RIYADH, 11 December 2006 — An Azeri pilgrim Shahid Qurbanov, whose Saudi visa expired during his 90-day journey on foot from Baku to Riyadh, got a shot in the arm here yesterday with the Kingdom’s decision to issue a two-month Haj visa.
Armed with this new document, and with full support given by the Saudi government and the Azeri Embassy, Qurbanov is ready to resume the final leg of his marathon to the holy city of Makkah today.
“On behalf of the people and the government of Azerbaijan, the Azeri Embassy thanks the Saudi authorities for issuing a Haj visa and facilitating Qurbanov’s holy journey,” said a spokesman of the Azeri Embassy here yesterday. He added that although Qurbanov’s mission to trek the 5,000 km from Baku to Makkah was a private initiative, the embassy fully supported him.
In his arduous journey across four countries, Qurbanov narrowly escaped death six times. He crossed into the Kingdom from Kuwait on Nov. 25 and arrived in Riyadh on Nov. 30, after walking 50-60 km every day with a 16 kg bag full of daily necessities and an Azeri flag. A war veteran, Qurbanov’s personal mission is to serve Islam and pray at Makkah and Madinah to defeat Armenian aggression.
Asked about the routes of his trekking from Riyadh to Makkah and his return to Baku, Qurbanov said: “I will have to travel by car to cover some distance because of the time constraints. If I start trekking all the way from Riyadh to Makkah, I may not be able to reach in time to perform Haj.” He said he was determined to walk more than 5,000 km on foot again on the return journey. He added that he intended to take the same route via Kuwait and Iran to reach Baku.
Qurbanov is likely to join the first group of the Azeri pilgrims, who will arrive in the Kingdom on Dec. 14. According to a report, two groups of Azeri pilgrims will leave Baku for Haj on Dec. 14 — one by plane and another by bus. The plane will fly from Baku to Jeddah and from there the pilgrims will depart to Makkah by buses. The pilgrims, who chose the bus, will travel in via Iran, Turkey, Syria and Jordan.
This year, a quota of 4,500 pilgrims has been allocated to Azerbaijan. About 93.4 percent of the country’s population is Muslim, 2.5 percent are Russians and 2.3 percent are Armenians. Islam as a religion, which permeates the social life in Azerbaijan, is experiencing a renaissance at the moment.
Over the past few years, hundreds of new mosques have been built in Azerbaijan, former places of worship restored and dozens of religious organizations registered. New religious schools (madrasas) have opened and many young Azeris are now attending Muslim religious universities in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, Turkey, and Pakistan.
