Rokiah Mahmud
The Brunei International Airport yesterday saw family members bid farewell to their loved ones who were set to perform haj in Saudi Arabia. Some 254 intending haj pilgrims boarded Royal Brunei Airlines Flight BI4203, (three officers from the Brunei Darussalam Haj Pilgrim Affairs Office (Medical)) scheduled to land in the holy city of Madinah at 1.40pm.
A total of 90 male and 118 female are under Darussalam Services Sdn Bhd (DSSB), while 23 male and 20 female under At-Taqwa Travel & Tours Sdn Bhd.
Intending haj pilgrim Talipuddin bin Tujoh and spouse Hajijah binti Tassan expressed their gratitude for being selected as part of this year’s group of pilgrims. “Alhamdulillah, we managed to make the necessary preparations especially in the aspect of health and met all requirements as well as attended a haj course”.
Meanwhile, Dr Haji Tassim bin Haji Abu Bakar said he and his wife applied for the pilgrimage in 2018, and were supposed to set out in 2020. However, they had to postpone the pilgrimage due to the COVID-19 outbreaks.
“Alhamdulillah, after two years, we were selected for this year’s haj season,” he said.
He also shared that they attended the haj course during which they were briefed on haj rituals such as Rukun and Wajib Haji.
He said, “We hope that we will be able to perform all the haj rituals while we are in the holy cities of Madinah and Mekkah in good health and obtain Haji Mabrur.”
Minister of Religious Affairs Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Haji Awang Badaruddin bin Pengarah Dato Paduka Haji Awang Othman, Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar and Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs Pengiran Dato Seri Paduka Haji Mohd Tashim bin Pengiran Haji Hassan were present to bid farewell to the second batch of intending pilgrims were.
Commissioner of Royal Brunei Police Force Dato Paduka Seri Haji Mohammad Irwan bin Haji Hambali and Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Brunei Darussalam Emad bin Abdul Aziz bin Saad Al Muhanna were also present.
