PUTRAJAYA: The government of Saudi Arabia has concluded that haj for the Islamic calendar year 1442H is limited only to its citizens and other nationalities that are already in the country.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Seri Dr Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri said the matter was informed to him by Saudi Arabia's haj and umrah deputy minister Dr Abdelfattah Sulaiman Mashat, just now.
He said the decision was made after taking into consideration the current development of the Covid-19 pandemic that was still worrying.
"I received a phone call a moment ago from Dr Abdelfattah on the decision made by the government of Saudi Arabia in regards to haj pilgrims this year (1442H) from other countries.
"The same information was received by Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein from his counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud.
"The official statement from Saudi Arabia was issued at 6.10pm just now," he said in a statement today.
With the development, Zulkifli said there would be no haj pilgrims from Malaysia for this year's haj season.