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5.3m slated to perform Umrah before Ramadan

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JEDDAH: ARAB NEWS

Published — Tuesday 24 June 2014

Last update 24 June 2014 12:23 am

The number of Muslims performing the Umrah pilgrimage is expected to increase with the advent of Ramadan.
The latest statistics reveal that around 5.3 million pilgrims have entered the Kingdom up until Sunday since the beginning of the Umrah season.
The Ministry of Health said in a press statement that it would continue preparations for the Umrah season by spreading awareness among pilgrims on precautionary and preventive measures to stay healthy.
The ministry also stressed the importance of vaccinations, which should be taken by pilgrims to protect against diseases.
The ministry also said that it is closely monitoring the health condition of incoming Umrah pilgrims in the two holy cities of Makkah and Madinah from the day of their arrival until they leave the country. The Ministry of Haj has confirmed that no Umrah pilgrim has been affected by the coronavirus during the current season.

5.3m slated to perform Umrah before Ramadan | Arab News — Saudi Arabia News, Middle East News, Opinion, Economy and more.

 
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Space for 625,000 more created at Grand Mosque

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MAKKAH: ARAB NEWS

Published — Thursday 3 July 2014

Last update 3 July 2014 2:45 pm

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has instructed Grand Mosque authorities to open the newly expanded annex buildings of the Grand Mosque for the use of worshippers during Ramadan.
A source at the Presidency of the Two Holy Mosques said the king’s directive would provide extra prayer space for more than 625,000 worshippers inside the mosque and its courtyards. The royal gesture would help reduce congestion among worshippers inside and outside the mosque, he added.
The king has also ordered that pilgrims be allowed to make use of the expanded “mataf” (circumambulation area around the House of God) on the ground floor, as well as on the first floor, to accommodate 40,000 pilgrims per hour.
Nearly two million worshippers, including foreign pilgrims, attend taraweeh prayers at the mosque and a large number of them stand on roads leading to the mosque. School vacation in the Arab world has increased crowding in the holy city.
Maj. Gen. Abdul Rahman Al-Qahtani, director of communications, said that more than 1,250 cameras have been set up inside and outside the mosque to monitor the movement of pilgrims and worshippers and ensure their safety. “We monitor pilgrims through 270 TV screens and if we find anything wrong, we inform field officers to take corrective action.”
Yousuf Al-Wabil, vice chairman of the committee of religious consultants, said the presidency would not allow people to hoard space at the Grand Mosque for other people.
“This is a wrongful practice and we want to change this system by spreading awareness and preventing people from practicing it.”

Space for 625,000 more created at Grand Mosque | Arab News — Saudi Arabia News, Middle East News, Opinion, Economy and more.



Accor to open 5-star and 834-room big Zamzam Pullman in Madinah

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Jul 1, 2014

Accor Hotelservices Middle East has continued the rapid expansion of its development pipeline with the addition of the five-star Zamzam Pullman Madinah in Saudi Arabia, which is set to open by September.

The company has signed a management agreement with real estate development company Munshaat for Projects & Contracting Co for the property, which will be made up of two towers.

It is set to have 834 rooms and suites and will be located just 150 metres away from the Holy Mosque in Madinah.

Accor said construction of the Zamzam Pullman is at advanced stage and it is scheduled to open by September 2014, in time for the Hajj season, the Islamic pilgrimage to Makkah.

“We are proud to sign another Pullman hotel with Munshaat, following the successful Zamzam Pullman in Makkah, which was rebranded in 2012,” said Accor Hotelservices Middle East COO Christophe Landais.

“The Kingdom is and has been an important market for Accor for nearly 30 years, offering strong growth opportunities given the huge increase in religious tourism, especially in the cities of Makkah and Madinah, which welcomes millions of pilgrims each year.”

In Tower A at the hotel, guests will be able to choose between a standard room (321 keys) or three different types of suites (70, 80 and 138 keys respectively).

Tower B will house 200 standard rooms and 25 suites. Guests will be able choose to dine in an open-all-day restaurant, roof top restaurant or café lounge. The hotel will also have a terrace and a 150 square meter meeting room.

“It is with great pleasure that we announce the signing of the hotel management agreement for the second Pullman hotel in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, pursuant to our great success in Zamzam Pullman in Makkah,” said a member of Munshaat’s management team.

“The opportunities in the hospitality sector in the Kingdom have been the central interest of Munshaat for the past 11 years. Munshaat will continue to develop and invest in world class estates to cater for the growing demand of visitors to the religious sites in the Kingdom.”

The hotel will be Accor’s fifth Pullman hotel, and third in Saudi Arabia, bringing our total number of Pullman rooms to 2832. Another two Pullmans currently under development in the Middle East, which add an additional 822 rooms.

In recent weeks, Accord has announced deals for the largest hotel under the Ibis brand, in Dubai, another Ibis property in Jeddah and a 215-room Novotel in Riyadh.
Accor to open 834-room Zamzam Pullman Madinah | HotelierMiddleEast.com
 
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Imams Schedule for Ramadan 1435

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Al-Rahili: 60 years of providing iftar meals in Ramadan


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Muslims wait inside Masjid Al Nabawi for break-fast.

