By SYED FAISAL ALI | ARAB NEWS
Published: Nov 18, 2010 23:49 Updated: Nov 18, 2010 23:49
MINA: Two thousand pilgrims from the Republic of Tatarstan performed Haj this year. They were extended all facilities by the Saudi authorities in performing the rituals of the pilgrimage, a source in the press service of the republic’s Muslim board said.
Tatarstan is located in the center of the East European Plain, approximately 800 km east of Moscow.
The first group of these pilgrims had arrived in Madinah from the capital Kazan via Istanbul on Oct. 25 and the last one arrived in Jeddah on Nov.11.
“All arrangements were made for their stay in the holy sites by our Idel-Haj Inter-Regional Pilgrimage Center, which facilitated pilgrims from 25 regions of Russia,” said Syumbel Valiullina, the spokesperson for the center. “The youngest pilgrim is the three-month-old first born of the Alimov couple from Moscow and the oldest is an 87-year-old woman,” the spokesperson said. “All the pilgrims are performing Haj for the first time and were religiously content.”
Seven experienced medics trained for work in field conditions accompanied the groups from Tatarstan to take care of them, Valiullina said.
“The pilgrims from Tatarstan were accommodated in good buildings and hotels with rooms for four to six persons each in Makkah and Madinah. The rooms have all facilities to make their stay comfortable as well as memorable,” Valiullina said.
All the pilgrims were chosen by raffle with preference to those who had not performed Haj before, Valiullina said.
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