Haj by Hajj Committee review: the pilgrim's progress 43

Ozone park, ny, august 26, 2015 (newswire) - all over the world, devout muslims spend years, even entire lifetimes planning for their hajj pilgrimage. hajj is an important concept in the life of any muslim, and as such, it warrants careful consideration, both of the spiritual implications and the practical matters involved. sadly, last year thousands of pilgrims found their best-laid plans dashed, through circumstances outside of their control.in canada, thousands were not able to perform the hajj nor were they issue any refund. this report has won the attention of sara international travel; the company has responded in a press statement. sara international travel has as of august 25th, 2015 completed it’s repayment of all pilgrims who were unable to attend the hajj in 2014 with the company.
"sara international travel works tirelessly to provide that level of security." in the case of the canadians who were unable to perform the hajj in 2014, the company is proud to have been able to repay each client well within reasonable time. imam zameer sattaur, president
Sara international travel is a transportation and accommodation-booking agency that caters to muslim clients throughout the west. the company is zealous for providing hajj and umrah travel packages; as such, the company believes that, for the spiritual pilgrim, reliable travel arrangements are a necessity. "hajj is a season in a person's life that calls for fervent prayer and introspection," says the owner imam zameer sattaur in its new press statement. "it is important for pilgrims to be able to focus on these matters without being overly distracted by more practical concerns.”
The company also stresses the services it is able to provide to those in the west, seeking to make the hajj journey."those who are turning their attention to this important season of spiritual devotion — a major milestone in the life of any muslim believer — depend on their travel and hotel arrangements to be rock solid, "says the company's statement."sara international travel works tirelessly to provide that level of security.” in the case of the canadians who were unable to perform the hajj in 2014, the company is proud to have been able to repay each client well within reasonable time.
Sara international travel, one of north america & south america’s largest hajj & umrah company is committed to providing pilgrims with a wide array of necessary services, including hajj and umrah travel arrangements as well as islamic heritage tours and hotel bookings. the company maintains full openness and transparency with its hujjaj, prizing its ability to deliver a satisfying customer experience, particularly as clients embark on such a major life journey.
About:
Sara international travel is a hajj and umrah company also specializing in transportation and accommodation. they are a licensed booking agency and operator with the ministry of hajj that specializes in providing hajj and umrah travel packages. since 1994, sara international travel has made pilgrimages easier for muslims through exceptional travel offerings, a high degree of customer service, and attentive travel packages. sara international travel caters to the needs of clients in the united states, canada, south america, and the caribbean while constantly incorporating new technological resources into its business model. ultimately, these efforts create an unparalleled customer experience.

Adam travel the worst run away from them.Haj by Hajj Committee — the pilgrim's progress

Asalaamu alaykum
My name is mohamed a. hussein.
Email: risoti_1@live.com
Tell; [protected]
I came the hajj last year (2010). I came from atlanta, usa. I came with ethiopian airlines. I never expected I would experience what I have experienced. ethiopian airlinies humiliates hujjaj passenger. when we were leaving from addis-ababa, all the hujjaj had to sit on the floor of the airport more than six hours. it was nasty experience, un-healthy and un-profissional. why only hujjaj passenger sit on the ground about six hours?.,
When we were leaving jeddah; going back home. it took us me than 14 hours just to check our bags. it was rough and very bad experience. ethiopian airlines did not have any respect for the hujjaj. actually, they treat us like dirty. at checking baggage counter, they did not had a computers. everything they were doing manually. they asked excessive baggage fee, and I paid. I asked them a reciept, they give me a different ultimatum eithier I check my baggs like that or take it to somewehere else. I had my mother with me. she is 70 years old. she become sick. she almost become coma. after that, check in took us another six hours. anyway, I ended up loosing four baggs (those are all the baggs that I check in).
Please, check the way ethiopian airlines treat the guest of rahman. I have never seen like that. some other customers where saying jail is better then ethiopian airlines

Sara international are not just scamper but also committed federal crimal act by printing fake meningtite vaccine shot for $50, getting vissa approve from it and not even giving people the acual shot...
imam zameer from sara collect cash from me and many others, i'm writing a latter to irs to look into his accounts as well.
imams zameer is a froud and a criminal who has no respect for elder or younger his is scamper for money I don't even think he is a muslim, he did not let me ad my mom complete 4o prayers in there he let us complete any of the sunnah rasool. this guy should be jail for scamming hajjis and jail for the federal offense. we are taking full actio against him.
wire us email with ur name and phone no# if you were lie and were scame for the meningtites shots and were not giving and he still got the vissia approved. or another's problem let's all brothers and sis take action together in the name of god so the feuture hajji dorothea countrys don't suffer.
email us a_elakkad@yahoo.com or imran115@hotmail.com

