By Hadi Fornaji.
Tunis, 3 April 2017:
More than a quarter of a million people have registered online so far with the Presidency Council’s Haj authorities to be selected to perform the 2017 Haj. By 19.00 hours on 1 April, the four day for registration, 273,514 people had applied, the authorities announced on their Facebook page.
The committee will choose by lottery the 7,000 people who will be allowed to go on Haj this year. The 7,000 figure is set by the Saudi Arabian Haj authorities.
Registration at the Libyan Haj website –www.hajj.ly – started on 29 March and will end on 13 April.
There was some initial confusion when a group linked to Khalifa Gwell and claiming to represent the awqaf (religious endowments) ministry said that nothing had yet been done so far Haj applications. However, the attempt to hijack the process failed once exposed. Nonetheless, the Haj committee continues to warn Libyans of the existence of illicit sites claiming to be able to register would-be pilgrims.
The date of the draw for those to perform the Haj will be on 30 April.
