned. Essop urged the local contingent to observe patience in this regard.

“Someone may do something different to the way you’ve learnt it, and that is why the sabr needs to be there. We are not there to judge others, we are there to concentrate on our own Ibadah,” he stressed.

he further reminded hujaaj that they would serve as ambassadors for the country during their time in the holy cities. VOC (Mubeen Banderker)