Thanks for all the comments. these are nothing compared to the deals I witnessed during the hajj in oct-nov 2011. dar-al-islam (houston based) is the one should be banned. cancelling the tickets in a family of 6, ripping the 82-81 year old couple with no service, treating all the people with no dignity, shouting at the group, humiliation, aggravation, asking the atlanta couple to pay for ny departure to pay 600 extra and get the ticket from atl, no transportation after dropping in the tent in mena, the list go on. just to save few hundred dollars, how the operator puts people through all these difficulties? he calls himself a brother and I do not want this kind of brother to me. people got fooled by the name, thinking it is darulislam, booked and we got scammed. beware of these people and read the reviews in this and other sites before you take this once in a lifetime journey. please advise others and may allah reward you for this service.

Assalam o alaikum. my cover no is gj-3976-5-0. my name is vali mohammed mohammed hanif. age 45 in the year 2007. I have deposit 10700*5=53500. I have deposit through demand draft of memon co-operative bank ltd. ahmedabad danilimda branch. sir atleast about three years I send complaint through letter about no response from haj committee. sir I request to you kindly check about the said complaint. mobile no is +[protected]. [protected].

This is about manara/haram tours and barakha.
There is one owner of all the three company... work in different states and cities in usa...

I have never been concern to write a review for anything, but after having this experinece I made sure to myself that I will write a review about this company and made sure that all the people in my group thus the same things. first of all this company have no moral and etiquette. its works under different names like haram tours, al bakara and manara. all three are govern by one owner having different agent in different cities. because we were having people from all the three groups.
1. lying is unlimited from the first day u talk to them till the last u fly to u. s
2. there is absolute no organization the economy package, express package, deluxe package and super deluxe all state in the same hotel in medina and makkah and sometime the deluxe had the worst experience... like they were check out from the hotel in medina and were rumming with thier luggage for thewhole day on the road... the expree package were giving the hotel in makkah way inside away from the main raod with no food.

They are not organized in anything like in transportation, hotel, food, provinding information, helping...

I am feel bad that after coming from hajj I have to use this laugage but "they are blood sucking bugs who wahts to acquired every penny u have, and providing nothing in return"

3. there are count less number of incident that happened...
Forget the agent, the owner itself is the biggest thief...
Very... very... bad... agency... I am surprise how the ministry of saudi arabia is allowing them to be registerted as an authentic agency for hajj and umrah...

Please do not waste your money...

I just have a small advice to any muslim reading this post; run as far away as you can from zameer sattaur and sara international. this man is bad news and a sad excuse for a muslim. I don't have the time to get into this, he is simply not worth it.

Concord travel network inc.

I went to hajj with th9is group in 2007 and all the complaints against concord are untrue and distorted and twisted stories. not a bit of it is a fault of concord group or its agent. may almighty punish the liars who go to perform haj and do not do the haj but try to find faults in others, and spread lies knowingly or unknowingly. if some one knows the system of bus transportation of haj would right away say that it is the muallem's responsibility and not the concord. o liars when you were told that you pray all night and go to sleep in the morning? can you produce one proof of that you were promised morning breakfast?
The package were all along carried azizia residence for three to five days and rest were the hotels in makkah and madina.in madina we didi provide the historic sites visits to our hujjaz, where were you? and muzdalifah way, concord agent was not driving the bus but the driver from saudi muallem and ministry of hajj were driving the buses, traffic is not in the control of any one if you were in the bus and walked your way through to muzdalifah, then why did not you forced the bus to get you there, o oversmart? stop your lies and fear allah, all the scouts greet and talked with respect to hajji's. ask any one who have performed the haj if it is true? o liar of liars stop your nonsense.

