'Umroh' delay

'Umroh' delay

Before conscientious Muslims undertake any activity,
especially important ones, they should say Insha Allah (God
willing). Another good term might be: Man proposes and God
disposes.

As such, Muslims accept the fact that things might not go
according to plan. So I tried not to complain when the Royal
Embassy of Saudi Arabia was difficult when it came to granting me
a visa to perform my umroh (minor pilgrimage). But then, I
thought, maybe it's God's plan that I do complain, positively of
course.

I think the Saudi Embassy needs to get its act together very
quickly. There have been many, many people who have had to cancel
their umroh plans because of ineptness at the embassy.

Taking time off to perform umroh is, mostly, not a spur of the
moment decision. Time off work has to be scheduled, children have
to be organized, money arranged.

From what I heard from my travel agent, many people have been
affected by the embassy's inefficiency.

If there are new people working at the embassy, perhaps they
should be trained first in what is expected of them.

As it stands now, I don't know when I'll be able to arrange my
trip again. And I guess that goes for a lot of other Muslims.

M. Zainal

Jakarta