المساعد الشخصي الرقمي

مشاهدة النسخة كاملة : Walking Bosnian Pilgrim Reaches Makkah


aammar
22-10-2012, 03:30 AM
Crossing 3600 miles in six countries on foot, a 47-year-old Bosnian Muslim man has reached the holy city of Makkah this week, fulfilling his life-time dream to perform the spiritual journey of hajj.

“I wanted to perform Hajj but I had no money,” said Senad Hadzic, Emirates 24/7 reported on Monday, October 22.

“I decided to walk to Saudi Arabia, having only 200 euros.”

Aspiring to perform hajj, Hadzic first hit the road for his lengthy trip from Banovici, his hometown in northern Bosnia, on December 2011.

During the journey, he walked for nearly 3,600 miles (5,900 km) on foot from his Bosnian village to the Muslims’ holy city of Makkah.

Covering between 12 to 20 miles a day, Hadzic managed to cross six countries, including Turkey, Jordan and Syria before entering Saudi Arabia this week.

In his back bag, he carried his copy of the holy Qur’an wrapped in plastic to protect it from weather elements.

He also carried a bible, maps and flags of the six countries he plans to cross.

Newspapers quoted him as saying in a You-Tube film that he walked all that distance because he had no money.

“I slept at mosques, schools and other places, including houses offered to me by good people,” Hadzic was quoted as saying in a You-Tube video.

“Some people asked me whether I was scared when passing through wild places and I told them ‘why should I…God is with me.”

The majority of pilgrims have already arrived in Saudi Arabia for hajj, the world's largest annual gathering.

Muslims from around the world pour into Makkah every year to perform hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam.

Hajj consists of several rituals, which are meant to symbolize the essential concepts of the Islamic faith, and to commemorate the trials of Prophet Abraham and his family.

Every able-bodied adult Muslim who can financially afford the trip must perform hajj at least once in a lifetime.

Hajj starts on the eighth day of the lunar month of Dhul Hijjah, which falls this year on October 24.