First group of haj pilgrims arrives home

SEPANG: The first group of Malaysian haj pilgrims for the 2017 season totalling 414 individuals arrived at the KL International Airport (KLIA), here today.
They were received on arrival via flight Flynas XY9033 from Jeddah at 5.05am by Tabung Haji (TH) deputy chief executive officer Datuk Badlisyah Abdul Ghani and several senior officials of TH.
Speaking to reporters, Badlisyah said the management of haj pilgrims for this season went smoothly except that four of the 30,200 pilgrims could not carry out the fifth pillar of Islam as they were in a coma.
He said the four pilgrims would be given priority by TH to again perform the pilgrimage next year if their heath permitted it.
Meanwhile, 37 haj pilgrims died this year with 16 of them being able to complete all of the haj rituals, he said.
He said the process of bringing back the haj pilgrims from Jeddah and Madinah would involve 119 flights with the last one scheduled for Oct 5.
Meanwhile, a pilgrim Noriah Ibrahim, 54, shared her joy at being able to perform all the rituals without assistance from others despite the fact that she was suffering from a knee ailment and her small size physically.
Measuring 121.6 centimeters in height, the religious teacher from Labis, Johor said she could only pray that the pain on her right knee which she had felt since before departing for the haj flight here would be bearable throughout her stay in the Holy Land to enable her to perform all the haj rituals.
Another pilgrim, Muhammad Idris Hasim, 26, said the initiative by her mother to open an account with Tabung Haji when he was 16 years old was clearly fruitful when he was selected to perform the pilgrimage this year.
"My patience and resoluteness to save in the account had been beneficial as it allowed me to fulfil my dream of performing the haj at a young age," he added. — Bernama