Dar el salam

Not worth what they charge

As-salaamu 'alaikum. may allaah help me to speak only the truth. dar el salam has a great reputation and that is why I chose them without even exploring other options. I may have had high expectations which were not met, and it was my first time in hajj so my ignorance in the hajj experience may have caused me to raise my expectations too much. there are things that are beyond any travel agency's control, namely traffic situations and saudi regulations. these things are easily recognizable and my disappointment does not pertain to them. when we arrived in jfk on our way to saudi, dar el salam agents were nice enough to take our suitcases and check them in for us, but they never gave us our baggage tags. one of our suitcases did not make it when we arrived in saudi and it contained most of our clothes and necessities. whenever we contacted someone from dar el salam regarding the issue, they would either refer us to someone else or ask us for our baggage tag numbers which we did not have. the suitcase was missing for the first week, during which we had to buy clothes and pay for laundry. when we were done with hajj we were told that our suitcases will be in the hotel in jeddah. our suitcases were not. they had lost them again and sent them to the wrong hotel. thankfully we found and retrieved them quickly but it was humiliating enough to call them again asking for our suitcases.in jeddah, I was suddenly told that my flight back to jfk was delayed by 6 hours. the des agent was quite sure about it and he called and confirmed it with someone else. so I had to change my domestic flight by calling and paying a change fee. then I found out that my flight to jfk was in fact never delayed! it was a mix up that cost me the change fee for my domestic flight. alhamdulillaah I was able to get on my original flight once I arrived in jfk otherwise I would have had to stay overnight and pay for a hotel stay as well.in the hotels in mecca and madina, the communication was lacking at best. we found out by sheer coincidence that there were lectures being held on the 9th floor after missing the first two lectures. we also had no idea that there was a des stand on the 9th floor.in madinah the hotel service was quite disappointing. rooms were poorly kept and the bathroom was literally dirty with a broken fan. i'd never stay in anwar al madinah movenpick again. also des communication in madinah was lacking. we had to keep asking questions to get information and for what we paid, they should have made sure to bring the information to us.in mina the tents were ok but somewhat crowded. the big diappointment was the insufficient bathrooms and the long, long lines for meal buffets. it is obvious to me that the camp in mina was grossly overfilled. it should never take 15 minutes of waiting in line just to go to the bathroom and even longer to take a shower. it should certainly never take 30 minutes of waiting in line for a meal. again, for what we paid, the mina experience should have been much better. arafat and muzdalifah I have no complaints about (except again for the bathroom situation in arafat) because I think it is better to rough it up in these two places. what really gets to you is that des people seem to have contracted the "government complex" by thinking that we work for them instead of them being hired by us. they think it is ok for young whipper snappers to bark orders over the speakers to a crowd that contains many elderly men and women who should be addressed with the utmost courtesy and humility. i've seen older people yelled at by des officials who think they have reached the pinnacle of civil organization and have the right to yell: "step back! step back!" or "it makes no sense to stand in the walkways!" or any of the myriad of orders constantly being shoved at us. when I pay over $9500 per person to des, they need to make darn sure they speak to us with respect. they are not teachers and we are not students. they are merchants and we are their customers. a little humility is due. if I were not in hajj I would have given them a piece of my mind for their lack of respect. overall i'm not saying des is a bad group, but for my experience I should have paid half of what I paid. a word of caution: be sure to book your return flight two days after the 13th of thul hijja if you want to perform a complete hajj. unfortunately des booked many of us on the 13th of thul hijja which meant that we had to do only two days of tashreeq and stone before zawaal on the 12th of thul hijja in order to make it to our flight on time.

Dar el salam or should I say dar el ahzab

Dar el azzab (house of torture)
Dar el azzab (house of torture) everything about this company was bad. once we arrived to medina we stayed at a hotel called mawadah it was suppose to be a 4 star hotel but it was not a. rooms were roach infested b. sheets on the bed were full of hair and holes in them. pillows were dirty. when we asked for clean sheets they still had hair on them. the problem was that even their clean stuff is dirty. c. the beds in most rooms broke while you’re sleeping d. bath tubs had mold. e. sinks in bathrooms barely had water coming (it took forever to make wudu); bathroom ceiling had water leaking constantly f. we had the hotel manager over our room and his response was “i’m sorry this is my capability; I can’t not offer more, dar el salam should not have put you in this hotel for the amount they charged you”. g. no lectures given meena: a. you stand for over an hour on line to get food. b. a man with a speaker (darel salam group leader) constantly yells at you to make the line move. c. no lectures at all in the tents like they promised (esp. for women) arafaat: a. the bathrooms were flooded ; long lines; and 8 sinks had no water. b. vip bathrooms were very clean and had no line but dar el salam woman worker wont let you use it if you’re not group 3 and 4. c. they actually yelled at us so we had to use a canadian bathroom from a different agency. buses: a. drivers spoke no arabic and no english b. drivers had no idea of where to go and of directions to places…getting lost for hours.

Dar el salam the worst in the world!

Bad experience with dar el salam
It was my first hajj, but unfortunately it happened with dar el salam. the package was excessively overpriced. I paid $8300.00 wile the service I got in return does not worth more than $4000 at the most. hotel in madinah was terrible. they promised us 4 stars and the mawadah hotel in medinah I believe is not even one star. rooms are filthy, sheets have many holes, beds are broken, bathrooms are dirty and it takes you forever to take a shower because of the poor water pressure. you have to struggle between two hotels to take your dinner. food are made only for one ethnic group. communications are very poor, you have to struggle to get any piece of information. team leaders, if available, are very busy and they hardly can answer anyone. transportation by buses is a nightmare. I personally lost some of my belongings when they told us to leave the bus and walk to our camp in mina because of the traffic congestion, and I never got them back. all in all, it was a very bad and painful experience, especially in mina where the tents are very crowded and there is no room to get to your mattress without stepping on the other mattresses, and the floor are very dusty. the women's tents were close to the street where people sleep on the side walks and made noises all night long, and the tents also are close to drains which were emitting very bad smells. many hajjis suffered from this hazardous environment. to made the long story short it was a horrible experience. I do not recommend this company even to my enemy.

