THE DEVELOPMENT OF GUIDELINES ON QUALIFICATION OF UMRAH MUTAWWIF IN MALAYSIA

Career as umrah mutawif has gained an admirable place in society, recently. Nevertheless, from the legal and administrative perspective, there is no specific entity that regulates, monitors, and coordinates the management of umrah mutawif in Malaysia. Therefore, this article will analyze the need to establish proper qualifications guideline that canbe used to qualify a person before venturing into the profession of umrah mutawif. This is a qualitative study, adopting data collection process through library research methods, semi-structured interviews, and the involvement of researcher himselfas umrah mutawif. The study has established that there is critical need to develop qualifications guideline for umrah mutawif that could serve as a reference and assessment tools for the travel agents as umrah package operators, in selecting their umrah mutawif that operates under their company and will principally be guiding their pilgrims. Umrah mutawifs need to have performed umrah themselves, obtain teaching credentials fromthe respective states of which they will be teaching and guide, enrich their fiqh of umrah and the basics of farduain, have a good level of health and possess the ability to lead, are among the critical qualifications that must be in place. Finally, this study suggests that, through the enactment or amendment of relevant acts, a regulatorybody need to be established to oversee the regulation and management aspects, among others, of the umrah mutawif. This will ensure the quality and professionalism of umrah mutawif as a respected career in the future could be achieved.