Registration for Haj closed in Oman

Muscat: More than 23 thousand applicants registered with the Ministry of Endowment and Religious Affairs (MERA) for the annual Haj pilgrimage. According to a tweet by MERA, the registration window for Haj is now closed with 23,670 applicants.

According to the e-Registration System, 22 individuals registered as cancer patients who missed a pervious opportunity to attend Haj.

17001 applicants registered as the fifth pillar of Islam requires (on their own accord), 1071 registered as attending Hajj on behalf of a deceased relative( which is usually written in the will of the deceased), while another 4269 applied on behalf of a relative who is unable to perform due to illness or old age.

Based on the data released by the Ministry, more women applied for the compulsory Hajj this year at 8,693 compared to their male counterpart at 8,308.

About 14,000 people will be selected to travel from Oman for the Haj pilgrimage this year, an increase of 20 per cent from last year, the Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs has said.

In the last four years, only 11,200 pilgrims were able to go for Haj from the Sultanate. Of the total, 12,664 chosen applicants would be Omani; while there will be opportunity for 600 non-Omani applicants to go to Haj this year.

The remaining slots will go to the Oman Haj Mission, and the Military Mission.

This will be the second year that Oman’s residents use the electronic system in order to register for Haj.