Those who love warm weather want to spend their winter days in the Middle East. With the introduction of Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia has become a tourism hub for Muslims and non-Muslims in the Middle East. Spending the winter holidays of 2022 in Saudi Arabia may be the best choice for every Muslim in the UK. But there are some restrictions to stop the intention to perform Umrah this winter. Before discussing this topic, you should know the importance of Umrah.
Importance of Umrah
Umrah is a great Sunnah which our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) performed 4 times in his life. It is not just worship, because for Muslims it is a journey to atone for their sins.
A hadeeth tells us the importance of Umrah that is narrated by Qatada, I asked Anas (RA) how many times the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) had performed Umrah. He answered 4 times.
1. Umrah of Hudaibiyah in Dhul Qada when the pagans resisted him.
2. Umrah in the following year in Dhul Qada after the peace treaty with them (pagans).
3. Umrah from Al-Ja’rana where He (PBUH) distributed the war booty.” I think he meant the booty (of the battle) of Hunain. I asked, “How many times did he perform Hajj?” He (Anas) replied, “Once.”
4. The fourth (last) Umrah is performed by the Prophet (PBUH) with the Hajj al Wadda in the 10th year of Hijri.
Tips: To know more importance of Umrah in our lives read this topic “What is the purpose of Umrah?”
This healthy topic will help you decide about the best events and cheap times. No doubt, without knowing new requirements, our efforts can be affected.
So everyone can easily decide after to consider on below points.
• Best Winter Events for Umrah
• Cheap Times for Umrah
• New requirement for Umrah 2022
Best Winter Events for Umrah
There are two big events in the winter season Christmas and New Year. A large number of Muslims live in the UK, in which some are permanent residents, and some are living there on work permits, student visas, business visas, and tourist visas.
So, the UK is a Christian’s country because followers of this religion are in large numbers there. Muslims are also in large numbers there but the majority are Christians. Therefore, Christmas and New Year are two big events for UK individuals.
And winter holidays start from “Wednesday 21 December 2022” and ends on “Wednesday 4 January 2023.” This time of winter season is peak because sometimes temperature drops to just below ‘0’ degrees Celsius. UK climate is cool and rainy but you experience different in Saudi Arabia. Because Saudi Arabia climate is desert and hot. You can also experience snowfall in 5 areas of this middle east country Turaif, Tabuk, Arar, Shaqraa, and Rafha.
The selected area of Umrah is Makkah Mukarramah is hot. Therefore, it may be worthwhile to spend our holidays on the performance of Umrah in severe cold. Before the start of tourism, foreign Muslims could not visit cities other than Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah on Umrah visas, but now it is possible with tourist visas. Spending annual winter vacations in search of God’s grace will be a moment in your life where you will find yourself like a newborn baby.
It is not a bad thing to involve oneself in the happiness of other religious followers, but it is a sin to do things that are forbidden in Islam. Both events occur in December, although the UK has full religious freedom. Therefore, you should spend this time performing Umrah. Like Ramadan, the prices of hotels and flights go up this month too, because at that time, especially the western people give importance to tourism.
Ramadan is a special month for Muslims. According to the meaning of a hadith, our performing Umrah in Ramadan can be equivalent to Hajj (in terms of reward). When this great Islamic month falls in December, then we can have no other opportunity than December. But unfortunately, this is not happening in 2022.
There are three months in winter, Dec, Jan and Feb. Therefore, there is no reason not to perform Umrah in January or February. Our only recommendation for December is the winter holidays.
Cheap Times for Umrah
Umrah is also a journey with worship that is done in Saudi Arabia. This is a wonderful country to discover the mysteries of Islam. This year the Hajj of 2022 is coming on Thursday, 7 July and Ramadan on Saturday, 2 April. These are the two big events when the price of each Umrah package 2022 may be beyond the reach of the common man with a low budget.
Tips: To search Cheap Times for Umrah online, types Cheap Umrah Packages from the UK in your browser.
Winter doesn’t end in December rather January is a peak month, and February also comes in this same season.
The temperature of Three months in Makkah:
- December 33° / 21°
- January 31° / 19°
- February 33° / 20°
Makkah is considered a holy city than Madinah and Jerusalem because there are main three mosques that are very sacred in the entire world.
Every step taken towards the three mosques is a pilgrimage. Islam rewards every good thought. Therefore, to think of visiting the three mosques (Masjid al-Haram, Masjid al-Nabawi and Masjid al-Aqsa) for the sake of reward is also worship.
Here we describe each step of Umrah to decide what best time to plan your holy journey is.
Umrah consists of 4 steps:
1. Ihram
2. Tawaf
3. Sa’i
4. Halq/Taqsir
Only the Ihram step can be performed outside the Makkah but must wear before crossing Meeqats.
Muslims don’t go to Saudi Arabia for a single day to perform Umrah because it can be done in a few hours.
They first go to Makkah to perform Umrah and visit other holy places there, and then they go to Madinah to offer prayers in Masjid al-Haram and make Ziayarh in this city. People need 7 days maximum to visit these two cities. They will require accommodations in both cities and transports.
If you are travelling to Saudi Arabia for Umrah while you want to visit other cities besides Makkah and Madinah, then finding cheap times for Umrah is the first thing to book your Umrah package. January is also a cheap month but a better cheap month is February 2022.
The climate in Saudi Arabia is hot and dry, but we may experience light rain in winter. These days sunlight does not burn your skin during the day but cold at night can be unbearable. We can now easily visit every holy place of pilgrimage as temperature and price do not hinder our Umrah journey.
New requirement for Umrah 2022
It was easy to perform Umrah in 2018, but now the Saudi government has enacted some new rules for performing Umrah 2022.
Rules:
2022 new Rules for Umrah from the UK:
- Get negative PCR test
- Fully vaccinated COVID-19
- Don’t travel if age above 65 year’s old
- Don’t take children with this journey
- Tourist Vsia or Umrah Visa
- Don’t travel from some countries which are suspended
- Applying for Umrah through the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah official app ‘Eatmarna’ and ‘Tawakkalna’
Tips: An interesting topic “Would 2022 Be A Year of Travel?”
Weather, months and cheap expenses affect our travels, but if the weather is not severe then it would be best for us to think of a cheaper price. Both January and February are cheaper than December. But if one has abundant resources and wants to travel without carrying any work or business burden, then there is no opportunity other than winter holidays to perform Umrah.
