Riverside Haj Address: N/A City: Moreno valley, State/Province:
California,
Country:
United States Phone: 1-800-898-7835 E-mail: N/A
Website: N/A
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41 PEOPLE
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RATING (5)
2010-05-06
E-Z Hajj I heard so many horrible stories before I registered with Riverside Haj, but when i went over-there it was so easy with the the help of Allah. Thank you brother Omar you did your best. your brother Mansour
Excellent Hajj Trip I did Haj several times before, but this was the most memorable one, every thing was excellent and over my expectation the whole staff of Riverside Hajj did good job (brother omar and brother mohammed, Haji mehtabbuddin and hamidi beside sister Nadia) May Allah bless you Riverside Hajj your brother Ahmed.
May Allah bless them for a job well done I want to thank Riverside Haj and brother Omar Khattab,and sister Nadia Khattab personally for taking care of the group. I WOULD RECCOMEND FOR ANYONE
Saif & Mayada AL-Kassir
hajj 2007 as-salaamu alaikum wa rahmatullah
My husband and I went to Hajj with Riverside group in 2007. I have read the negative comments about the Hajj trip on 2007. I am not writing to defend anyone, but just to state that Hajj is never easy and that from my point of view br. Omar Khattab did what he could to make it as smooth as possible for us. The food, the hotel and the transportation are all in the hand on Allah. I have accounted help, patience and kindness from brother Omar. His wife, Nadia Khattab went our of her way and took all the time I needed and whenever I needed prior to hajj to talk to me on the phone. Once my husband called with an inquiry and he did not calculate the time difference between MD and CA. As a result the phone call with some not urgent questions came to sister Nadia at around 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning. She has not shown any signs of aggravation and instead helped my husband with answering to his questions to the best of her ability.
My only wish is that Br. Omar Khattab arranges for more halaqahs and educational talks during the stay at Mina. I feel that time was not spent there to the fullest extent of worshiping and gaining religious knowledge. Yet again, it is in the hands of an individual believer. I just pray that the weak believers would have been helped more in a sense of attaining the knowledge and not spending time in vain talks instead.
If one is looking for the best arranged and the most comfortable Hajj possible, one should look not further.
I pray that this review useful.
As-salaamu alaikum
Recommend 100% This comment is for the previous brother who made the previous post. Dated 5/17/09.
I do think it is you brother who should fear Allah, because I was part of this group who got stuck at the airport the year 2007, and I assure you it was not the fault of brother Omar Khattab. I do admit that i became a friend of brother Omar Khattab after Hajj and I assure you that he's always a sincere person. Let me explain what happened, the Royal Jordinian Airline who does not have a good reputation but it is was one of the only few airlines that take you to hajj (a Muslim airline) and as you know third world airlines they always try to change your reservation and sell it to somebody else at the airport (it is very well known during the Hajj), but when brother Omar Khattab and the ministry of hajj interfered with the issue they booked us back. The question now if there was no reservation at the beginning, how do you explain that the airline took more than 50 seats if they didn't have a reservation to begin with? Second question to you, do you believe that the airline had 50 seats available on one plane during the Hajj time at one flight even with the order of the ministry of Hajj? The answer is no. Brother Omar Khattab never used Royal Jordinian after that year.
Dear brother (I do not know your name), lets discuss all of your points together. 1). Makkah accommodation as you said it was excellent. 2). Medina, you admit it was a brand new hotel, but they did not have the experience (untested) to serve food. In the name of Allah what did brother Omar do when this happened? he took us to the next door hotel just to eat our meals there and he paid this out of his own pocket even though he paid for the food at the original hotel. So, how can you assume that Brother Omar Khattab was trying to save money? 3). you said Mina and Arafat was very good and this leaves us with the comment #4). your comment that you came to brother Omar khattab with travelers checks to change them to cash and you got upset when brother Omar Khattab said he did not have the cash. Is this Brother Omar Khattab's fault or your fault? You are the one who did not bring cash with you on the trip, it is not part of the package that brother Omar Khattab will act as a bank.
I do believe brother that this was the only reason you are upset with him. Just remember he never left us during the whole entire trip (you admit that he was under tremendous pressure) He was always there, if there was a problem he was always there to solve it and this is what i call a 5 star service from the organizers.
Please brother fear Allah you are a Hajjee and besides that, you are not Allah, nor wil your comment will prevent the Rizk of Riverside Haj.
Fraud Ratings As salamu alaikum,
First I wouldlike to warn all the visitors who are reading the rating for riverside Haj to be careful about them, If you will notice that many of them are all 5star's and few are 1 star or 2 star. All the 5 star ones seems to prominently give the name of brother - Omar Khattab who runs the company. and all the 5 star rating are 100% complimentary. Whoever is writing them is trying to increase the rating of this company, and should REALLY FEAR ALLAH as he is telling others who are writing negative reviews.
