JEDDAH: ARAB NEWS
Published — Sunday 8 September 2013

The Ministry of Islamic Affairs Endowments, Call and Guidance branch in Makkah has completed preparations to welcome pilgrims for this Haj season.

Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, director of the branch in Makkah, said the objective is to involve state agencies to make available the best services to pilgrims.

“The Kingdom spends vast resources to make things easy, particularly for children, in compliance with the directions of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah,” said Al-Nasser.

He said: “We have placed special emphasis on the 13 operational committees to pursue their work with diligence and avoid mistakes or flaws.”

Special committees have been instructed to double their efforts and monitor mosques to complete pending issues before the season kicks off, he said.

“Projects’ administrators will conduct field inspections of pilgrimage preparation sites, known as “mikat,” in Makkah and Wadi Muharam to follow up on implementation, besides establishing a prayer section for elders and persons with special needs on the premises of the women’s section,” he said.

He noted that regular meetings were being held with officials to review plans for Haj.

“A permanent committee that includes representatives of the branch, and the General Directorate of Projects and Maintenance will be formed to supervise places of mikat,” he asserted.

“Directions were issued to mosque imams to ensure that preachers deliver sermons in compliance with the guidelines provided by the General Secretariat for Islamic Awareness for Haj, Umrah and Ziyarah,” Al-Nasser said.

He said that imams were specifically instructed to allow only authorized preachers participating in this Haj season to deliver sermons according to the official program

source; http://arabnews.com/news/463915