The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON). The Muslim pilgrimage, hajj, is the observance of specific acts in places in and around the sacred city of Mecca in Arabia at the end of each Muslim year during the twelfth lunar month of Zhul-Hajj. The observances of hajj are based on the Holy Qur’an (2:196-203, 3:96-97, 22:26-30) and the sunnah the practice of the Prophet Muhammad, (may the Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). They commemorate certain events in the lives of the Prophet Ibrahim, his wife Hagar and their son Prophet Ismail, peace upon them. The main object of the hajj, as in any other form of Islamic worship, is to create the spirit of submission to God and to nourish spiritual joy. The spirit of the hajj is the spirit of total sacrifice —of personal comforts, worldly pleasures, the acquisition of wealth, the companionship of relatives and friends, the vanities of dress and personal appearance, and of pride relating to birth, national origin, accomplishments, work, or social status. Along with the declaration of faith (shahadatayn), prayer (salat) five times a day, fasting (sawm) during the month of Ramadan, and alms (zakat), making the pilgrimage at least once in a Muslim’s lifetime completes the five fundamental personal obligations of the Muslim. The unity of place and time as well as its regular annual occurrence gives the rite of pilgrimage in Islam great religious importance especially among the West African Muslims (Takari, sing, Tukrur Pl) of which the Hausa stands out 1. Pilgrimage is among the Islamic institutions that made the most important contributions to the development of states already formed
The earliest recorded pilgrimage from West Africa is that of the Kanem Bornu Mai, King Dunama bin Umme of the Sayfawa dynasty. According to H. R. Palmer’s Diwan (1926), Mai Dunama made the pilgrimage twice between 1098 and 1150 and died returning from a third journey. However, Mai Dunama may not have been the first pilgrim of the Sayfawa since the Diwan also tells us that his father, Mai Umme bin Abdel-Jalil (1058-1097), died in the land of Masr (Egypt) having intended or even accomplished a pilgrimage.
The Islamic pilgrimage tradition continued to persist in the Sayfawa dynasty. The great scholar Muhammadu Bello who was also a son and lieutenant of the Islamic revolutionary, Shehu Usman Danfodiyo, acknowledges the longstanding Islamic reputation of the Sayfawa in his book Infaq (translated 1957). According to Bello, the Sayfawas’ ancient ancestors were good and devout Muslims who included many pilgrims. Among the eighteenth century Mais of Bornu there were three pilgrims—Mai Dunama bin Ali, Mai Hajj Hamdun bin Dunama, and Mai Muhammad bin Hajj Hamdun.
It was probably immediately after the Muslim conquest of Northern Africa in the seventh century that the faith of Islam found its way across the great Sahara to West Africa. By the eleventh century early Arab sources record the conversion of some African chiefs to Islam. Remarkably, the earliest available records of pilgrimage also date back to the same period. From then onwards, a steady and continuous tradition of pilgrimage developed in West Africa, particularly in Nigeria.
The Commission shall-
(a) license, regulate, supervise and perform oversight functions over organisations, associations (corporate or non-corporate) or similar bodies engaged in-
(i) organising and coordinating the movement of persons from Nigeria to Saudi Arabia to perform the Hajj or Umra; and
(ii) providing accommodation, transportation and other services related to the performance of the Hajj and Umra to pilgrims in Saudi Arabia;
(b) liaise and co-ordinate with the appropriate government authorities or organs of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on the rules and regulations governing entry into and staying in Saudi Arabia for the purposes of Hajj and Umra including all appropriate immigration, passport and related consular services;
(c) co-ordinate the provision of health, financial, security, customs, immigration and related services to persons proceeding to, or returning from, Saudi Arabia to perform the Hajj or Umra;
(d) ensure the establishment and management of pilgrims camps and related facilities, equipment and such other necessary materials;
(e) establish and maintain an adequate information system and libraries of books and other relevant publications as well as cinematograph and other facilities for use by persons interested in or desirous of undertaking a pilgrimage, so however that the library shall be opened to the public upon and subject to any conditions the Commission may deem fit;
(f) establish and maintain a biometric data bank of all Nigerian intending pilgrims for the Hajj and Umra;
(g) conduct educative and enlightenment campaigns on Hajj and Umra, in all the States of the Federation, and the Federal Capital Territory;
(h) appoint such number of medical practitioners and medical staff as it deems fit;
(i) issue guidelines and rules that will ensure that States Pilgrims Welfare Agencies provide
appropriate welfare services and guides for pilgrims; (j) do such other things as are conducive or incidental to the discharge of the foregoing functions, provided that this subsection shall not be interpreted to be conferring any additional functions on the Commission; and
(k) regulate and control in and/or outside Nigeria all matters concerning the welfare of Nigerian pilgrims and to formulate policies in connection therewith.
For more info, visit www.nahcon.gov.ng
