Affected By Sharia Of Indonesian Hajj Pilgrims Separately From Groups, PPIH Asks Cluster Chairs To Conduct Data Collection

JAKARTA - Saudi Arabia's Hajj Organizers (PPIH) issued a circular yesterday that regulates the merger of separate congregational couples in hotel placements in Makkah. This is in response to the incident of couples affected by sharia-based service policies so that they are separated during placement.

The head of the PPIH of Saudi Arabia, Muchlis M Hanafi, said that in order to ensure the comfort and benefit of Indonesian pilgrims, especially married and married couples, children and parents, as well as elderly/disabled pilgrims and assistants who are currently experiencing separation from their homes in Makkah.

Muchlis said that the separation of residences between family members in one group this year was due to the policy of Hajj services as long as the congregation was in Makkah based on sharia or service provider companies.

According to him, this policy cannot be avoided in the phase of placing the congregation in Makkah. Meanwhile in Medina, the placement of pilgrims can still be done based on the group of arrivals from the country.

"With humanitarian considerations, the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah of Saudi Arabia together with eight sharia of service providers for Indonesian pilgrims have agreed that separate couples can be combined in one hotel, without questioning the difference in sharia, and will adjust their Nusuk cards," he said in Makkah, Sunday, May 18, which was confiscated by Antara.

In this regard, the heads of the Group are asked to collect data on pilgrims who are included in the separate categories of couples, such as husband and wife, children and parents, the elderly or people with disabilities and companions, by including the names of the congregation and their respective sharia identities.

The data, he said, was immediately submitted to the sector for further processing by the Makkah Working Area (Danner) in the context of merging.

"For pilgrims who have successfully joined their partners but have not officially reported, they should report to the Head of the Group to be forwarded to the Daker Makkah sector," he said.

"This is important so that their existence is recorded by sharia, and does not cause problems during the movement from Makkah to Arafah on 8 Dzulhijjah 1446 H," he continued.

Muchlis also asked the Head of the Makkah Daker together with all the Sector Heads to immediately appoint a special person to handle the process of merging a separate congregational pair. This is important to immediately ensure that coordination runs effectively and a quick response to field reports.

"The process of re-incorporating separate pilgrims is to be completed within a maximum of 1x24 hours after arrival in Makkah," he said.

Indonesian pilgrims began to come to Makkah on May 10, 2025. They are pilgrims who departed in wave I and first settled in Medina for approximately nine days. To date, there have been more than 120 flying groups (clusters) with 47,014 Hajj candidates who have been dispatched from Medina to Makkah.

In addition, Makkah starting today has also received the arrival of pilgrims departing in wave II, from the country landing at King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah.

There are 14 groups scheduled to enter Makkah from arrival at Jeddah Airport on Saturday, with a total of about 5,300 calhaj. The process of arrival of wave II pilgrims from Jeddah to Makkah takes place from 17"31 May 2025.