MADINAH: NADIM AL-HAMID

Published — Monday 7 July 2014

Last update 7 July 2014 12:27 pm

Seventy-year-old Muhammad Salim Allah Al-Rahili is known as one of the oldest volunteers who help in providing iftar meals to Muslims in the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah. For more than sixty years, Al-Rahili has been a regular helper in the mosque particularly in the Rawdah and Al-Mukabariya area.

Arab News met Al-Rahili as he was overseeing the preparations for the iftar as his usual habit every year. More than one thousand visitors to the Prophet's Mosque eat iftar together every day through more than six tables scattered in different areas around the mosque including the squares adjacent to the mosque.

Describing the meals in Ramadan, he explained that each meal includes yogurt, milk, bread, coffee, dates and Duqa, which is a mixture of home-made spices.

He refused to reveal the cost of each meals saying that charity work are done for the sake of God and doing good and he doesn’t seek fame or stardom.

In a related project, Makkah Gov. Prince Mishaal bin Abdullah inaugurated a project to provide break-fasting meals to 1.5 million people in the Makkah province.
The Jeddah Charity Warehouse will implement the project that will be named after Prince Mishaal as a part of its Ramadan programs. The prince made a considerable donation to the project and opened the project’s electronic website. The website (jedcs.net) will receive volunteers wishing to join this project.
Sheikh Abdullah Al-Othaim, chairman of the board of the warehouse, told Arab News that Iftar meals will be distributed as a part of a geographical
map that covers the Makkah region.
Al-Othaim welcomed more than three thousand volunteers to the programs. Each volunteer will spend two hours of their time between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. to distribute meals to people in public squares, at traffic light, and streets.
Al-Othaim expressed gratitude to the governmental bodies, the private sectors and philanthropists for their participation in the program inviting other to support the warehouse projects that targets poor and needy people.

Al-Rahili: 60 years of providing iftar meals in Ramadan | Arab News — Saudi Arabia News, Middle East News, Opinion, Economy and more.


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Ramadan and Iftar in the holy city of Madinah

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Umrah visas to exceed six million this year

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HOLY TASK: People gather in Haram ahead of Friday prayer.​

Saturday 5 July 2014

The Ministry of Haj expects the number of visas for Umrah visitors to exceed 6 million this year, with over 400,000 likely to arrive this month alone.

Bander Al-Hajjar, minister of Haj, said the ministry issued more than 6 million visas, adding that more than 5.6 million pilgrims arrived for Umrah, of whom 5.3 million had already left Saudi Arabia.

“The Saudi government has completed all preparations. We have been implementing several projects aimed at facilitating the Umrah season and to accommodate the large number of visitors,” said Al-Hajjar.

These projects are unique and unprecedented in the history in terms of diversity, speed and efficiency, he added.

The government’s measures seek to cover all aspects of development to meet the future needs of pilgrims and visitors of Madinah in order to provide them with the best services from the day they arrive in the Kingdom until they leave.

The Kingdom has given top priority to the development of the two holy mosques in Makkah and Madinah.

According to sources, the government has spent more than SR 250 billion on Haram and Haj expansion projects, which include the expansion of mataf (circumambulation area around the Holy Kaaba) in order to increase its capacity from 48,000 to 130,000 per hour.

The ongoing work has reduced the mataf’s capacity to 22,000 per hour, a reason that prompted the government to reduce the number of foreign Haj pilgrims by 20 percent and domestic pilgrims by 50 percent, in order to prevent stampedes and ensure the security and safety of the guests of God.


Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has ordered that work on the expansion project of the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah should start immediately in order for it to be completed in less than two years.

The mosque building will sprawl over an area of 614,800 square meters or 1060 X 580 meters while the combined space of the mosque and plazas will be 1,020,500 square meters or 1300 X 785 meters, which can accommodate one million worshippers inside the mosque and 800,000 others in the plaza.

Umrah visas to exceed six million this year | Arab News — Saudi Arabia News, Middle East News, Opinion, Economy and more.

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Cannon marking the beginning of the Ramadan in the holy city of Makkah

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3,000 volunteers help pilgrims in Makkah

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Wednesday 9 July 2014

More than 3,000 young volunteers are taking part in the ninth consecutive "Youth of Makkah at Your Service” program to help pilgrims and visitors at the Grand Mosque.

Khaled Al-Wafi, the program manager, said the volunteers help the elderly and people with disabilities during their Tawaf or circumambulation around the Kaaba.

The program is being run with the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques.

He said volunteers work 24 hours a day in shifts at the Grand Mosque.

3,000 volunteers help pilgrims in Makkah | Arab News — Saudi Arabia News, Middle East News, Opinion, Economy and more.

