The Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Call and Guidance is going ahead on implementing the third and the last stage of the Islamic Awareness Plan during this year's Hajj season. The Ministry has started to deliver the gift of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, which is a copy of the Holy Quran, to the pilgrims crossing the Kingdom's air, land and sea exit points. Meanwhile, the ministry has been providing the pilgrims with a selection of Islamic books, published by it. Talal al-Okeil, the advisor of the Minister of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Call and Guidance, and head of the information committee, said the King had ordered to extend more than 1.2 million copies of the Holy Quran to the pilgrims. Al-Okeil confirmed the success of the awareness plan during this year's Hajj season, and said the ministry had distributed more than 15 million copies of the holy Quran, Islamic booklets and cassettes in addition to Islamic publications. He pointed out that more than 2000 Islamic callers, lecturers and translators had successfully implemented the awareness plan. 'They were working around the clock in Makkah and the Holy Places, while the free telephone line received more than one million calls from the pilgrims who were inquiring about issues pertaining to the Hajj rituals', he said noting that more than 23 languages were used in answering the questions raised by the pilgrims.
