This is a petition to Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Hajj and Umrah. We hope that you, as custodians of the Holy Mosques, listen to our concerns.

The new online booking system through Motawif has robbed many muslims in Europe, America and Australia of their Hajj experience.

Motawif has been a disaster to apply for Hajj. From lack of planning, website downtime, issues with payment, price hikes and lack of trust, many of us muslims who have been try to book our Hajj this year have had added stress over a system that did not need completely changing with less than a month to go before Hajj. We also believe Hajj Tour Operators were not told about this new change in advance, so they could help make preparations for those of us who booked through them.

1: Lack of planning.

The new system was introduced without proper planning with less than a month for the Hajj season to begin. Muslims in the selected countries have not had enough time to prepare spiritually for Hajj, and many have been left in the dark as to whether their application will be accepted or not. The 'random' application process was done with less than two weeks to go, which has caused an immense amount of stress to all of us. Many of us have jobs, and we need more preparation to get time off work. We can't simply take two/three weeks off work without prior notice.

2: Price hikes.

We were promised that the new online system would be much cheaper than booking through tour operators - this has not been the case! Although initial prices that were released on Motawif were good, once a person was selected through the draw, they were able to see the real prices of the packages, which were much more expensive. Many Muslims have resorted to going online and complaining about this system.

3: Issues with payments.

Many Muslims who were selected in the draw had issues paying for their packages. They would see their payments leave their bank accounts yet the online portal was not updated. This is also a big issue with the payment platform not being trusted. The platform is an unknown entity by us all. Banks would not release large amounts of money to an unknown system.

4: Extortionate fees.

There have been complaint that the new system has taken extortionate transaction fees. We have had to make payments using card, and payment merchants have been taking huge fees for every transaction. Some have paid over excesses of £250 GBP in fees alone.

5: Lack of trust.

This new booking system has brought a lack of trust to many pilgrims, and we, in the selected countries, have been used as test pilots. Hajj is supposed to be a special time for us, many of us have put our life savings in to visiting the Holy Mosques to fulfill one of the Pillars of Islam, but this new system has cause nothing but stress and pain. Booking through tour operators in our own countries adds an bit extra security because we can hold their services accountable if they are not met.

We understand that there are some tour operators that have previously taken advantage of pilgrims, but there have been many who are trusted and have have taken on the responsibility to look after the guests of Allah. Many of these operators have been working tirelessly to ensure the security and safety of Muslim performing have for many years. 

We ask the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah to look at how this new system has been a disaster for us in the selected countries, and revert back to the old system of using Tour Operators.

We need YOU the custodians of the Holy Mosques to allow us to choose our own packages through people WE have put our trust in. We want to be able to fulfill our rights as Muslims and perform our Hajj, and WE hand over this amanaah to YOU to correct this mistake.