Abu Dhabi: For the second year in a row, Western Muslim pilgrims who plan to participate in the annual haj next month have been frustrated by the ‘Nusuk’ government portal that aims to make booking for the pilgrimage easier.
In February 2023, Ministry of Haj and Umrah announced plans to allow Muslims from Western countries to book for Haj via a new application called Nusuk.
On Thursday, May 4, Nusuk released a list of packages being offered to western Haj pilgrims.
With just over weeks to go for annual Haj pilgrimage 2023 to kickstart, hundreds of them have taken to the social media platform— Twitter to express their frustration by the massive failure over payment mode.
The frustration surrounding the preparations for Haj this year comes after the problems of last year’s Haj season with booking through the Motawif application, which was launched by Saudi Arabia as an alternative to travel agencies.
Several Twitter users complained about getting error when trying to pay for the selected package.
One of the Twitter user wrote, “What kind of system is this that it is so frustrating for people, it should be made simple and easy for people to access rather then that there is extensive uncertainty, worry and stress being caused.”
Another Twitter user wrote, “This error is same as of Motawif platform’s error we were getting last year and same technical issues on your system. Looks like just updated UI with same backend system without any improvements. Very frustrating, system is crashing on every step.”
Here are the some of the complaints against Nusuk platform over payment
Traditionally, Haj tours have been booked through and organised by local travel agents in the pilgrims’ countries of origin.
What is Haj?
The Haj pilgrimage to Makkah is a mandatory religious duty that must be performed by those Muslims who are physically and financially able to perform it, at least once in a lifetime.
This year, the Haj is expected to start on June 26 and will take place without COVID-19 restrictions, allowing a large number of pilgrims to participate.
