Day: June 24, 2023

The General Presidency for the Affairs of the Grand Mosque has dedicated 17 locations and 23 free phone booths within the Grand Mosque to assist pilgrims during the 2023 Hajj season. This program aims to respond to inquiries from pilgrims and ensure they are provided with the necessary support. The Director of the Department of Answering Questioners at the Grand Mosque, Mo’az Al-Jandal, mentioned that 70 scholars are accessible 24/7 to address questions about Hajj rituals and other religious matters. Pilgrims can reach out through the 17 locations around the Grand Mosque and courtyards, 23 free phone booths, and five phone inquiry offices. In addition, two toll-free numbers are available for contact via free phone at 8001222400 and 8001222100.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

A total of 833,091 pilgrims of different nationalities have arrived in Madinah through today by air and sea ports to perform Hajj this year.

On Friday, 8,403 Hajj pilgrims arrived in Madinah, including 7,542 pilgrims who arrived at Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport via 42 flights, according to the Hajj and Visit Committee statistics.

Meanwhile, the land immigration center received 302 pilgrims on board 14 flights, while 449 passengers on board ten flights arrived at the land pilgrims center.

Also, the Haramain High-Speed Railway station in Madinah received 112 Hajj pilgrims on board four trains.

According to departure statistics, the number of pilgrims departing for Makkah is 798,285, while 34,734 pilgrims of different nationalities are still in Madinah.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

The General Presidency for the Affairs of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque distributed 12,000 umbrellas and 3,000 prayer rugs to visitors and pilgrims.

The generosity comes as part of the Presidency’s “Serving pilgrims and visitors, a medal of pride for us” campaign, in its 11th year. The initiative aims to provide the best services to visitors and pilgrims and to promote the principle of good hospitality.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

The International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) participated in a UN High-Level side event titled “The Role of Youth in Preventing Violent Extremism Through Sport”, which was held at the UN Headquarter in cooperation with the ‘UN Global Programme on Security of Major Sporting Events, and Promotion of Sport and Its Values as a Tool to Prevent Violent Extremism’.

The session shed light on the importance of promoting international cooperation to make use of sports in preventing violent extremism through the joint efforts of UN member state and agencies as well as the international organizations, athletes and youth who contributed to developing the recommendation of sports policy for preventing violent extremism.

The session also included an interactive dialogue between representatives of the African Sports Confederation Council, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the International Federation of Professional Football Players, who discussed the “More Than A Game” initiative, launched by the ICSS in cooperation with its partners in the global program during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, and led by professional soccer player and UNESCO Ambassador Dr. Nadia Nadim.

Participants launched the Working Document on Policy Recommendations on Preventing Violent Extremism through Sport from a Youth Perspective, which included the outcomes of a series of regional forums between youth leaders and senior policymakers to include youth insights into national action plans to counter violent extremism through sport.

Chief Executive Officer of ICSS Massimiliano Montanari said in a speech that youth are one of the main players in the international efforts aimed at preventing societies from terrorism and violent extremism. He underlined the need to strengthen youth-focused policies and integrate sports into violent extremism prevention initiatives within long-term development programs, in implementation of the sustainable development and peace agenda.

For his part, Executive Manager of Generation Amazing Foundation (GAF) Nasser Al Khouri voiced GAF’s pride in being a part of the Global Programme on Security of Major Sporting Events, and Promotion of Sport and Its Values as a Tool to Prevent Violent Extremism, which eyes deepening cooperation to achieve the common goal of leveraging sport to promote inclusion and social cohesion and build resilience and combat violent extremism in addition to developing and adopting policies and best practices to protect sport and major sporting events from extremist ideologies.

Source: Qatar News Agency