Two Indian Muslim men from Indian city of Bangalore completed their holy journey to Mecca to perform Hajj after pedaling 6300 Km.
53 years old Muhammed Saleem and his 42 years old friend Rizwan Ahmad Khan began their journey prior to Ramadan this year. They used to ride bicycle during Ramadan while fasting under the blazing sun. It was the hardest yet best part of the journey when they traveled under blazing sun while fasting.
After pedaling for 3800 Km across 3 countries they reached UAE. They traveled 1300 km in India, 700-800 km in Oman, 1,700 km in Iran. They crossed India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Oman to reach Saudi Arabia.
They pedaled 75-100 kilometers per day depending on the place and later they planned to pedal 150 km per night. They had to face severe difficulty when they lost their bicycles on ferry boat ride from Bandar Abbas to UAE while it was the first day of Ramadan and they were fasting. Later, people helped them to find bicycles at the Sharjah port.
Earlier, the journey was planned to be 9000 km long, but they cut it down to 6300 km. They recall the experience, “We experienced many different cultures, ate different food and prayed at different places. All the people we met were friendly, kind and generous.” They also mentioned that people they met also shared gifts to them.
They did a lot of training & preparations before leaving for the journey. They also went through some legal issues when they had to suffer a lot to obtain Visas from Pakistan and Iraq. But anyway they managed it and kept going.
Saleem had already performed Umrah in Mecca but it was the first visit of Rizwan. They both felt overwhelmed after reaching Makkah. May Allah accept their Hajj. Aameen
MSLVFEED.COM
