229 people became Hajj pilgrims under the direction of Grand Mufti’s Office

According to official data of the Central Department of Statistics and Information of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia this year 1 952 817 people from which 567 876 from Saudi Arabia, and the remaining 1 384 941 outside the Kingdom, have performed the pilgrimage of Hajj – one of the five pillars of Islam and a duty of every believer who meets all necessary religious, physical, financial and administrative requirements.

During the Hajj pilgrims from 164 countries have arrived in the holy lands, where the majority of them travelled by plane (1 334 227), 37 771 by bus and car, and the remaining 12 923 traveled by ship. The gender ratio shows that male pilgrims are 54 % and female pilgrims are 46 %. 

A small drop in the almost two millionth sample of the Muslim community in the world were the 229 people who successfully completed the performance of the pilgrimage of Hajj, trusting the organization of Grand Mufti’s Office. The main part of the rite ended without any cases of death or serious illness of the pilgrims.

From now on until 14th of October, when the return from the holy lands is, are foreseen visits in Mecca and the surroundings, visits in Medina, free visits to Kaaba, a well as religious programs and lectures.

For the successful implementation of the pilgrimage takes care an organizational team of 11 people – muftis, imam, theologians and medical staff. 

According to information of Hajj Department at Grand Mufti’s Office among the Bulgarian pilgrims the number of the women is 137 and the men are 92. This year the eldest Bulgarian pilgrims are Mehmed Shehov (83 years old) from Blagoevgrad region, and Rafie Halil (81 years old) from Kardzhali region, and the youngest are Izzet Kadir (24 year old) and Fatime Salyah (25 years old) from Plovdiv region. The average age of the pilgrims is 58,5 years, and the last year it was 57. 

The biggest number of pilgrims from the country is from the regional mufti’s offices Kardzhali, Aytos and Smolyan. In order to participate in the pilgrimage every pilgrim pays 2900 euro for provision of transportation, food, hotel, tents, fees, etc. Additionally 127 USD are paid for purchasing and slaughtering of qurban (sacrificial animal) which is one of the obligatory rites for the pilgrims performing Hajj-Tamattu’.

Beside the qurbans of the pilgrims during the days of Eid al-Adha are slaughtered additional 67 qurbans, donated to Grand Mufti’s Office from the Muslims in the country under the condition their donation to be performed in Mecca. The slaughtering of the qurbans was performed by the teams from the “Adahi” project of the Islamic Development Bank, within which about 1 million qurbans are slaughtered and disseminated to the needy in Mecca and Medina, as well as to the needy people in the Muslim countries such as Bangladesh, Mali, Somalia, Sudan and other Asian and African countries.