Dar el salam of new york

Dar el salam travel company truly, as allah is my witness, ripped us off
I paid $10, 000 dollars for a 2 person room. there was only mismanagement from a to z. nothing that was promised was furnished. we did everything on our own, as there was no, yes no, guide or imam. our bus number and group leader was periodically changed and one leader made us miss 3 prayers while in ihraam because of mismanagement and stubborness. we returned with the same knowledge of islam that we left with. we were supplied with a sufficient amount of food, however, we became very sick because the food was, at times, spoiled. this was at mina and arafa. mina camp of dar el salam could be described as a very unclean, inhumane, bug infested place that was not even vacuumed. we slept one night, worse than sardines with over 100 women under one tent, in mina and woke up with flea and unidentified bug bites. there were white bugs on the bedding... visible to the eye... so sleep was at that point impossible. there were huge roaches, and the air-conditioned tent was a fan with a blower. the tents were ripped and very unclean. we cried from the situation. we could not believe this was happening to us. we didn't have but one lecture and it was with an unassigned imam. we got a hold of the owner and spoke to him briefly and he was very unislamic in behavior. even the air-conditioned buses were "broken air-conditioned buses". at the hotels, we had nicotine smoke through the vents. they were supposed to be 5 stars, and non-smoking rooms. we were demanded to check out of the rooms at 2 am, at times. I can only pray that allah forgive this owner of dar el salam travel for what he has done to hundreds of us. even the promised gift was not given to us. we expected cleanliness at mina and arafat, at least. cleanliness is a quality and a requirement of islam, and this was absent in the most important trip of our lives to fulfill our fifth pillar obligation of islam. again, may allah forgive you dar el salam.

This is about dar el salam

Imams are agents who in reality makes commission out of your hajj packages

No leadership, no control, no employees of darelsalam only imams all over us blocked packages under thier control, imams are the agents to sell all packages and some volenteer from islamic centers and masajids who makes very good comission plus free hajj. all packages are sold out ahead of time but your imam can still sell darelsalam package even two weeks from group departures, belive me no imam has knowledge of any logistic, airlines, passport, visa etc problem. this company leads over 1000 hajees, with out any organisation, even phone call are terrible, no answer as if you are dealing with saudi arabian government authorities, all packages are over priced why? because of commisions to imams, stop travelling with imam packges through darelsalam, it is my kind suggestion based on my three hajj with darelsalam. all packages designed to travel on egypt air, jordan airlines, etihad airlines but if you want to travel on saudi airlines you will have to pax extra over your offered package price. shohada hotel is too far from haram makkah on a steep hill with out any convinience. may allah swt guide us all specially imams to do the job what they suppose to do not selling hajj packages or be a hajj package sales tool or a sign.

Terrible hajj scam :

Mr. mohamed in nyc and dr. abdo of dc are heads of this scam operation.

For all to know: found online -

Adam travel is officially on the hajj scam list>be aware

"adam travel of washington seems to be the worst - may allah guide them to improve their nonsense bec. I went with adam travel last yr. and it was rly bad.

1) terrible terrible accomodations in mekkah less then a 1 star (not kidding, worse then a motel) 2) 12-16 hour waits in the airport due to double booking of tickets 3) sharing 6-7 per room when the max promised was 4-5 4) stealing of the hajj sticker off the passports to save money (get $40.00 back off each passport). 5) no food whatsoever for 3 days in mina even though it was promised, however may allah reward daralsalam travel from ny for providing some of us with food. the qatari embassy sponsored some people on the trip (paid adam travel 6-7k for each person) and when the officials showed up and found that the whole group were not fed the adam travel people were no where to be found and the cell phones were off. 6) stealing of our jackets and not compensating us for it and blaming the driver when the local saudi kids hired to help at the motel were seen with the jackets. 7) leaving us behind when we came early to the bus (overbooked the bus and had to leave many people behind and came back 6 hours later for us) 8) left us behind in mina again with the bus and we had to find a cab to get back 9) medina was the first place we had decent normal accomodations (clean running water, a normal 3-4 star hotel) and normal food for 1 meal when all meals were promised 3 times a day (no mice, trash and potatoes & onions in the hallway). 10) being stopped by the saudi police and told the bus adam travel chartered/rented was illegal. we were told to go back to and get a legal certified bus with the hajj stickers. but they finally let us go. 11) we were suppossed to fly back from medina to jeddah, but instead they sold our tickets to another group for a high price, pocketed the money, and got us on their illegal bus for 16 hours back to jeddah (the trip should only take 1/2 that time) but this was the first time the driver ever drove a bus, so buses were passing us as if we were standing still. alhamduillah for completing the trip and returning home safely however, I would never ever recommend them and I want to remind them that the sin during hajj is multiplied by 100, 000 in mekkah as are the prayers and good deeds."

