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• EDD K. USMAN | X (Twitter): @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 |Facebook: SDN – SciTech & Digital News

NINOY AQUINO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, May 19, 2025 (SDN) — Over 800 Filipino pilgrims being managed by the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) are flying to the Kingdom of Saud Arabia today, May 19, in four flights.

NCMF Secretary Sabuddin N. Abdurahim and new Saudi Arabia Ambassador-designate to the Philippines Faisal Ebraheem al-Ghamdi led the send-off at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal I for the first flight on board a Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) for 377 pilgrims to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The first Hajj flight left passed 3 p.m.

Ambassador Al-Ghamdi was accompanied by Hameed Al-Shammari, head of Media and Religious Affairs Department of the Royal Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the Philippines.

A second Saudia flight leaves tonight at 11 o’clock. More pilgrims also left for Saudi Arabia on board Kuwait Airways and Qatar Airways. Hajj pilgrims from the Philippines have the right to choose the airline they prefer granted by the NCMF Charter, Republic Act No. 9997.

Abdurahim, a native of Tawi-Tawi, one of the five component provinces of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), said the first flight flies direct to Madinah, the city of the Prophet Mohammad (SAW). While Madinah is not part of the major Hajj rituals, pilgrims across the world, nevertheless, always visit the Masjidil an-Nabawi (the Prophet’s Mosque) to pray for Islam’s Messenger and seek God’s mercy and forgiveness.

For this year’s pilgrimage, the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah granted the Philippines through the NCMF a quota of 5,000 pilgrims which is already fully filled up.

The SDN – SciTech & Digital News learned from a message sent by Benjamin Abuat, who heads the Flight & Booking Unit of the Bureau of Pilgrimage and Endowment (NCMF-BPE), and one of the leaders of the NCMF Advanced Supervisory Team now in Saudi Arabia, gave the breakdown of today’s four flights: Saudia, SV 861 — 377 pilgrims; Saudia, SV 871 — 280; Qatar Airways, QR 933 — 63; and Kuwait Airways, KY 418 — 100, for a total of 820.

Abdurahim expressed his profuse thanks to Ambassador Al-Ghamdi for gracing the send-off program at NAIA Departure Lounge, which the NCMF head emphasized was the first-time a Saudi ambassador attended the pilgrims’ send-off for the Mecca pilgrimage.

Hajj pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of Islam

In a post on his social media page, Director Benrajiv J. Kashim, head of the Bureau of Muslim Cultural Affairs (NCMF-BMCA), described the presence at the program of the top envoy to the Philippines of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, as “an incredible gesture of solidarity and support” to the Filipino pilgrims.

“We extend our heartfelt thanks to His Excellency for honoring us and our pilgrims on this special occasion,” says Kashim, who is also from Tawi-Tawi, the new head of the BMCA.

On the other hand, he said Abdurahim spoke before the pilgrims before they boarded their flight, extending his good wishes as he reminded them of the challenges that await them in their sacred journey of a lifetime, “and the unwavering faith they must carry with them every step of the way.”

Guiding the 820 pilgrims are 27 “sheikhs” or pilgrims’ leaders who assist them in performing the rituals of the pilgrimage in Mecca, Arafah, and Mina, a truly physically and emotionally demanding series of activities in five or six days.

Reckoned through the Islamic calendar, the Hajj pilgrimage occurs every year from Dhul Hijjah 8 to 13, 1446, which this year falls on June 4 to 9. Attended by millions of pilgrims from across the world, the Hajj rituals happen in different dates in the Gregorian calendar because Hijri, the Islamic calendar is lunar based, thus it is short by around 11 days compared to the Solar-based dating.

Dhul Hijjah is the holiest of the four holy months of the Hijri calendar, the other three being Muharram (first month), Rajab (7th month), and Ramadan (9th month).

Muslims believe that it was during Dhul Hijjah that Allah (God in Arabic) completed the religion of Islam, which is the major reason why it is the holiest of the Muslim months, even more so than Ramadan, the period of Sawm (Fasting).

The Hajj pilgrimage is one of the five pillars of Islam, and it’s obligatory on adult Muslims who are physically, financially, and emotionally capable to perform once in their lifetime.

“Uqof” (Standing in Arafah) is the paramount ritual of the Islamic pilgrimage, to occur on June 5, and Eid’l Adha (the Feast of Sacrifice) on June 6, the climax of the Hajj, during which Muslims slaughter animals (cow, sheep, or goat), part of the meat for distribution to the poor and needy.

After Arafah the pilgrims with the male in unsewn two pieces of white cloth they will descend in the early evening to Muzdalifah where they will offer prayers, pick up pebbles and proceed early morning of next day to Mina for the rituals called Throwing Stones at Satan symbolized by three pillars/walls called “Jammarats”. The ritual of casting stones is to ward off evil just like what Prophet Abraham (Ibrahim in Islam), peace be upon him, did in the desert of Arabia.

The five pillars of Islam are the Profession of Faith (Shahaddah), Salat (Five Daily Prayers), Sawm (Ramadan Fasting) and Zakat (Obligatory Charity, and Hajj pilgrimage. (/)

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