Prohibition on performing multiple Hajj is good idea

Bangkalan, Jawa Timur (ANTARA) - The discourse on prohibition on performing multiple Hajj is a good idea that should be discussed further, Vice President Ma'ruf Amin said on Thursday. "That is a good idea to give opportunities to those who have not yet performed Hajj," he remarked at the ceremonial event of the 28th Anniversary of Al-Anwar Islamic Boarding School in Bangkalan District, Madura Island, East Java.

Amin noted that by preventing people from performing Hajj multiple times, the government will be able to cut down queues, thereby facilitating others to realize their dream of fulfilling the Islamic mandatory ritual.

"I believe this (idea) will be instrumental in giving opportunities to those who have not performed Hajj. Meanwhile, those who have already performed Hajj can opt for Umrah," he said.

Umrah is a lesser pilgrimage to Mecca that can be performed at any time of the year. Nevertheless, Amin emphasized that the government will first deliberate on the discourse before genuinely translating it into a policy.

Previously, the government has formulated regulations that allow people to perform multiple Hajj at five- and 10-year intervals.  "Now, we are talking about how to completely prohibit multiple Hajj to give opportunities to those, who have not performed it," Amin remarked.

Earlier, Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture (PMK) Muhadjir Effendy announced that the government will consider prohibiting people from conducting multiple Hajj, with the objective of shortening the waiting time for others. He underlined that every Muslim is basically obliged to perform Hajj once, so it is necessary to pass down the opportunities to those, who have not yet fulfilled the obligation.

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"This discourse needs to be discussed because the people (on the waiting list) are getting older, becoming more vulnerable to health problems," Effendy emphasized. Based on the 2023 Hajj data, 43.78 percent of the 229,000 Hajj pilgrims were older than 60 years, while the number of Indonesian pilgrims who died was recorded at 774 or 0.338 percent, and they were dominated by the elderly.