Colombo: The first group of Sri Lankans left for Haj on Tuesday despite plans to abandon the pilgrimage amid the country’s worst economic crisis ever.
Last month, Sri Lanka’s umbrella association of pilgrimage organizers said its members would suspend operations because the cost of sending worshipers to Mecca would be too high for the country.
The island nation is struggling to deal with the worst financial downturn since independence in 1948 and has already defaulted on foreign debt repayments.
But earlier in June, the government announced that Muslims would be allowed to perform Hajj this year, provided they pay the cost of their journey in foreign currency.
“We are going through a big economic crisis, yet we want to respect the values and sentiments of Muslims, so we let them go even in difficult circumstances,” Religious Affairs Minister Vidur Wickremanayake told Arab News.
We are sure that his prayers will go a long way in coming out of this crisis.
Hajj, one of the five pillars of the faith of Islam, was banned in 2020 for only 1,000 people living in Saudi Arabia over pandemic fears. The Kingdom limited the pilgrimage to 60,000 domestic participants in 2021, compared to 2.5 million pre-pandemic.
This year, Saudi Arabia will welcome 1 million domestic and foreign pilgrims, after lifting most of its coronavirus restrictions.
Sri Lanka, where Muslims constitute about 10 per cent of the country’s 22 million Buddhist-majority population, has been allocated a quota of 1,585 pilgrims for performing Haj. But with inflation now running at 40 percent, the cost is too high for many and only 960 are expected to travel.
According to Ibrahim Sahib Ansar, who oversees Haj logistics in the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the cost of the pilgrimage this year is five times higher than in 2019.
“Although the quota has been granted, the cost of the pilgrimage this year is five times higher than the cost two years ago, which was only 500,000 Sri Lankan rupees (1,387),” he told Arab News.
Ansar said that most of the pilgrims to Sri Lanka this year are seniors, who fear that next time they will not meet the official 65-year age limit.
Farzan Huzair, one of the 50 pilgrims who left Colombo on Tuesday, said, “I was waiting for this opportunity for the last two years. “I also feared that I would not be able to perform Hajj after the age of 65.”
Huzair told Arab News that he saw the Hajj as “a golden opportunity”, adding: “I amassed money over the years to fulfill my lifelong dream.”
Rizmi Riyal, head of the Sri Lanka Haj Travel Operators Association, said he would pray for his country.
“All praise goes to Allah for the opportunity given to Sri Lankan pilgrims to perform Hajj this year,” he said.
“I am going for this year’s Hajj with my wife, only to pray for my country, which is facing a serious economic crisis.”