MUMBAI: With
Saudi Arabia exempting
Umrah
pilgrims from India from the requirement of five-day quarantine on reaching there, pilgrims and tour operators are ecstatic.
While Haj is performed annually, Umrah or minor pilgrimage can be performed throughout the year. Though Saudi permitted visits of Umrah pilgrims to Haram Sharief in
Mecca
with some restrictions weeks ago, the 15-day quarantine requirement in a third country — UAE,
Russia
and Kazakhstan among others — or the five-day quarantine in Saudi Arabia discouraged them.
The Saudi Haj ministry issued the revised quarantine norm in a tweet recently.
“It is a relief to both the tour operators and pilgrims. We would get a number of enquiries daily about Umrah visas, but were helpless because of the quarantine rule. Now, the number of Indian pilgrims going for Umrah will rise,” said Yusuf Ahmed Khereda of Al Khalid Tours and Travels, one of the first Indian tour operators to have got an Umrah visa issued post-pandemic.
“I am so excited that I have got a Umrah visa and will soon travel to Saudi Arabia to pray at the holy mosques in Mecca and Medina and be at the mausoleum of the holy Prophet,” said Imtiyaz Vilatra, country head of corporate house Posterscope OOH.
Though Umrah is performed at Mecca, almost all pilgrims also visit Medina to pay tribute to
Prophet Muhammad
at his mausoleum there.