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- EDD K. USMAN | Twitter: @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 | Facebook: SDN — SciTech & Digital News
(SDN) — Filipino pilgrims can look forward to a pleasant accommodation for their days of stay in Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, during the 2024 Hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage.
Although the pilgrimage proper is only from five to six days for its major rituals at the Masjidil Haram (Grand Mosque) for the Tawaf or Circumambulation of the Ka’aba in Makkah, Arafah for Uqof (Standing in Arafah), and Mina, the Tent City, where Stoning of the Devil is performed, pilgrims may stay in the Kingdom for a month or less, depending on their airline booking, or availability of flights.
While in Saudi Arabia, Commissioner Michael M. Mamukid of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) has relayed to SDN – SciTech and Digital News the NCMF has contracted Al Kishwa Towers Hotel in Makkah for the 4,500 Filipino pilgrims who are set to perform the pilgrimage this year.
“The Hajj is proceeding (for Filipinos) and we already made advance payment to the service providers. This year, our hotel is Al Kishwa Towers Hotel, a 4-star hotel situated within 800 meters from Masjidil Haram,” said Mamukid, who was the Commission’s officer-in-charge before the appointment of new NCMF Secretary Sabuddin N. Abdurahim.
(His words in Taglish: Tuloy na tuloy ang Hajj at nakapag advance payment na tayo sa service providers. This year ang hotel natin ay Al Kiswah Towers Hotel, a 4-star hotel situated within 800 meters from Masjid al-Haram.)
Mamukid is with NCMF Secretary Sabuddin N. Abdurahim and NCMF Executive Director Tahir Lidasan, Jr., officer-in-charge of the Bureau of Pilgrimage and Endowment (NCMF-BPE), in Saudi Arabia when he relayed the message to SDN through SMS, or text message.
Apparently, the trio were ironing kinks in the Philippine Hajj operation to achieve a successful pilgrimage for Filipinos, and prevent, as much as possible, the repetition of the 2023 Hajj operation fiasco that got the ire of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Public Accounts, prompting a public investigation. House leaders have scheduled a fifth hearing.
In his Hajj Advisory 11 on April 2, Abdurahim said:
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“Once we reach the Commission’s quota of 4,500 paid pilgrims, the ehajj.ph will be closed and no further applications will be approved. After this point, the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP, Commonwealth Branch) will no longer accept payments for the Hajj 2024,” he emphasized.
In a related development, Abang Marohomsalic, one of the long-time staff at the BPE, said pilgrims from the Philippines when they visit the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah, the city of the Prophet Muhammad SAW, will stay in hotels most of them own by Saudi service providers.
On the Al Kishwa Towers Hotel, Marohomsalic said each of the towers can accommodate around 6,000 guests.
Here are some photographs of Al Kishwa Towers Hotel taken from its website:
The hotel has rooms for one, two, three, four, and five beds. It has free Wi-Fi, flat screen TV sets, private bathrooms for each room. It also has a gym where pilgrims may flex their tired muscles.
According to www.islamicfinder.org the 2024 Hajj rituals will begin on a Friday evening, June 14, and end on a Wednesday evening, June 19.
But the website hastened to add the dates are tentative. The actual dates of the Hajj depend on the sighting of the crescent moon of Dhul Hijjah 2024, the 12th month of the lunar based Islamic calendar Hijri. In the Islamic calendar, the pilgrimage always starts on the 8th and ends on the 13th of Dhul Hijjah.
The Islamic year is only 356 days compared to the Gregorian calendar’s 365 (366 during leap year) days. Thus, the months of the Muslim calendar do not fall on the same time every year with the solar calendar.
“Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam. Hajj is a duty on every adult, sane, free Muslim who is capable of performing it once in a lifetime. A capable person is the one who can afford the trip both financially and health-wise, the website said. (/)