First Hajj flight with 230 pilgrims takes off from Bhopal

Sunday October 07, 2012 12:40:05 AM, Pervez Bari, ummid.com

Bhopal: With eyes welling up with tears of all and sundry and even rolling down the cheeks of many the near and dear ones bade a touching and emotional farewell to their relatives and dear ones who departed on Hajj pilgrimage on Saturday from the historic Taj-ul-Masajid campus, the Hajj transit point, in buses to the Raja Bhoj International Airport here.

As the buses slowly rolled out of the transit point the air became thick due to the reverberations caused by Talbeeha “Labbaik Alhumma Labbaik......" raised by the Hajj pilgrims.

With 230 on board the first Hajj flight took off at 1.55 p.m. from Bhopal airport to Jeddah en-route the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah for the 2012 Hajj pilgrimage scheduled to be performed in the last week of this month.

Of the 230 Hajj pilgrims who boarded the inaugural Air India flight No. AI-5196, one-year-old Baby Alvira and two-year-old Master Mohammad Ali were the youngest while the oldest was 84-year-old Yaaseen.

The pilgrims embarking on the journey from the State capital donned "Ahraam" (a two piece unstitched garment to be worn while performing the Hajj or Umrah), from here itself. Scholars said the "Ahraam" was required as the flight from Bhopal to Jeddah would cross at least one of the "Meequat" (the five points of entry to the holy city of Makkah) as part of their journey. It is mandatory for every pilgrim to enter the limits of the holy city as a "Muhrim" (dressed in the "Ahraam"), they added.

The Hajj pilgrims were profusely garlanded and people showered marigold flowers on buses as it trooped out from the transit point of Taj-ul-Masajid campus. People jostled with each other to have a better glimpse of the pilgrims as chaos prevailed.

The pilgrims boarded the buses after Shahar Qazi Bhopal, Maulana Syed Mushtaque Ali Nadvi conducted Dua (prayer) for a peaceful and safe Hajj.

It may be pointed out here that Hajj is one of the five tenets of Islam. Performing Hajj is obligatory to every sane, financially able and adult Muslim. It's every Muslim's desire to perform Hajj at least once in his life time.

Over 4000 pilgrims from Madhya Pradesh would perform Hajj under the care of Hajj Committee of India this year. Total nine flights would take off from Bhopal and a similar number from Indore. The Hajj flight schedule which started from Bhopal on October 6 would continue till October 11 carrying 230 pilgrims each. The nine flights from the State capital would carry 2070 pilgrims while from Indore the departure of 2070 Hajj pilgrims in nine flights would begin from October 12 with last flight being on October 17. Both from Bhopal and Indore daily one flight would take off except on three days when two flights would ply the Hajj pilgrims from each of the two embarking points.

It may be recalled here that Bhopal, the capital of central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, emerged on the international air map in October 2010 when the first ever direct Hajj flight to Jeddah took off with 210 pilgrims. Bhopal, thus, became the new embarkation point for Hajj pilgrims in India.

 (pervezbari@eth.net)

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