MAKKAH, 22 December 2007 — They came all the way from Russia, crossing more than 5,000 kilometers to perform the pilgrimage of their lifetimes. For many years they have been saving money to make this special trip. Like so many others, they scrimped and saved to make this journey.
These Muslims improvised ways to cut costs, maintaining the other tradition of mixing pilgrimage with trade. They take as long as six months to reach Makkah. They move in a caravan and sell goods at numerous markets in countries on their way to Saudi Arabia. They remind one of the pilgrim caravans that set out to Makkah from different parts of the world in old days.
Arab News met with a group of these pilgrims on a bus barely able to hold 10 people, but crammed with 14 people, men and women, all members of one family.
Despite the discomfort and the expense (they drove to Saudi Arabia in this van), they all said they were thrilled that they were able to make it to Makkah.
Deen Muhammad is a 57-year-old Russian pilgrim from Dagestan, a primarily Muslim region that distinguished itself for having once been an Arab outpost in a region dominated by Central Asians. (Some of Dagestan’s older cities still boast remnants of old Arabian architecture.)
Muhammad is an imam in a mosque back home in his village. He is a farmer who earns little money from his crops. “It is very expensive to come for Haj,” he said. “Therefore and for many years I have been saving money so I could make the pilgrimage. Most of my family are farmers and they did the same in saving money to come here.”
Muhammad said it took him more than one month to come for this journey because the bus is very old and because they had to make many stops in country borders to cross to the Kingdom. He said that the joy of coming to Saudi made them forget about the pain and suffering from this journey.
Muhammad, a relative of Deen Muhammad, said that it was tough collecting the money. He said that he had to cut spending a lot so he could save enough money for the journey.
He said that they had to cross Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkey, Syria and then Jordan before they reached Saudi Arabia.
“The bus was not big enough for us all but there was plenty of space in our hearts. We had to schedule who will sleep on what time in the bus because we cannot sleep all together. We are not thinking about the pain and suffering because our ultimate goal was to see Makkah and perform Haj.”
Abdul Aziz, a 70-year-old pilgrim, said that he could not believe that he finally came to Makkah after all these years for the first time in his life. He collected $2,700 just to make it for Haj and it took him years to do it considering his poor financial position.
All this, he said, just to be in the Kingdom and to see Makkah and Madinah.
“I have been dreaming about coming for Haj. I thought to myself what if I died before I make it. But I decided to try and I was hoping that I would stay alive until I come here. I cannot believe that I am here, finally,” Abdul Aziz said.
“We have seen the worst weather conditions during this trip. We divided ourselves into two groups. On our way to Makkah we men were cooking outside the bus. Now that we are here the situation changed and women are the ones making food for us. We used wood planks inside the bus to separate the men’s section from the women’s section,” he said.
Down in Mina, some of the pilgrims from Central Asia opened shop on the pavements, offering strong-smelling sheepskin hats and jackets that they brought with them in large sacks.
An elderly woman pulled out an old and dog-eared Qur’an manuscript from her bags and offered it for sale at SR18,000. Potential customers passed the holy book reverently from hand to hand as the woman kept a wary eye on them in case she lost what may have been an heirloom.