Stranded after paying 5500 to al muyassar for hajj & umrah

They did get me a visa at the last minute after the other hajj company dumped me 4 no reason. visa was via prince khaled bin talal but 400 people in a group, 200 students & 200 adults with only a handful of volunteers was a nightmare. promised shuttles 2 & from hotel in azizia 2 haram but never delivered. had 2 pay own way back & forth not 2 mention this was tiring& far. hotel new and clean but v. far from haram. not enough space booked in mena tents & no communication or religious instruction 2 be found. arrived & left 2 perform umrah alone on our own. no guides whatsoever. old people left 2 fend 4 themselves. abandoned in medina totally. bribed bus drivers 2 take us from arafat 2 muzdalifah. walked 9 hrs. from muzdalifah back 2 hotel. thank allah 4 my running shoes. had wrong ticket dates & organizer never changed departure dates of connecting flights. had 2 do this myself at airport when leaving. also jeddah airport officials complained about how bad it was 2 deal with this company. basically more concerned with making money than pleasing hajjis. food provided was disgusting. jello was eaten in lieu of boiled beef and fuul/fava beans. if shuttles had been provided rest of headaches could have been overlooked. brought sheikhs 2 tell us staying in tents was not necessary and give us fatwa it was ok just 2 go hang out at night in mena 4 a few hours. poor value 4 high cost. no service. just about making money! left old people all alone 2 get lost in medina. 1 elderly lady went 2 hospital & organizers had no idea. sad. avoid at all costs!

Afta travel of uk is the worst my friends

Please listen well

Absolutely poor service. the proprietor and his wife, mr. shafi el-gamal were on hajj as well, on a different package. I have seen some one state the private toilets were available, not sure which package was this for the package I was on (3650 per peron), no toilets were available, in fact when we complained, shafi el-gamal was very rude, especially with one of the ladies (when one lady complained shafi el-gamal did not want to talk to her but to her mahram). I am lodging complaints against afta tours at various forums. do contact me if you would like to coordinate efforts. mail id is haji. safir@rediffmail.com. I have heard that al-hidya tours was good, better check them out or go with some one cheaper (I know of people who got the same level of service at sub 2000 pound per person levels, same flights, similar accommodations). rumour has it that james kahn (dragons den) was with a certain package on afta tours and he was given access to private toilet facilities belonging to another group

Fed up! fed up! of the issue of pilgrims being outsmarted by those they trust zameer sattaur settle this issue and save americans the embarassment. saudi officials are already talking about you by name and referring to you as an american when in fact you are guyanese from the caribbean.

Keep american names clean

Obama is already good news and likes caribbean people don't spoil it
Salman

Dear shaikh zameer.

if you are wrong then negotiate a settlement. do not go to hajj this year without attempting to solve this matter. I met with some of the aggrieved and heard one side of the story - that of the complainant. they are merely seeking an answer as muslims. whether you are right wrong or indifferent, communication is binding on you. just as in marriages the elan is to avoid suspicion from others so too your silence (or lack of a statement) is cumulatively bringing on yourself an unnecessay burden.

Shaikh syeed hussein - u. s. a.

Do not go with concord travel agency is my point inshaallah!

