Travel agency under fire for covering up Nur Sajat’s gender status for umrah
Albayt Travel (M) Sdn Bhd, under fire for its controversial travel arrangements for cosmetics entrepreneur Nur Sajat and her family to perform the umrah, announced that they were trying to clarify the matter with the Malaysian consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
They are doing so through the advice of a Mutawwif (umrah leader) on duty in Makkah.
In a statement yesterday, Albayt Travel said they made arrangements for Nur Sajat and her family to perform umrah, with condition that they do not publicise the matter.
“The special umrah group of Nur Sajat’s family and her business partner, accompanied by nine people, seven adults and two children with a Mutawwif from Jan 28 to Feb 7.
“Their travel destinations were Medina, Makkah and Jeddah using tourist visas,” it said.
According to the agency, they had informed their client that there were differences in the management and legal procedure for their umrah, due to Nur Sajat’s identity as a transgender.
“The client acknowledges that the gender status may affect the sensitivities of the Muslim community.
“Thus, we took precautionary steps from preparing documents for visa processing, special pilgrimage courses and we even gave her advice on how to perform certain rituals while in Makkah,” it said.
The agency also emphasised to the client that they should not publicise their umrah journey through any media outlet due to concerns that it may cause unease among the Muslim community.
However, Nur Sajat went against Albayt Travel’s advice and published photos of their visit on social media platforms.
“So what happened was beyond our control. I hope everyone is clear on this,” it said.
Nur Sajat was found trending today with 24.9k tweets, mostly Muslims who were enraged by the businesswoman’s decision to use the female identity for umrah.
Here are some of the tweets:
By Hema Subramaniam
