15 October, 2012

Speculation about Zamzam water decried

Speculation about Zamzam water decried

ARAB NEWS

Monday 15 October 2012

Last Update 15 October 2012 2:12 am

MAKKAH: Chairman of the United Zamzam Office Suleiman Abu Ghelya has dismissed rumors appearing on some social networking sites about the genuineness of Zamzam water distributed to Haj pilgrims.
"The speculation about the genuineness of Zamzam water supplied by the Zamzam Office is not true and unfortunate," he said, attributing doubts to ignorance of religious knowledge, because Zamzam is a river in paradise that will never dry up.
Abu Ghelya made this denial when he was asked about the rumor circulating on social networking sites that ordinary water was added to Zamzam supplied to pilgrims.
He said his office planned to supply 32 million liters of Zamzam water to pilgrims in the current Haj season.
Regarding the various services offered by the United Zamzam Office, Abu Ghelya said it started operations this season with offering bottles of cooled holy water to pilgrims on the first day of the current lunar month Dul Qaadah (Sept. 17).
"We take water to pilgrims' residences in covered trucks, while our women officials visit hospitalized pilgrims and supply them with bottles of holy water," he said.
He added that his office had bought 35,000 bottles of 20-liter capacity to supply the water to pilgrims at their residences.
The office's service will continue until the last pilgrim leaves the holy city.
The Ministry of Haj has ordered the Zamzam office to supply each pilgrim with a bottle of 300 ml of the holy water at the time of arrival in Makkah and 1 liter at their residences daily besides 1.5 liter bottles at the pilgrim grouping centers, Al-Madinah daily reported yesterday.
Regarding the illegal sales of Zamzam by some gangs, he said the genuine Zamzam bottles carry the warning "not for sale" to ensure they are not sold for profit.
"However, when we notice some people selling the water illegally, we report the matter to the departments concerned," he said.
A major problem faced by his agency is the traffic department's stance of not allowing Zamzam trucks to enter the central zone around the Grand Mosque or stop at pilgrims' residential facilities. "We are striving to reach an understanding with the department to resolve this issue that comes up every year," he said.
The official said his office had made a proposal to extend the Zamzam supply service to Umrah pilgrims. The Ministry of Haj is currently studying the viability of that proposal

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