| Abdul Hakiim Yakof |
FAMILY members and relatives filled the Departure Hall of the Brunei International Airport to bid goodbye to pilgrims of the third Brunei Darussalam Haj flight that left for Madinah at 8.08pm yesterday.
They were scheduled to arrive at 12.48am Madinah time.
Onboard the flight were 253 pilgrims under Darussalam Holdings Sdn Bhd, 115 males and 133 female pilgrims, including five officers from the Haj Affairs Medical Office and Darussalam Holdings.
Present to bid the pilgrims farewell were Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Haji Awang Badaruddin bin Pengarah Dato Paduka Haji Awang Othman, the Minister of Religious Affairs; Pehin Datu Lailaraja Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Haji Awang Halbi bin Haji Mohd Yussof, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports in his capacity as the Chairman of Perbadanan Tabung Amanah Islam Brunei (TAIB) Board of Directors; Dato Seri Setia Dr Awang Haji Zulkarnain bin Haji Hanafi, Minister of Health; Pengiran Dato Seri Paduka Haji Bahrom bin Pengiran Haji Bahar, Deputy Minister of Education; Dato Seri Paduka Haji Awang Abdul Mokti bin Haji Mohd Daud, Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs; Dato Seri Setia Haji Abdul Aziz bin Orang Kaya Maharaja Lela Haji Mohd Yusof, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Religious Affairs (MoRA); and Haji Harun bin Haji Junid and Roslan bin Haji Taja’ah, Deputy Permanent Secretaries at the MoRA.
Also present to bid farewell to the female pilgrims were the wives of the Minister of Religious Affairs and Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs.
A Doa Selamat recitation was led by Pehin Khatib Dato Paduka Haji Emran bin Haji Kunchang, while the Azan (call to prayer) was carried out by Mudim Haji Metassim bin Haji Metussin.
Norhayati binti Abdullah, 47, and her husband Zakaria bin Haji Matusin, 57, expressed their gratitude to Allah the Almighty for granting them a chance to perform Haj for the first time.
“As a Muallaf, this is something that is very valuable to me,” said Norhayati, who embraced Islam in 1985.
“We have been waiting for the opportunity to perform this pilgrimage for so long. It was difficult for us in the past, as our children were still young. Now that they are all grown up and the opportunity presents itself, we are finally able to carry out this religious duty.”
Mahani bin Haji Marani, 53, and his wife Saidah binti Rauf, 54, who are also performing Haj for the first time, said that preparations of the pilgrims in terms of worship and the pillars of Haj, obligatory and Sunnah acts have been handled very well by Darussalam Holdings.
They are very confident with the agency with its strong reputation as an experienced and long established company that handles Haj and Umrah packages.
Muhd ??Abdul Rashid bin Maidin, 25, joined by his parents and two siblings for Haj, said that apart from performing the pilgrimage, he is looking forward to visiting historic places in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as part of the Haj package.
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