ALOR STAR: Sultan of Kedah Al Aminul Karim Sultan Sallehuddin Sultan Badlishah reminded haj pilgrims from the state to maintain discipline and observe advice by Tabung Haji (TH) officials.
The sultan reminded the pilgrims to be grateful for being chosen to perform the fifth pillar of Islam by devoting their focus to performing the haj rites throughout the spiritual journey.
"The opportunity to perform haj must not be wasted. Make good use of this opportunity granted by Allah SWT to perform obligatory and sunnah rites to show our appreciation for the blessing," he said.
Sultan Sallehuddin also decreed the pilgrims to be patient in facing all the challenges during the pilgrimage and to lend their hands to fellow Muslims in need.
"Every pilgrimage season, the Saudi Arabian government will allow nearly three million pilgrims from all over the world to perform haj. The holy land will be crowded and the situation could be challenging.
"Therefore, I hope our pilgrims will maintain patience and tolerance while extending help to fellow Muslims regardless of their skin colour, language and culture," he said.
Sultan Sallehuddin added that pilgrims from Kedah should be grateful that TH will always look after their welfare by providing quality services and infrastructure from here to the holy land.
"The pilgrims should not be worried, just be sincere and be at ease in obtaining a perfect pilgrimage, besides observing the advice and instruction by TH," said the sultan in his speech while gracing the sending-off ceremony for 142 pilgrims from Kedah at TH Hotel and Convention Centre here today.
They are among over 31,000 pilgrims from Malaysia departing to Saudi Arabia to perform haj this year.
The pilgrims departed from Sultan Abdul Halim Airport to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport before boarding a chartered flight to Saudi Arabia later this evening.
Present during the ceremony were TH group managing director and chief executive officer Syed Hamadah Syed Othman and state government leaders.
Meanwhile, Syed Hamadah said the flight transporting pilgrims from Kedah is the 25th of the total 100 chartered flights transporting 31,600 pilgrims from Malaysia this year.
He said over 7,000 Malaysian pilgrims have arrived in Makkah and Madinah to date.
Syed Hamadah reminded the pilgrims to look after their health throughout their pilgrimage and to observe regulations set by the Saudi Arabian authorities.