‘I hope I will live long enough’: Indonesians resigned to much longer wait to fulfil haj dream
JAKARTA – Lilis Mukhlisoh is beginning to wonder if she will ever be able to fulfil her obligation as a Muslim to perform the haj. After an eight-year wait, she got the call to depart for Saudi Arabia in 2019 but a serious motorcycle accident kept her at home in the Indonesian town of Majalengka.
She got her second opportunity to perform the haj in 2020 but COVID shut down the pilgrimage for all pilgrims outside Saudi Arabia. This year, Lilis once again waited by the phone. When it rang, it still wasn’t good news.
For the second year in a row, Saudi Arabia has barred haj pilgrims from outside the Kingdom, citing ongoing pandemic concerns. Last year, only 1,000 pilgrims who were already resident in Saudi Arabia performed the haj and this year with vaccinations successfully rolled out across the Kingdom, the government is allowing a bigger group of 60,000 locals.
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