Kumpulan pertama jemaah haji Singapura s elamat berlepas menuju ke Tanah Suci pada jam 5.40 petang tadi (9 Ogos).
Rombongan itu terdiri daripada 39 jemaah dari dua ejen haji atau GSA, iaitu Halijah Travels & Tours Pte Ltd dan Shahidah Travel & Tours Pte Ltd.
Mereka dijangkakan tiba di Jeddah sekitar jam 9.00 malam, waktu Jeddah. Para jemaah akan memulakan perjalanan mereka ke Madinah setibanya mereka di Jeddah.
Kumpulan jemaah ini dijangkakan pulang pada 9 September.
Rombongan terakhir Singapura ke Tanah Suci pula dijadualkan berangkat pada 26 Ogos ini.
JEDDAH: Imam dan muazzin sebuah masjid di Jeddah ditegur setelah tersebar luas sebuah video yang menunjukkan sekumpulan jemaah menari-nari bak sebuah pesta dalam masjid tersebut sempena Aidilfitri.
Menurut laman Arab News, kedua-dua imam dan muazzin Masjid Omar Basabirin itu dipanggil oleh kementerian ehwal Islam Arab Saudi berhubung kegiatan-kegiatan “haram” yang dijalankan di masjid tersebut.
Kedua-dua mereka dipanggil untuk disoal siasat tentang isu itu sebelum kementerian tersebut memutuskan hukuman yang perlu dikenakan terhadap mereka, lapor Saudi Gazette.
MAIN LAGU DAN MENARI DALAM MASJID DILARANG
Pengarah cawangan kementerian itu di Makkah, Ali Salem Al-Abdali ditukil Saudi Gazette sebagai berkata, memainkan lagu dan menari di dalam masjid melanggar kesucian rumah Allah.
Hukuman yang dikenakan, kata beliau, mungkin termasuk dipecat daripada jawatan mereka, sekiranya imam dan muazzin itu terbukti tahu-menahu tentang insiden menari berkenaan.
Video yang menjadi viral di lelaman media sosial itu menunjukkan sekumpulan jemaah menari mengikut rentak muzik dan nyanyian dalam bahasa Arab, yang dimainkan dengan kuat di masjid tersebut.
Jemaah lain dilihat memerhatikan mereka – sesetengah merakam video atau memetik gambar gelagat mereka itu dengan telefon bimbit, sementara yang lain menikmati jamuan yang disediakan.
“MASJID TEMPAT BERIBADAH, BUKAN MENARI”
Anggota Majlis Ulama Kanan, Sheikh Ali Al-Hakami, mengutuk insiden tersebut, dan berkata, kedua-dua mereka yang menganjurkan dan menyertai sambutan itu harus dipertanggungjawabkan.
Beliau menegaskan bahawa masjid-masjid merupakan tempat beribadah, bukan untuk menari dan menyanyi.
Apa yang berlaku di masjid itu, katanya kepada Arab News, tidak sesuai dengan kesucian dan prestij masjid, katanya.
IMAM NAFI TAHU ADA JEMAAH MENARI
Bagaimanapun, imam masjid terbabit, Qashmir Al-Qarni, berkata beliau tidak tahu ada jemaah yang menari di dalam masjid. Malah katanya, lagu-lagu yang dimainkan hanya berunsur Islami dan kenegaraan.
“Jika ada orang yang menari dalam masjid ini, ia mesti berlaku tanpa pengetahuan atau izin saya,” katanya seperti ditukil akhbar Al-Hayat.
Menurut Arab News, setelah video itu tersebar luas, ia membangkitkan kemarahan netizen hingga sebuah kempen dilancarkan di laman Twitter untuk menggesa tindakan dikenakan terhadap mereka yang menganjurkan sambutan itu.
Saudi Arabia identified on Thursday suspects in two of the three attacks that struck the kingdom on the same day this week, including one outside the sprawling mosque where the Prophet Muhammad is buried in the western city of Medina that killed four Saudi security troops.
In a statement released by the Interior Ministry late Thursday, authorities said the Medina bomber in Monday’s apparently coordinated attacks was 26-year-old Saudi national Na’ir al-Nujiaidi al-Balawi.
Three suicide bombers behind a botched attack, also Monday, outside a Shiite mosque in the eastern region of Qatif in which no civilians or police were wounded, were identified as Abdulrahman Saleh Mohammed, Ibrahim Saleh Mohammed and Abdelkarim al-Hesni, all in their early 20s.
It was not immediately clear what nationality or nationalities the three carried.
The ministry said investigations following the attacks led to the arrests of 19 suspects, seven Saudi and 12 Pakistani nationals. No other details were immediately available.
On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia identified the suicide bomber who struck outside the U.S. Consulate in Jiddah as a Pakistani resident of the kingdom who had arrived 12 years ago to work as a driver. It named him as 34-year-old Abdullah Qalzar Khan. It said he lived in the port city with “his wife and her parents.” The statement did not elaborate.
In that attack, the bomber detonated his explosives after two security guards approached him, killing himself and lightly wounding the guards, the ministry said. No consular staff were hurt.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks but their nature and their apparently coordinated timing suggested the Islamic State group could be to blame.
Pakistan has condemned Monday’s attacks in the kingdom. There are around 9 million foreigners living in Saudi Arabia, which has a total population of 30 million. Among all foreigners living in the kingdom, Pakistanis represent one of the largest groups.
The Saudi ministry said the attacker in the Medina assault set off the bomb in a parking lot after security officers became suspicious about him. Several cars caught fire and thick plumes of black smoke were seen rising from the site of the explosion as thousands crowded the streets around the mosque.
Worshippers expressed shock that such a prominent holy site could be targeted.
The Prophet Muhammad’s mosque was packed on Monday evening, during the final days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ended on Tuesday. Local media say the attacker was intending to strike the mosque when it was crowded with thousands gathered for the sunset prayer.
Saudi Arabia is part of the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, and the militant group views its ruling monarchy as an enemy.
The kingdom has been the target of multiple attacks by the group that have killed dozens of people. In June, the Interior Ministry reported 26 terror attacks in the last two years.
