Hijjah 13, 1431, Nov 19, 2010, SPA -- Two thousand pilgrims from the Republic of Tatarstan performed Haj this year. They were extended all facilities by the Saudi authorities in performing the rituals of the pilgrimage, a source in the press service of the republic's Muslim board said. Tatarstan is located in the center of the East European Plain, approximately 800 km east of Moscow. The first group of these pilgrims had arrived in Madinah from the capital Kazan via Istanbul on Oct. 25 and the last one arrived in Jeddah on Nov.11. “All arrangements were made for their stay in the holy sites by our Idel-Haj Inter-Regional Pilgrimage Center, which facilitated pilgrims from 25 regions of Russia,” said Syumbel Valiullina, the spokesperson for the center. “The youngest pilgrim is the three-month-old first born of the Alimov couple from Moscow and the oldest is an 87-year-old woman,” the spokesperson said. "All the pilgrims are performing Hajj for the first time and were religiously content." --MORE
