Dr. Shaheem: Hopeful King Salman will increase Hajj quota

Chancellor of Islamic University of Maldives and former Minister of Islamic Affairs, Dr. Mohamed Shaheem Ali has expressed hope the Saudi Arabian King, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud will increase the Hajj quota for Maldivian pilgrims during his upcoming visit to the country.

In an exclusive interview with “Sun”, Dr. Shaheem said that King Salman loved the people of Maldives.

He said it was evident from his visit to the Maldives while he had been the Crown Prince, during which he increased the Hajj quota for Maldivians and pledged funding for 10 mosques across the country out of his own pocket.

“Some of the projects are complete. There were seven additional Saudi Arabian projects and seven ministry projects which was launched at the time. It was when I was the minister. I therefore believe there’s special interest in providing official economic assistance and other assistance to Maldives,” said Dr. Shaheem, expressing hope King Salman will allow a bigger increase in Hajj quota for Maldivians.

The standard rate used by Saudi Arabian government to allocate Hajj quota for each country is 100 Hajj quotas for every 100,000 people living in the country.

This meant Maldives received Hajj quota for 300 pilgrims. However, the quota was increased to 1,000 pilgrims by former Saudi King and increased again to 2,000 pilgrims during King

Salman’s visit to Maldives before he ascended to the throne.

“So I am very hopeful Salman will be generous with the people of Maldives. The people of Maldives, certainly, based on my personal experience, are beloved by him. He loves the Maldivian people,” said Dr. Shaheem.

King Salman is currently on a tour of South Asian countries and is due to visit Maldives the last week of March. He increased the Hajj quota for Indonesia to 10,000 pilgrims during the tour.