I went last yr with concord travel agency — travel agent didn't travel with the group - didn't even bother to receive us in medina - told us that breakfast will not be provided, you should worship all night and sleep in the morning and wakeup at lunch time. - frequently dinner or lunch was skipped and when we asked where is lunch or dinner? a speech was given "you guys are here for eating or doing hajj" - leftover food was saved to serve in next day meal. many hajjis� fell sick (food poison) due to that. (I was sick for 5 days) - most of the time busses did not have ac and we found out this was not due to muallim services, but the busses without ac was requested to save money. - in medina we asked to visit historic sites or if the agent can provide information, he responded that we are not your tour guide; taxis are available out side of haram. - we missed our "maghrib and isha" in muzdallifah because the agent didn't know the direction, even though they claim that they have been proving hajj services for 23 years. - from that point we gave up on travel agent and a group of 15 hajji�s left the bus and decided to do the remaining of the hajj on foot. alhumduillah we reached muzdallifah and prayed fajr then went to mina, jamarat, slaughter house, and kaba for the tawwaf. we didn't depend on the agent at all for food and visited most of the historic sites in makkah. - accommodation in medina and makkah was a trick, on the original hajj package it states that 4-star hotels provided and 5 minutes walk from haram. after paying the hajj fees, the package description was changed an additional location was added, which was 1 hour away from haram and it was not even 4-start hotel. it was an apartment building with three shared washroom facility to accommodate over 50 people. each room had six metal frame bed with old stained pillow, stained bed sheet and stained blanket on it, some beds were broken there were hardly any space to put luggage. the carpet was dirty and un-vacuumed and walls had openings. there were no soap in the facilities and limited shower space, some time it makes you afraid that your foot might slip in the eastern style washroom while you are taking shower. - on the day of departure from makkah, muallim busses were provided by muallim services and that day we found out that we are on our own to come back to usa. when we reached hajj terminal in jeddah the flight was canceled. we had no clue what to do, no one spoke english at the airline ticketing office. we spent few hours without clue and frustration, then fortunately we were approached by hajj volunteers from usa who spoke english and arabic and they helped us out. there were able to reserve our flights on a different plan with connecting flight to new york. alhumduillah we reached in new york after 40 hours of traveling and we were welcomed by us immigration. conclusion: the best and unexpected services were provided by saudi government following is the list. - free food in arafat, muzdallifah and when traveling in muallim busses. - free medicine and doctor�s visit, clinics are in every corner. - free ride back to your location if you are lost - all the scouts greet and talked with respect to hajji's. - free quran, hajj and umrah reading material was provided. - hajji complaint booths were established and action was taken immediately. - hajji information booths available at every corner. - excellent washroom facility. - excellent cleaning services. the worst travel agent "concord travel network inc." I don�t think they have 23 years of experience.

Adam travel of washington seems to be the worst - may allah guide them to improve their nonsense bec. I went with adam travel last yr. and it was rly bad.

1) terrible terrible accomodations in mekkah less then a 1 star (not kidding, worse then a motel) 2) 12-16 hour waits in the airport due to double booking of tickets 3) sharing 6-7 per room when the max promised was 4-5 4) stealing of the hajj sticker off the passports to save money (get $40.00 back off each passport). 5) no food whatsoever for 3 days in mina even though it was promised, however may allah reward daralsalam travel from ny for providing some of us with food. the qatari embassy sponsored some people on the trip (paid adam travel 6-7k for each person) and when the officials showed up and found that the whole group were not fed the adam travel people were no where to be found and the cell phones were off. 6) stealing of our jackets and not compensating us for it and blaming the driver when the local saudi kids hired to help at the motel were seen with the jackets. 7) leaving us behind when we came early to the bus (overbooked the bus and had to leave many people behind and came back 6 hours later for us) 8) left us behind in mina again with the bus and we had to find a cab to get back 9) medina was the first place we had decent normal accomodations (clean running water, a normal 3-4 star hotel) and normal food for 1 meal when all meals were promised 3 times a day (no mice, trash and potatoes & onions in the hallway). 10) being stopped by the saudi police and told the bus adam travel chartered/rented was illegal. we were told to go back to and get a legal certified bus with the hajj stickers. but they finally let us go. 11) we were suppossed to fly back from medina to jeddah, but instead they sold our tickets to another group for a high price, pocketed the money, and got us on their illegal bus for 16 hours back to jeddah (the trip should only take 1/2 that time) but this was the first time the driver ever drove a bus, so buses were passing us as if we were standing still. alhamduillah for completing the trip and returning home safely however, I would never ever recommend them and I want to remind them that the sin during hajj is multiplied by 100, 000 in mekkah as are the prayers and good deeds.

Subject: hajj scam trinidad pilgrims

Zameer sattaur comments are full of arrogance. his accomplices abdul hafeez majid and the lady at haphizah odyssey should be ashamed.

The imams in trinidad are cowards to deal with this man. the maulanas, the mufti and the qaadi.. should make a public disclaimer against abdul hafeez and the travel agency especially asja who is father and himself represents.

The persons robbed said that they are keeping out of the media to protect the name of islaam and muslims.. allah will bless them for this insha allah

Sikty sahib

Salam all, I went last yr with barket travel & tours it was very bad and I hope no one is ever in my place. before leaving the country we were all handed our passports back with hajj visa's etc. one of the brothers that was going on hajj with the group noticed his visa was smudged at no fault of his own (as the tour operator was in charge of obtaining visa's and held onto the passports till departure day). this brother concerned with the smudge approached the tour operator who made it clear it would be impossible for him to enter saudia arabia with a smudged visa. this brother not knowing what to do was advised to remain in the uk and have his visa sorted out whilst the rest of the group along with the tour operator flew out on hajj. and to top it all off the brother had to pay out of his own pocket to stay in a hotel near by the airport till his visa was sorted out (as he lived far away from the airport). this is something the tour operator should have taken charge of and made sure an error on his part (whether during obtaining the visa or after obtaining the visa - got smudged) was resolved with no expense from the customer - being a business providing a service.

