Telangana Minister for Animal Husbandry Talasani Srinivas Yadav on Saturday said the state has made arrangements for Haj. In all, 7,000 people are expected to travel for the pilgrimage this year.
A meeting regarding the preparation for the holy month was held at Haj house in Nampally. Yadav assured the pilgrims that the Telangana government would provide all facilities to the pilgrims. Following the meeting, Nampally MLA Zafar Hussain urged the people to fully participate in the ritual. The first batch of pilgrims will leave for Saudi Arabia on June 7. The rituals are tentatively supposed to begin on June 25.
Haj is one of the five pillars of Islam, observed during Zill Hajja, the last month of the Islamic calendar. The pilgrims simultaneously converge on Mecca for the week of the Haj, and perform a series of pre-Islamic rituals; pilgrims wear a single piece of unstitched white clothing known as the Ihram, walk counter-clockwise seven times around the Kaaba; kiss the black stone mounted on the corner wall of Kaaba, walk briskly back and forth between the hills of Safa and Marwah seven times, drink from the Zamzam Well, then visit the plains of Mount Arafat to stand in vigil, spend a night in the plain of Muzdalifa, and perform symbolic stoning of the devil by throwing stones at three pillars. Following the sacrifice of a cattle, the male pilgrims either shave or trim their heads while females trim the ends of their hair. After completion of the ritual, Eid Al Azha is observed.