I went to Hajj with Riverside in 2007.
Makkah Stay was excellent - But I cannot say anything how it ws in 2008 because the hotel where we stayed (sofitel) is no longer there (that part of the Haram is being re-built). But I did not have any complaints about the service in 2007,
Madinah - We had a lot of issues, (some were not the part of the owner Br Omar Khattab - But I suspect he tried to make money and cut corner, and ended uo choosing a checper hotel that was new and untested). Personally I had some a couple of bad experiences with him. (I had travellers checks and I asked him to convert them to Dollars - but he refused. Travellers checks are very difficult to covert during Hajj time) But al hamdulillah there were some other very helpful people who helped me convert them.
Stay in Arafat and Mina was quite good and comfortable.
But there were a lot of problem when we were returning, the booking were messed, and we were literally stuck in the Airport without an outgoing flight reservation, and the brother was not even answering his cell phone. Luckily some of the people in our group spoke Arabic and they spoke to the Ministry office at the AIrport, and the ministry helped us out. THe officer there called Br Omar Khattab and told him that unless he took care of us, his agency would be fined thousands of riyals. AL hamdulillah after that - we had Br Omar calling us every hour to check on us after that and to make sure that we got on the flight. It left somewhat of a Bad taste in the mouth. and gave an idea of the type of the person we were dealing with.
Again - Let me just remind anyone who is going for Hajj that it is not a cake walk, and you will definately face issue and travel problems, etc etc. And as I said earlier, there were some very good people with us and we all supported each other. But the same was lacking from Br Omar Khattab.
If things had all gone according to plan and we had not had travel issues (which happens almost every year for most travel companies during Hajj), then we might have not seen the worst side of him...I can understand that he was under a lot of pressure managing a big group of 300 Haajis....
Insha'allah if he as sincere as he is stating he is, then may ALlah accept from him. But I feel that looking at the rating here, he has someone putting 5 stars and that is Fraudulent behaviour.
I would rate this company overall 3.5 star because they do try to provide good accomodation. But if you run into trouble, then be prepared to fend for yourself if needed. salaams.
Excellent the moment we arrived at Jeddah airport we received by brother Omar khattab,who let us set at one of the restaurant until he finish all the paper work which took only few hours, Ajiad hotel in Makkah was very good and the hotel in Madina (Ambassadors) was good. In Mina we have some difficulties waiting on Bathrooms (it is understandable due to millions of Hajjees) but in Arfat it was the best. Jeddah hotel was excellent, I want to thank Riverside Haj and brother Omar Khattab personally for taking care of the group.
Sincerely, your brother Arshad
Nice trip I went with Riverside Haj this year and every thing was perfect, I am really surprise with the bad comments that people wrote (fear Allah for false statements) as far as the hotels any one could checkout the website to see if it is 5 stars or 4 stars. Secondly we had an excellent Imam with the group his name Brother Mohammed Khan. Third the number of the organizers were more than enough, I my self remember Brother Talib Ul Haq, Haje Mehtabuddin, Mohammed Khattab, Brother Ahmed Omran, Brother Sharif, Sister Nadia Khattab and Brother Omar Khattab who never left us alone for one minute. So please please fear Allah you will be asked about these statements on the day of Judgment. This brother Yonis from new Mexico
My Hajj Experience 2008 I think they need more group leaders, and the transportation should have a restroom due to long travel times women do need to use the restroom. Better communication with the airlines to assure the travellers are not stranded at the airport
I have gone with Riverside Hajj twice fro Haj. The first time was exceptionally perfect which is why I traveled the second time with them. In between the first and second time I sent many friends and relatives to Hajj with them. Each time everyone said it was wonderful experience. My second time was in 2007 and this too was exceptionally perfect. One has to understand that Hajj will always have some experiences that need to be improved but the key to a sucessful Haj group is having organizers that are sincere and care for the Hajis. This is exactly what Brother Omar and Sister Nadia do. They try their utmost in helping the hajis and it is for that reason that I am very happy that I traveled with them. In fact if I ever decide to go for Hajj again I will go with them withought even looking at any other company simply because I know they are sincere in their heart. May Allah bless them for all their work...
Alhamdulallah always there will some difficulties in Hajj because the prophet (pbuh) assured us that there will be hardship in Hajj (Mashaqa). Riverside Haj always during the trip tried to reduce the hardship.
I was part of the group in 2006..and alhamdullah everything went fine. I do recommend Riverside Haj for any person who wants to go to Hajj for a reasonable price.
