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Join on Telegram Rabat – Morocco’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs has announced the opening of the payment process for Hajj 2022 fees for pilgrims first registered on the Hajj waiting list following the 2019 draw.
The ministry said in a statement that the pilgrims, who have to meet the conditions previously announced, can pay the fees between June 6-8 through Al Barid-Bank agencies across Morocco.
Local authorities will contact the citizens concerned to provide them with administrative certificates to present when providing the payment, the statement detailed.
Moroccans selected to perform pilgrimage to Hajj in 2022 will have to pay MAD 63,000 ( $6,405), a fee that many citizens have decried for being highly expensive.
In response to the widespread criticism about the prohibitive cost of the Hajj fees, the ministry emphasized that the fee details came from Saudi Arabia and that his ministry did not add a “single dime” to the cost.
While the cost of housing in the Saudi cities of Mecca and Medina, the two destinations for Hajj goers, remains the same as in 2019, the organization of Hajj entails other logistic services, argued the ministry. The cost of such services is “non-negotiable,” it said, without providing details about the nature of the services.
Pilgrims not on the waiting list and meeting the conditions to perform Hajj had to deposit the amount of the expenses in “one go at a bank postal agency” between May 30 and June 3.
Saudi Arabia recently ruled that people above the age of 65 cannot participate in Hajj rituals.
Responding to Moroccans’ concerns about the age restriction, the ministry said that “the decision to exclude pilgrims above the age of 65 from participating in Hajj was a sovereign decision by Saudi Arabia.”
It added that decision is applied to the entire Islamic world, not just Morocco. People who are above the age of 65 are more “fragile and prone to getting sick,” Minister of Islamic Affairs Ahmed Toufiq said recently, explaining that some Hajj rituals require pilgrims to be in good health and in good physical shape. Hajj 2022 will start in July.