Saudi women volunteer to serve pilgrims

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Wednesday, 09 July 2014

MAKKAH — A total of 500 young Saudi women and girls from various parts of the Kingdom have joined the Saudi Red Crescent Society as volunteers to provide paramedic, rescue and emergency services to pilgrims inside the Grand Mosque during the holy month of Ramadan.

Long before the start of Ramadan, the Red Crescent advertised in the local newspapers asking for women volunteers to work as paramedics and rescuers in the Grand Mosque during the fasting month.

The society was specifically looking for doctors, pharmacists, nurses and technicians to join its teams at the Grand Mosque.

Spokeswoman of the Red Crescent, Mashaiel Al-Shamrani, said women volunteers were deployed in 15 locations inside the Grand Mosque. “Each location will have a medical doctor, a pharmacist and a nurse,” she said.

She said women volunteers will obtain practical experience from their work with the Red Crescent.

“They will be able to deal with sick people and hence add practical experience to their theoretical studies,” she said.

Al-Shamrani said each volunteer should have experience in first aid and attended a training course in basic life support. “The volunteer should also obtain the approval of her male guardian,” she added.

Raghdah Al-Mihmadi, a student of pharmacology at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, said she considers her volunteer work with the Red Crescent as a charity deed. “I will provide paramedical services to the emergency cases and will thus gain reward from Allah,” she said.

Hadeel Khoj, a medicine student at KAU, said most of the diseases the pilgrims complain about are arthritis, headaches, dizziness, fever, high blood pressure, diabetes and others. She said they will try to treat patients inside the Grand Mosque but if their conditions do not improve they will be transported to the nearest hospital in Makkah.

Rahma Bukhari, a medicine student at Al-Batarjee Medical College, said she volunteered for humanitarian and spiritual reasons to serve the guests of God.

“The little medicine we give will make thousands of Umrah pilgrims happy during the fasting month,” she added.

Suhaila Binaimin, a nursing student, said she comes every day from Jeddah to Makkah to serve the guests of God.

“I also use the opportunity to pray at the Grand Mosque,” she said.

She said these pilgrims have crossed long distances to arrive in the Kingdom so it is her duty to serve them. She added that many of them would not have the money to get treatment in private hospitals.

“Therefore, we provide them with medication right inside the Grand Mosque,” she added.

Hala Salma, a medicine student at Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah, said they have a communication problem with some of the pilgrims who do not speak Arabic or English.

“We often try to use sign language to understand their problems,” she said.

http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index...20140709211023

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Top security in place to deal with Makkah rush

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JEDDAH: IRFAN MOHAMMED

Published — Monday 21 July 2014

Last update 21 July 2014 2:15 am

Authorities in Makkah have intensified efforts to cope with the influx of pilgrims flooding into the holy city during the last 10 days of Ramadan.
Security forces are only allowing Umrah pilgrims wearing “ihram,” the pilgrimage attire, to enter the Grand Mosque, while barricades have been set up at every entrance and gates by security forces.
Many pilgrims are finding it difficult to find space even outside the Grand Mosque to join the congregational night prayers. Special forces under the Saudi diplomatic corps that have been assigned to crowd control management are not allowing pilgrims to sit anywhere in or around the Grand Mosque.
The Health Ministry has drawn up a special plan to deal with emergency cases, especially on the 27th night of Ramadan, on which Muslims believe destiny was determined.
Emergency teams have been put on high alert, while temporary teams in Taif and Jeddah have been deployed to deal with accident cases.
The ministry is equipped to admit incoming emergency cases from accidents occurring on Riyadh, Jeddah and Madinah highways.
Airstrips at King Abdullah Medical City and the Al-Noor Hospital are on alert to receive emergency cases brought in by helicopters from accident sites, according to Abdul Wahab Shubaily of the Health Ministry in Makkah.
Security aviation forces, meanwhile, have been conducting air surveillance to identify traffic jams in the city and to provide humanitarian aid, security operations and logistical support to vital government agencies during Ramadan.
“Eight helicopters are taking part in surveillance operations,” said Mohammed Al-Harbi, head of security aviation.
“The Grand Mosque area and highways connecting Makkah to Jeddah, Madinah and Riyadh are constantly monitored from above.”
The Civil Defense has set up six special teams to assist medial-related cases.
“We have deployed Civil Defense personnel inside the Grand Mosque to assist pilgrims,” Col. Saleh Al-Olayani of Makkah’s Civil Defense told Arab News.
“Falling ill suddenly can hamper pilgrim traffic, so we have deployed teams inside the Grand Mosque to shift sick and elderly pilgrims who cannot continue performing the pilgrimage onto ambulances and then to hospitals,” he said.
“A standby force that is being supervised by 25 senior officers will help Civil Defense personnel boost the capability of field teams and units, while the Civil Defense operation room will monitor the movement of Umrah pilgrims via CCTV cameras that cover all of Makkah’s districts around the clock.”

Top security in place to deal with Makkah rush | Arab News — Saudi Arabia News, Middle East News, Opinion, Economy and more.
 
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Al-Masjid an-Nabawi

28 July 2014

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Al-Masjid an-Nabawi guide to the expansion project
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