The plans will deprive thousands of Nigerian Muslims from performing hajj

By Khedr Abdel Baki, IOL Correspondent 

ABUJA, December 13 (IslamOnline.net) – The Mufti of Nigeria rejected Monday, December 13, the government’s plan to stop subsidizing Muslim pilgrimage to Makkah as a part of an austere policy.

“The plan will definitely take its toll on the Nigerian pilgrims as well as Islamic societies,” Sheikh Ibrahim Saleh Al-Sharif told IslamOnline.net.

He said Muslim organizations in Nigeria are running low on cash and cannot afford to cover full pilgrimage packages.

The government pays more than 25 percent of the cost of pilgrimage every year, mainly allocated to flight tickets, residence in Saudi Arabia and weight allowances.

It further provides free-of-charge pilgrimage for thousands of Nigerians.

Sharif, who heads the Fatwa Department at the country’s Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, said Muslim leaders are putting their heads together on how to make the government retract this decision and counterweight calls of withdrawing the government’s subsidization.

The controversial plans date back to November, when the government announced it was mulling withdrawing its pilgrimage aid for both Muslims and Christians.

The Israeli Ministry of Tourism estimates that 15,000 Nigerian pilgrims will visit Israel in 2004, 50 percent more than in 2003, according to the Web site of the Globes, Israel business news.

Official estimates in Nigeria indicate that some 66,000 Nigerian Muslims are expected to perform Hajj, the greatest spiritual experience in Muslim life, this year.

The hajj is one of the “five pillars” of Islam, and thus an essential part of Muslims’ faith and practice under the condition of physical and financial ability.

It consists of several ceremonies, meant to symbolize the essential concepts of the Islamic faith, and to commemorate the trials of Prophet Abraham and his family.

Nigeria’s recent census shows that Muslims make up 55 percent of the country’s 133 populations, Christians 40 percent and five percent atheists.

However, other estimates indicated that Muslims make up some 65 percent of the country.

Twelve of Nigeria’s 36 states have gradually applied the provisions of Shari`ah since the return of democracy to the country in 1999.