Good news comes for Muslim women who wish to perform Hajj and Umrah without a male guardian or Mahram.
The Saudi Arabian government now allows Muslim women of all ages to come to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj and Umrah without being accompanied by a Mahram or male guardian.
This announcement was made by the Saudi Minister of Hajj and Umrah, Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al Rabiah through a press conference at the Saudi Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, on Tuesday local time.
Furthermore, the Advisor for Hajj and Umrah Services, Ahmed Saleh Halabi, explained that women can now perform Hajj and Umrah without a Mahram but still have to be accompanied by trustworthy women or security companies.
Halabi added that the new decision was in line with the declaration made by the supervisor of fatwa at Al Azhar Al Sharif in Egypt, Abbas Shoman, last March.
Under the previous rules, women under 45 were required to be accompanied by a Mahram or male guardian when travelling for Hajj or Umrah. The Saudi government imposed a fine of SR 50,000 for every female pilgrim caught not accompanied by a Mahram.
Since July last year, the Saudi government began loosening the old rules by removing the Mahram requirement and allowing women to perform Hajj and Umrah without a Mahram on the terms that they go in a group.
The latest announcement by the Saudi Minister of Hajj and Umrah emphasized the leniency of the Hajj and Umrah requirements for women of all ages to perform the pilgrimage without a Mahram.
Former adviser to the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, Ibrahim Hussein, explained that the Kingdom had provided all facilities for pilgrims to perform Hajj and Umrah based on Saudi Vision 2030.
According to Hussein, the decision taken by the Ministry is expected to make it easier for women who have had difficulty finding a Mahram amid limitations.
Besides this latest decision, Saudi Arabia is known to have tried other things to make it easier for Muslims to perform the Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages, including using modern technology.
Recently, Saudi Arabia has used the Nusuk system and platform to make getting visas more accessible for those who want to register for Hajj.
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