Uzbekistan, Tashkent, July 22 / Trend, D. Azizov /
The first group of the Uzbek pilgrims which comprises of 255 people, left for Saudi Arabia on an Uzbekistan Airlines charter flight. The group is making the Ramadan "Umrah" pilgrimage, the press service of the Committee for Religious Affairs under the Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan reported.
According to data provided by the Committee, in total, 1.183,000 pilgrims from Uzbekistan will visit Muslim shrines during this season. The pilgrims will stay in Medina, in the "Safwa-l-Mavadda" hotel, which is situated in 20 meters from the shrine, for 4 days and 3 nights. They will visit the Mosque of the Prophet Muhammad, his tomb and other historical sights. Then they will move to Mekka, where they will commit the basic pilgrimage, the Umrah.
A working group comprising of doctors and cooks was sent to render services to the Uzbek pilgrims.
Rhe Ramadan"Umrah" will continue until August 12.
To date, over 2.2,000 religious organizations of 16 confessions were registered in the republic. Over 90 percent of the total number were Muslim organizations and about 88 percent of the population of the republic consider themselves followers of Islam.