During the sales pitch we were told we would be at the grand shubeika hotel in makkah which was slightly more closer (considering the traffic caused by people) - however this wasn't to be.

We were told the ziyara will be done in english to accommodate the people in the group like myself who were not from the urdu speaking community - however this was not meant to be. it was in urdu, so myself and a few others had to rely on fellow hajji's to translate as much as possible.

The food wasn't any good (provided by tour operator), and gave me stomach problem day 1. since then we (myself and friends) ate outside, although at times we did eat in at the hotel. the whole wisdom behind getting an all-inclusive package was so that we would not waste time queuing at the shops for food, instead we would have food at the hotel.

Whilst all other hotels had tea/coffee available 24 hours in their hotels our tour group decided to restrict this service to after fajr, asr, and isha - even though we payed for an all-inclusive package.

Lack of customer service, considering we were paying for a service the management and staff would talk down to people and when they got a reaction - they pulled out the 'sabr' card.

We were promised the groups fiqh lessons/classes during the build up and during hajj would be in english with an english speaking scholar however all the classes were in urdu and the scholar was essentially reading out of a book called virtues of hajj by shaykh zakariya khandhelwi - which I read beforehand anyway (alhamdulillah).

We were told the scholar would be a fluent english speaking scholar, however the scholar wasn't fluent in english, he could just about speak english!

Everything our group did was always last minute - going to arafat, going to muzdalifah, going for jamarat. going last always meant we ended up forfeiting decent places to stay and/or rest.

Our transport was always arriving late. especially transport to madina for which we had to wait and be on standby for almost 2 whole days. the management team had no clue of what was happening and would not communicate anything to the group about transport to madina.

Our qurbani did not happen on the 1st day of stoning. even though we headed back to makkah to do our tawaf ziyara etc in hope that by the time we finish our qurbani would be done so we can come out of ihram. due to us being the last group again, the qurbani was put off till the following day so we had to stay in ihram for an extra night - which we did not mind. however our problem was that, being first timers on hajj we did not know our way back to mina from makkah. the whole group was stranded in makkah and the tour group was not willing to provide transport or a guide (even though they messed up on the qurbani) for those people that wanted to go back to mina. the tour group then got the 'mufti' to reassure everyone that they could stay in makkah for the night even though it was an emphasised sunnah to go back to mina.

The following day after the qurbani was done and people came out of ihram they were told a bus would be ready to transport the group to jamarat for stoning after asr. again being gullible the whole group trusted the tour operator however there was no transport. the tour group was relying on catching 'public' transport to jamarat with old women, and young sisters amongst the group. some of the women relied being pushed in wheelchairs. waiting for public transport there was a huge queue which lead to a lot of pushing and shoving and at one point almost a fight between our group and other groups. this was all going on whilst the tour operator could not organise transport and stood by hoping somebody would sort this mess out for them.

In madina we stayed in wasel palace which is a 4 star hotel not too far from the masjid. however the toilet facilities were not decent at all. during the sales pitch myself and 3 other friends were told we would have en-suite bathroom. instead we ended up sharing a communal bathroom between another room which hindered us all when wanting a shower, doing wudhu, or wanting to use the toilet facilities.

The tour operator was not available during our stay in madina to express our views about the toilet facilities nor any other concerns we may have, instead he was taking another group to masjid al-aqsa (a trip upon which more people complained they had problems).

Hajj scams, us citizens, tt persons, no leaders no jurist available? no darul uluum.? no muslim court?

If so people will continue cause they no fear allah

I went with abu muazz hajj group of ny for last hajj

Went wit this group against the advise of others, I went because a friend was going with this group.

Hotels, actually apartments were in aziziyah miles away from mecca this was not told to me when I booked but after (note the flyer for the hajj mentioned that hotels were 2 minutes walk from the haram and nothing about aziziyah).

We had to travel eeryday to the haram.

Could not find abu muazz when we need him.

On old couple could slept near the haram overnight because the could not get a taxi back to the apartment in aziaiyah abu muaaz was the least concerned.

Some of these groups are all about making money a friend of mine went with another group and paid $1700.00 (seventeen hundred dollars) less than me and had better accomodations staying near the haram both in mecca and medina.

If you are reading this and plan to go to hajj do your research the group that my friend went with for cheaper takes people from new youk ask around.

Hajji omar in trinidad and all other leaders know me and they can tell you about this matter.

If the trinidad pilgrims want someone to blame maybe they can start with abdul hafeez who did not wire all the money to me. the transfers copies are their to substantiate this. he started the dishonesty and I could not have done anything at the last moment.