God bless Omar Khattab I went several time with Riverside Haijj, Allah bless Brother Omar Khattab for the efforts he puts in. your brother Saleem choudary.
Excellent Service Every thing was good, except in Madina the food at the hotel was not up to the standards of a 5* hotel, but brother omar Khattab correct this right away by taking us to eat at the next door 5* hotel. I would recommend riverside haj to every one.
Well organized group, cares about their hajjes, I choose riverside haj to arrange my haj because it is the only company in the USA that has a list of all the hajjes (references), for the last 20 years. The trip went fine. Thank you Riverside Haj.
Good Group After reading all comments on this website my advise is this:
For Hajj gropes: Remember your profit (Rezik) is on Allah not on any human being, just do your job like the way it should be, because serving the Hajjes during the Hajj is an honor and a noble service.
for Hajjes who writes comments: please write constructive comments not taking a revenge from the Hajj group that you went with in hajj, leave the punishment to Allah if this group are in this business for the sake of Allah or not.
For the website: please add a section to register the name and telephone number for the person who make any comment, so to be fair for every one.
Good Company, Good Care there is no hajj company could give you 100% problem free in a Hajj trip, but the most important thing in a hajj trip is when a problem happened you have the organizer of the company there to solve the problem for you and this what i did like most about Riverside haj and brother Omar Khattab. I hope everybody understands that when he or she make any comment on any hajj company whether is good or bad that it will be the first thing he or she will be asked on the day of judjement. so be very careful this is Amanah.
the reason I made this comment is because of the different statements that I looked at on the website about the different Hajj companies.
May Allah guide you to say the right and honest opinion before you right any such comments.
Haj 2007 I was one of the RV hajj group for the year of 2007. I am writing in response of my brother in Islam who commented on haj 2007, and it happened to be that I was in the same sub group going through egypt this year. With all do respect for his views which I agree on all of them, but I do personally review them as positive and strong points not something that needs improvement as my brother mentioned. 1). In Madina on the first day when brother Omar Khattab found that the open buffet at our hotel was not up to 5 star standard he reacted right away and reserved the attached hotel to serve us a better open buffet on the RV hajj expense, which i consider a quick response. 2). For the route going from USA to Jeddah with a transit in Cairo for about 10 hours the majority of the sub group wanted to go out the airport to see Egypt, Riverside Haj agreed to this and they arranged for a bus to tour Cairo plus the food at the expense of RV haj which wasn't obligatory. 3). As far as Mina and Arafat whether you stay 5 days or 6 days it was a very good point credited to RV Haj for not enforcing that on anybody because there are four Islamic Mazaheb ( scholars), you cannot enforce one over the other. However it will be much easier for RV haj to do it one way, but you have to respect your other brother's beliefs.
Everybody has a different point of view, but for the Amanah and the truth i want to clear this matter. May Allah bless our nation of Islam and make their Haj Mubarek
RV Hajj 2007 Overall I was fine with their service and planning. They have areas of improvement which could make it excellent. Of course, many aspects are out their control and I blame the Saudi King and government for making it hard on Hajji's.
Key areas for improvement:
1) Their accommodation in Medina were badly planned mainly because the hotel was new and did not prepare for our group when it came to food. We had to shift our food needs to another hotel. This was done by RV Hajj and took a day to work out. I blame RV Hajj for not preparing for this.
2) They need to organize the Tawaf al Widah process. Instead of making it a full discourse of opinion during the Hajj they should provide alternatives ahead of time for both options.
3) Staying at Muzdaliffah (full night vs. partial) was also not planned properly. This should be planned ahead of time for both options.
4) They need to provide alternatives for sleeping and accommodations when we stayed in transit at Cairo. If they had given me an option, I would have stayed at a hotel over-night instead of roaming the city during the night.
Rest went pretty well and food and accommodations were fine. I had a good time and enjoyed Hajj.
Great Hajj Company I went with Hajj company last year and I must say that their service was excellent. Yes there were problems with buses being late but I understand that this was due to traffic and it was largely out of the tour leader's control. I highly recommend this company to a friend.
Top Company I did my Hajj in 2007, I felt that the company especially the president Brother Omar Khattab did everything they can to make our Hajj as comfortable, so we could concentrate on our Manasik. I really like this company and I recommend it to everyone who wants to go to Hajj.
A Good Group To Go With I loved going on Haj with this group! The arrangements were top notch - part of me even felt that they may have been too much!
There were a few occasions during which the bus was late, etc. but these problems were largely out of control of the tour leader and were caused by circumstances outside his control (i.e. traffic). In the end, they tried the best they could and alhamdulillah it was a very enjoyable, fulfilling trip.
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