Awqaf advises early registration for Haj

The Ministry of Endowments (Awqaf) and Islamic Affairs has urged applicants to complete the registration for Haj as early as possible.

While attending Qatar TV’s ‘Hayatna’ programme on Sunday, director of the Haj and Umrah Department at Awqaf Ali Sultan al-Musaifari stressed the importance of early registration for the Haj season.

He explained that early registration has proven successful in terms of getting the actual number of pilgrims on time and gives ample time to prepare the services that pilgrims need in Makkah.

He said Awqaf developed a plan for the Haj registration after the Saudi Ministry of Haj announced the beginning of preparations for the Haj season and the quota of each country. “Some fields in the registration system were modified to facilitate the procedures for the public considering that this played a major role in developing the pre-plan for registration procedures and studying the observations related to the last season, and avoiding them and setting some points to serve pilgrims during registration,” he said. The deadline for submitting the registration is on October 22.

Awqaf urged all those wishing to perform Haj this year to obtain the Haj permits and to contract with licensed Haj operators. The electronic raffle will begin immediately after the completion of the Haj registration and approvals will be sent to applicants during November.

Qatar’s quota of pilgrims this year is 4,400 pilgrims. For Qatari pilgrims, the age of those wishing to register for Haj must not be less than 18 years, and they are allowed to register three companions with them. Gulf citizens and expatriates need to be at least 45 years old, and their period of residence in the country must not be less than 15 years. They are allowed to register only one companion per application.