Zameer

I am sorry that others are now judging me. I have had a change of heart. I will not honour this debt because the embarassment has already even out the debt owed.

This fatwah is sahih and I challenge anyone on it. I will continue to be a hajj leader since more people want me to than the amount that are opposed to me.

Zameer

How we can know, pp nubers, flight schedul and status for the accommodation in makka, of the pilligrims arrived so far? does anyone know the exact web site to know the above status?

Regards,
Yasin memon

Please give me time, I will repay the brothers from trinidad. the story is complicated but I am responsible and want jannah as all of you.

I apologize to my muslim brothers and the institutions I caused embarassmentmy phone # is [protected]. and I am not hiding from this two year old debt

Zameer

I disagree that imam zameer sattaur alone should be accountable. all his associates should also be answerable because they aid and abet in the matter.

There is a local trinidad travel agency called haphiza's odyssey travel who together with a trinidad con-artist named abdul hafeez majid who did the soliciting and wire transfering.

The local guy has a brother working at the islamic broadcasting network station in trinidad and he is able to muzzle the report from coming out on the normally hardhitting ceo of the company mr. inshan ihsmael.

Millionaires but still robbing people trinidad / guyana combination. don't worry fello muslims justice is being prayed for by all who continuously read about zammer, sara international, imam gazalle institute and now haphizas travel and abdul hafeez majid

Cynthia diaz jnr attortey at law and muslim

I expect some renegade good samaritan to deal with this matter of zameer sattaur and his entire institution. hajj money robbery - poor people's life savings - a person who is himself caribbean bord and hiding behind american priviledges calling himsel a shaikh guyanese-american.

$132, 000 usd is alot of money to be in the hands of the unjust. where is american law - the attorney general's office - mr president mr. bush, mr. whoever next please intervene.

The writing on the wall is not looking good as to the things that could have been done with this money

Smith robinson (attorney)

A call is being made to the imams of masjids in the u. s. a. to make an islamic position on imam zameer sattaur before hajj 2008 departures this year.

It is either you do something about it, talk out against it or hate it in your hearts.
The caribbean (trinidad and tobago pilgrims) brothers and sisters need resolve through those entrustred with leadership authority.

Do not let any other person suffer this fate, do not let it be felt as though the muslims are unable to manage their own affairs. muslims dont steal. muslims dont lie muslims stand firm for justice

Tarq abdur rahman

Dear sir, I was one of the fortunate & performed my hajj along with my mother. my cover no. was upl-834/2.

Our counslates has arranged those building which was rejected last year. I came to know through their local employees & building owner, that everything is fair in business. I am telling you that why indian authorites putting more quota to rural areas. becoz no body speak against attrocities.

You will listen to shock that my bus reached madina & we got hotel at 3 o clock in the morning only after lot of heated discussion & made one hostage.

While leaving madina at 10 pm bus stop at zulhulepha, authorities arrranged all this, they had saved two night of hotel, can you think counslates are earning crores in single haj tripp.
I can only prey to allah, otherwise to whome I should prey to investigate

"as he sold packages to retailers and they apparently sold it back with misinformation to the people."

The above quote is not true he does not sell packages he bribes the leaders in certain communities to streer potential hujjaj to him and where a comm. has agroup the leader gets a free trip to accompany them.in the end he is responsible. as usual he cannot be found when he is needed.

2. the brothers in tt should write the saudi hajj committee and should also contact the us embassy in
tt and lodge a complaint also expose zameer sattaur for what he is you can go to "hahhbuddy.com"
also hajjratings.com to voice your concerns you saying something now can prevent others being
taking advantage of in the future.

I do hope that the brothers will be able to collect their money if not there is youmul qiyamah

Imam zameer sattaur and all who condone his actions of scheming the caribbean pilgrims their hajj money will pay from the ultimate paymaster. those who have the power to intervene and has not done so will be held accountable.

Muslims robbing muslims and muslims are silent witnesses. get real

Imraan.

Actually it was a little mix up in information the person was not imam zameer, he was a neutralizing force in the matter. as he sold packages to retailers and they apparently sold it back with misinformation to the people. imam zameer had nothing to do with it and it was another group from chicago who made the mistake.

22 pilgrims from trinidad west indies paid 6,000 usd each to sara international travel of usa. to perform hajj. we were not taken to hajj and never got a refund.

Americans apparently have special privilidges since complaints were made to the saudi embassies the process followed as outline and letters sent via fedex.

The group continues to carry people and scam others. it is noted that the leader zameer sattaur got a beating from frustrated pilgrims from the said usa after he scammed them this year 2007/2008.

We need someone with a big ear to listen to small voices.

Imam