Posted by Faisal Naeem in Hajj Info Guidance on May 26th, 2019
It’s great that you have decided to go for Hajj and you now want to confirm and pay for your package. Before you make the payment for your Hajj Package, you need to remember the following important points in-order to protect your payments (as Hajj is no longer cheap and you are paying substantial money):
When making payments for your hajj package, it is always advisable to pay through the above-mentioned commonly used methods. This will ensure that you have a paper trail and proof of payment to the Hajj Group Organizer. Any other method that provides a paper trail (like paying through mobile wallets) can also work. But it is imperative that you can trace your transactions.
It is extremely important to remember that the account title (on your cheque, pay order etc) / account name (if making online transfer / digital wallet transfers) is of the Hajj Group Organizer that you will be traveling with,
For Hajj, never make payments in favour of any other company or individual! This point can not be stressed enough.
We at Ibadat.pk will always tell you the name of the verified Hajj Group Organizer that you are being booked on. Furthermore, wewill never ask you for payment of Hajj Packages.
You should also verify that the Hajj Organizer is registered with the Ministry of religious Affairs. All Hajj Packages listed on our website are by verified Hajj Group Organizers. However, for your own satisfaction you can follow the method of verification (as defined in our in-depth article on how to verify Hajj Operators) and do it your self as well before finalizing your bookings.
Always ask for an invoice of the amount of money that is paid by you. Remember, there can be circumstances where, invoice may not be available. In these cases, always get a signed and stamped copy of the cheque you are giving, as a proof of payment. In cases of online transfer or pay orders, paper trail is very visible so these methods are generally safer.
It is important to understand each and every facility that you have paid for as part of the Hajj Package e.g,
When we say published price of the package, we mean the price mentioned in your hajj forms filled out by the Hajj Group Organizers.
You should also review prices as published in promotional material like brochure’s, flyers etc. It is very important to note that price in Saudi Riyal is what needs to be verified. Due to the recent economic crisis in Pakistan and the quickly depreciating Pakistan Rupee, many Hajj Group Organizers have released packages in Saudi Riyals. Even if they have not, you need to take into account the dramatic fluctuations.
Please remember, prices in Saudi Riyal will stay the same throughout the booking period (of a particular season eg Hajj 2019). However, PKR prices may fluctuate due to our unstable currency.
Hence, always look for the published price in SAR.
It is not necessary that a person makes the whole payment at once. Depending on the policies of the particular Hajj Group Organizers, many potential hujjaj make payments of their Hajj Packages at different times. How-ever it is important to note that, if the rate of exchange fluctuates in the time between when you make the initial deposit and the time when you make your subsequent deposits, then the new exchange rate will become applicable on the remaining amount that needs to be paid.
Hence it is advised that potential Hujjaj make complete payments as soon as possible, to protect them selves from the fluctuations.
Posted by Faisal Naeem in All About Umrah on May 18th, 2019
This Section provides in depth experiences of Pakistani Hujjaj, Umrah Zaireen and Religious Tour Operators of choosing a hotels for Haj and Umrah. Our aim is to provide tips and ticks along with advice regarding choosing a particular hotel.
Hence this is not just a review section. Keeping in line with our aim to be the ultimate guide for religious tourism, we will primarily be basing content using the experience and expert advice of Tour Operators and experiences of previous Hujjaj / Umrah Zaireen.
The hotels we cover in this section are the hotels offered by our Umrah tour operators and Hajj Group Organizers listed on our platform Ibadat.pk.
Even though hotels are not the only element of a Umrah Package, hotel stay can have a considerable impact on your religious journey. This is why, when making a decision, it is good to know the nitty gritty’s of particular properties like potential waiting times for elevators etc besides just the hotel price and star rating.
For Hajj packages, hotel property should play an even smaller part in the package selection decision making process as Hajj Packages are comprised of many other elements like Maktab Categroy, which should be given more weight-age.
We hope that by reading about hotels in Makkah and hotels in Madinah – you will be able to make a more informed decision.
Please remember us in your prayers.
Posted by ibdat@dmin in Hajj Info Guidance on May 16th, 2019
Rupee’s tumble has begun. The value of the US dollar against the rupee touched another all-time high for the second consecutive day, reaching approximately Rs148 in the inter-bank market (as of 12:30 Pm – 16 May 2019).
“Fears of further devaluation as a result of the agreement with the IMF have depressed the currency market and the rupee may lose more against the greenback in the coming days,” Secretary General of Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan Zafar Paracha as reported by Dawn.
Approximately, 85% to 90 % of the payments Hujjaj make for their packages is sent to Saudi Arabia by the operators to make arrangement (like hotel bookings, Maktab payments, food and transport arrangements etc). Only a very small portion of these payments are used for arrangements in Pakistan as these arrangements are limited to Hajj Training Programs, give aways and salaries for Hajj teams traveling from the country.
Due to this Hajj Package price calculation is actually done in Saudi Riyal and then converted in Pakistani Rupees. Hence even a minor depreciation in Pakistani Rupee’s value results in a directly proportional increase in hajj package price.
On average every 1 Rs rise in Saudi Riyal value, will result in package price rising by Rs 15,000 to Rs 50,000 (depending on the Hajj Package)
For many Hajj Group Organizers, the current scenario is very much a flash back from last year’s Hajj.
in 2018, Hajj Operators were stuck in exactly the same situation, as when they released their Package last year the exchange rate was: SAR 1 = PKR 29. However when the booking were being made, it had crept up to SAR 1 = PK34.
