JEDDAH — Acting Minister of Media Dr. Majid Bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi and the President for the General Presidency of the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques Sheikh Dr. Abdurrahman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Sudais, launched, via videoconference, on Wednesday the operational plan for Hajj season 1442 H (2021)

Dr. Al-Qasabi, in his speech on the occasion, expressed happiness to participate in the launch of the media plan for the Presidency for this year's Hajj season, while stressing that it is the Kingdom, leadership and the people’s privilege and honor to serve the Two Holy Mosques and the pilgrims — both for Hajj and Umrah — and visitors.

"The Kingdom's government, under the leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, has enabled all concerned sectors to facilitate service to pilgrims, and use all capabilities to help pilgrims complete their Hajj obligation and rituals with security, safety, ease and health," he said.

Dr. Al-Qasabi reiterated that for the second year in a row the organization of the Hajj season is taking place amid exceptional circumstances in light of what the whole world is witnessing with ongoing developments of the novel coronavirus pandemic and the emergence of new mutations of the virus.

With the COVID-19 pandemic still affecting the world, the Kingdom decided to limit this year’s Hajj season to 60,000 pilgrims. The pilgrims, both citizens and residents, have been selected from within the Kingdom. This move was taken in order to preserve the health and safety of pilgrims, and ensure that the Hajj rituals are held in a safe and healthy environment with the application of precautionary measures.

The acting Minister of Media also expressed thanks to the Presidency’s president and its employees for their continuous efforts to serve the Two Holy Mosques.

For his part, President Sheikh Al-Sudais extended his thanks to the wise leadership for the generous and great care it accords to the Two Holy Mosques and the pilgrims, Umrah pilgrims and visitors, stressing that the state’s care has manifested in the wise and successful decisions and precautionary measures taken by the Kingdom in the Two Holy Mosques since the outbreak of the pandemic.

These measures enabled the exceptional Hajj season to be crowned with great success that the whole world witnessed. The Hajj season was streamlined with codified procedures and extensive arrangements in which many state agencies joined hands to achieve a successful and incident-free Hajj season.

Sheikh Al-Sudais also highlighted the Presidency's keenness to intensify precautions and activate the technical aspects, while facilitating rituals, enriching the experience and achieving leadership in good hospitality in line with the values of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its Vision 2030.

He indicated that the Presidency's plan for this year's Hajj season 2021 depends on several pillars, namely, hospitality that aims to highlight the values of generosity and cordiality in providing services to pilgrims of the Grand Mosque, which are derived from the true religion and the teachings of the Prophet, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, and what has been known about the people of the Kingdom since its inception at the hands of the founder, late King Abdulaziz up to this prosperous era.

Sheikh Al-Sudais indicated that the Presidency aims to distribute bottles of Zamzam water to pilgrims during this year's Hajj season, and it has used the latest artificial intelligence techniques to provide bottles of the blessed Zamzam water through smart robots and high-tech vehicles, to provide chilled and sterilized water, according to the precautionary controls and procedures.

He also said that the Presidency will be providing more than 800 “manual and electric, single or double” vehicles to facilitate movement within the Grand Mosque and its courtyards, and to ease the performance of rituals for the elderly and the people with special needs among the pilgrims.

He said the Presidency has recruited up to 5,000 workers to sterilize the entire Grand Mosque, its courtyards and facilities ten times a day, plus the backup washes, using more than 60,000 liters of disinfectant materials.

The Presidency has worked to use the latest technologies in the field of sterilization and disinfection to ensure that the environment of the Grand Mosque is free of any viruses or epidemics, as smart robots and a number of modern mechanisms have been included in the sterilization operations and are operated by a group of qualified national competencies.

He indicated that the campaign titled “Serving the Pilgrim and the Visitor is a badge of pride for us” continues for the ninth year in a row, with the Presidency aiming, through it, to provide valuable gifts such as umbrellas, sterilizers, and the like, making it easier for the pilgrim to perform their rituals.

With regard to grouping and gatherings, Sheikh Al-Sudais explained that the Presidency has prepared a tight plan in cooperation with the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah and concerned authorities to facilitate the entry of pilgrims to the Grand Mosque to perform the three-time circumambulations of Arrival Tawaf, Tawaf Al-Ifadah and Farewell Tawaf through multiple entrances and exits, while raising the capacity of the virtual paths on the courtyard to 25.

Regarding the precautionary measures, he said the Presidency was keen on continuous sterilization of all facilities used by pilgrims before and after performing rituals, including sterilization of all direct service workers and the provision of disinfectants at all entrances, corridors and squares.

Sheikh Al-Sudais added the Presidency has not neglected people with special needs. In the interest of this dear group, the Presidency has prepared a number of small rooms for prayer to be adapted for the elderly and people with special needs, in addition to special toilets for them, and an electronic application under the name “movement” to request transportation services inside the Grand Mosque. There are more than 3,000 women working in the Presidency to serve female pilgrims at the Grand Mosque at the highest levels.

He also highlighted the Presidency’s keenness to convey the message of the Two Holy Mosques, the message of moderation, to the whole world, through more than 109 lessons offered by more than 29 teachers affiliated to the Council of Senior Scholars, imams, preachers and teachers of the Two Holy Mosques. It is broadcast throughout the year via Manarat Al-Haramain application, and translated into 25 international languages.

He pointed to the continuation of the project of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman Bin Abdulaziz to translate Friday sermons in the Two Holy Mosques as well as the sermon on the Day of Arafat, with the aim of delivering them to nearly 100 million listeners. This is in addition to broadcasting the translation of the sermon on the Day of Arafat in both English and French on the two TV channels of the Holy Qur’an And the Sunnah of the Prophet.

Sheikh Al-Sudais said the Presidency has allocated approximately 10,000 qualified and trained people to serve pilgrims during this blessed season while following the precautionary and preventive measures set in place for this year’s Hajj. The Presidency also plans to keep pace with qualitative leaps in technology, noting that the Presidency was keen to launch many electronic services aimed at facilitating the performance of the pilgrims' Hajj rituals. — SPA