KUWAIT: Starting from next year, the expats living in Kuwait would not be able to go for Hajj, an Arabic newspaper reported yesterday, quoting a well informed source in the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs. The source said the ministry has issued a decree recently, banning expat pilgrims from joining the Hajj expedition as the sanctioned quota of pilgrims has already been exceeded. The decision will make it difficult for the expats who desired to go for hajj from Kuwait, especially those who have lived in this country for many years now.
Also, the countries that many expats hail from have strict rules for Hajj. "I think it will not be possible for me to go for Hajj from Jordan as it also has its own quota, and the Jordanians residing there will get priority. Further, as far as I know, there is an age limit for the pilgrims because of the high demand, which I will not be able to meet as I am only 24, and I believe the required age limit is 40 years or above," said Mohammed, who hoped to go for Hajj in 2013. Some campaigns may not be much affected by this decision due to the strata that their clients come from. "All the pilgrims going with our campaign are Kuwaitis, so we will still have the same number of pilgrims.
We will only be affected on the workers' front as those who serve the pilgrims during the entire trip are all expats," Ahmad Al-Houti, owner of the Al- Houti Hajj Campaign, told the Kuwait Times. According to Al-Houti, this news was not absolutely definitive. "I am still not sure if this decision will really be applied next year. The Ministry has repeatedly spoken in the past about reducing the number of Kuwaiti pilgrims from 400 to just 200, but till today, they have not implemented this decision. However, if it was indeed applied, we will surely suffer a financial loss," Al- Houti said, claiming there were about 80 campaigns in Kuwait for Hajj. Sumaya, a 31-year-old expat, was very disappointed to hear this news. "It would be very difficult for me to go to Lebanon and then travel to Hajj from there. I may not be able to undertake the pilgrimage at all, or I will be forced to search for an alternative option such as traveling from a country nearby, such as the UAE or Bahrain.
If there is a waiting list, I might chose to wait, hoping that in case the quota was not filled up by Kuwaiti pilgrims, expats like us may get a chance," she said. Ahmad Al-Duweihi, the owner of the Al- Duweihi Hajj Campaign, explained that Kuwait was allotted the quota of 8,000 pilgrims, of which the Ministry of Awqaf set aside 3,000 slots for the expats living here. "The reason for issuing such a decree is the rising demand for Hajj every year. We always seek an addition of 6,000 more seats to the existing quota so that no one is kept waiting," he said.
According to him, six years back, the Ministry of Awqaf also classified the local campaigns into ones meant for Kuwaitis and others for expats. "The Saudi government has divided the land as per nationalities, and allotted a quota to all countries. Earlier, the Kuwaiti campaigns included everyone and each nationality used to stay in a different area, but now when the campaigns themselves have been divided, the members of each camp arriving from Kuwait can stay at the same place," he added.
© Kuwait Times 2012