Previous trend in the market has been such that Hajj Packages were released in Pakistani Rupees for easy understanding and communication of the package details. However since the Pakistani Government does not provide any protection to businesses in terms of shielding from currency fluctuations like offer financial products like currency futures / swaps etc – Hajj Group Organizers suffered huge exchange rate losses due to this in 2018.
Keeping in mind last years situation, most of the Hajj Organizers have released Hajj Package Prices for 2019 in Saudi Riyal.
Hajj Package prices are pegged in Saudi Riyal (SAR) and the prices provided in SAR would not change during on going bookings. However as stated previously if Pak Rupee depreciates, the package price will automatically rise.
Hence if you have decided to go for Hajj in 2019, then the best way to protect yourself from fluctuations is by :
Posted by ibdat@dmin in Hajj Info Guidance on May 13th, 2019
When selecting the right private hajj package and Hajj Operator for the journey of your lifetime – it is paramount to verify that the Hajj Operator has a quota and is allowed by the Ministry of Religious Affairs to take private hajj groups.
It has to be stress again that one needs to be very cautious when selecting Hajj Operators so as to not fall into the trap of the companies who offers Hajj packages at low prices as they might be bogus companies pretending to be Hajj Group Organizers. There have been many instances in the past when unverified companies pretending to be Hajj group organizers have taken money from potential Hujjaj and run away.
Here at Ibadat.pk, we have only put up packages of verified the Hajj Group Organizers and you should as well before booking.
Verification is the essential first step in choosing the right hajj package as there is always confusion around the legitimacy of private hajj package providers in Pakistan.
You have to make sure that the tour operators are registered by Ministry of Religious Affairs (MoRA). You can confirm this by looking at their HP number.
HP Number (Registration Number): Registered Private Hajj Operator is a company that has been provided quota by MORA and is authorized to take private Hajj Groups to Saudi Arabia. Any company that is registered with MORA will be issued a HP Number. This is the most important number needed for verification of the operator.
Note that some companies might provide you with Hajj Enrollment or DTS number to justify that they have a Hajj Quota. It is important to note is that there is a difference between being enrolled at the ministry of religious affairs and being registered at MORA. Both enrollment and DTS numbers are insignificant for verification of the Hajj Organizer.
The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Pakistan has introduced a short message service (SMS) for helping the pilgrims to save themselves from fictitious Hajj group organizing companies (HGOs). As per an official of the ministry, an intending pilgrim who is willing to perform the holy ritual via the Hajj Group Organizers (HGO) should send the first four digits of HGO’s enrolment numbers from mobile phone to 8331 to check and verify the HGO’s authenticity. You will get all details regarding the Hajj Group Organizer – including address, quota, CEO name etc.
The recently launched sms service is a great in for the help of intending Haj pilgrims.
Having said this it is important to note that you might come across companies that selling Hajj Packages of actual registered organizers. These companies might be a part of the affiliated network or business to business network of Hajj Group Organizer. Basically, companies that are not registered to take Hujjaj but are selling Hajj packages of the actual registered Hajj Organizers.
This is called B2B (Business to Business Sales). In this case you have to be careful and When the agent sells on behalf of Registered Hajj Group Organizer, it is important to confirm the following before moving forward with the booking:
Please note – we at ibadat.pk will never ask you to pay us for your packages. We are here to just facilitate the Hujjaj in selecting the right hajj package and choosing only trust worthy hajj group organizers. We are a package comparison platform. Hence we will always send you to meet the registered Hajj Group Organizer and pay directly to the Hajj Group Organizer.
Posted by ibdat@dmin in Hajj Info Guidance on May 13th, 2019
Selecting the right Hajj Group Organizer (HGO) is one of the fundamentals tasks in the process of choosing the right private hajj packages.
If you do not choose the right Hajj Operator, then one of the most important journeys of your life time can turn out to be tough.
By right Private Hajj Operator we mean, the team that
The last point is very important in terms of the fact that, you should meet the team and the management before booking packages. You need to judge for yourself if you can travel with them easily. Your aim at Hajj is to do ibadat and fulfill your religious obligation and leave the worrying to your group leaders!
Furthermore, you should also note that some Hajj Groups are predominantly composed of follower from a particular sect of Islam. Note – this does not mean that the organizers of the Hajj Group discriminate against other sects or do not allow other sects to travel with them but by the virtue of their team, management and travelling Mufti (religious scholar), they attract a particular sect. Hence if you are a Sunni and not comfortable in a group that is dominated by Shiate Muslims or vice versa, you should rethink before booking.
It is very important to mention here that by the grace of Allah, at Hajj, in most Pakistani private Hajj Groups you will find that all sects peacefully co-exist and intermingle hence it is generally not an issue! Hence unless you a particularly finicky about sectarian issues then you should not worry about this.
Note that our team at Ibadat.pk goes through the painstaking job of verifying and finding the right Hajj Operators before listing their Hajj packages on our platform. We will always ask you to go and meet the Hajj operators and pay them directly so that you can assess for your self if they are the right team for you. Provided below is the synopsis of how we select the Hajj Operators. You can follow this as well.
We look at the following details and would request you to do the same before confirming your hajj bookings.