Kabul- It was a milestone for the one in which the Afghan phone had rang, the friend of God, Sardar, this time.
Sardar talked about the overwhelming happiness that wrapped him at that moment, and how the fate agreed to his dream and the winds took place with what he desires.
In a way that was not expected, the opportunity for a friend of God Sardar had the opportunity to perform Hajj this year, to complete the pillars of his religion, as he says to Al -Jazeera Net, which I met in his remote village on the borders of the cable, “It was unexpected, I finally achieved the security that every Muslim yearn for and obtained the Hajj visa this year.”
Afghan habits in Hajj
As in many countries, a large number of Afghans agree that the Hajj habits and traditions have changed in Afghanistan from what they were 40 years ago, Keep Some rituals and continued through time.
“I prepared my bag with ihram clothes and other clothes, I took enough dried fruits and nuts with me, in addition to raisins, almonds, walnuts, pistachios, cashews and green tea.”
But he confirms, smiling that “the most important thing we have is to take the tea jug with us, as we are the Afghans we used to drink it a lot and do not dispense with it,” noting that some of these needs bring friends and relatives as gifts for the pilgrim before his travel.
Among the habits that the Afghans preserved, says the principal of Omar bin Al -Khattab religious school, Sheikh Muhammad Hakani, that they call those who will go to the pilgrimage in order to pray in a group in the mosque or in his home, as his relatives and friends call him to the food periodically about a week before traveling a week, and they ask him to pray for them when he farewell to him with respect and reverence.
Majestic procession
And the farewell of pilgrims from relatives before traveling in large numbers at the airport, but the Ministry of Hajj adopted a new style that reduces crowding, as special buses take pilgrims from the pilgrims complex to the airport with a distance of 3 kilometers with a majestic procession that opens the streets and closes to cars and passers -by, in respect and honor for pilgrims and celebration of them, and the order is done in advance coordination with security and walking men.
As for relatives and friends, they are postponed until the return of pilgrims, as the four airports of Afghanistan are filled with future numbers despite the weak infrastructure.
The authorities are organizing a number of procedures to facilitate the arrangements of Hajj, including that it is not allowed for pilgrims to go from their homes to the airport directly, regardless of the pilgrim’s personality, but rather go to the pilgrims complex, which is considered the gathering point.
There is confirmation of the identification papers, and from obtaining the required vaccination doses, before heading to the airport to leave the country to the holy lands, according to the director of the pilgrims complex Abdul -Sabour Farouk who assured Al -Jazeera Net: “We offer the pilgrim for compulsory vaccinations against influenza and Kofid 19, and we receive some of the drugs they may need.”
The same spokesman indicated that dozens of specialized doctors accompany the pilgrims campaign to the Holy Land every year, in addition to the presence of medical centers licensed by the Saudi authorities in Mecca and Medina.
Upon the arrival of the pilgrims to the complex, they need to attend religious lessons and receive answers to their inquiries from specialized guides who remain with them until their return to Afghanistan within the Hajj campaign.
30 thousand pilgrims
Sardar was one of 30 thousand Afghan pilgrims who arrived at the Holy Land in Mecca and Madinah, who followed about a thousand trips organized by the Ministry of Hajj this year from 4 main airports in the country, which are Hirat, Mazar Sharif, Kandahar and Kabul.
The Afghan authorities hope that the Saudi authorities will increase the share of Afghanistan to reach 40 thousand pilgrims annually, due to the increasing demand of Afghan citizens to perform the rituals of Hajj, according to the media spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Hajj, Fadel Al -Husseini, who told Al -Jazeera Net, that the pilgrimage requests this year exceeded 60,000 in the whole country.
On the other hand, an official in the Ministry of Hajj adds that about 4 thousand pilgrims have failed this year to pay the costs of Hajj in all Afghanistan, 700 of them in the capital, Kabul, due to the difficult living conditions in the country and the financial distress of Afghan citizens.
Equipment in Hajj
The Ministry has announced that the cost of Hajj this year is 3837 thousand dollars, and includes the amount of residence in the hotel, travel, food tickets and internal transportation, and all the basics of the pilgrim.
The media spokesman for the Ministry of Hajj, Fadel Al -Husseini, confirms that “there is no excellent pilgrimage in Afghanistan, as all our citizens in the Hajj are equal, there is no distinction between them or in their places of residence inside Mecca or the city.”
The costs of the pilgrimage are paid in advance to the ministry, and it is striking that money is often returned from it after the pilgrims return to Afghanistan, under the name of “repetitions” (recovers), and according to the ministry’s data, 38 dollars were returned last year per pilgrim, and 110 dollars in the previous year.