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Arab News
5 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Arab News
Physically demanding Hajj journeys echo pilgrimages of the past
RIYADH: While some worshippers choose to travel to Hajj in comfort, others see the pilgrimage as an opportunity to test their physical and spiritual fortitude. Following in the long tradition of epic journeys that led the faithful of history to Makkah, adventurous Muslims today are challenging themselves in a variety of ways. This year, three friends on horseback rode more than 8,000 kilometers over seven months from the south of Spain to Saudi Arabia to complete the Islamic rites in the holy capital. Their route retraced a historic one first trod by Andalusian Muslims living in Europe more than 500 years ago. Abdelkader Harkassi, Abdallah Hernandez and Tariq Rodriguez travelled through Spain, France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Turkiye, Syria and Jordan before crossing into Saudi Arabia's Northern Borders region and making their way to Makkah. Hernandez told Arab News that the ride was a 'trip of challenges where every step (was) felt by us and the horses, but (was) also a journey for the soul.' The riders set off with limited funds and were supported by Muslims that they met along the way. Another group of worshippers took to the seas, taking about two months to sail more than 7,400km from London to Makkah. Abdul Wahid, Tauseef Ahmed, Jody McIntyre, Dobbir Uddin and Taher Akhtar from London had no previous sailing experience before training for the maritime mission. Speaking to Arab News, Wahid, 38, said he was inspired by the combination of influences of his Muslim faith and the maritime history of the UK. 'It is kind of merging our religion Islam with the country (where) we are residing, and reviving this long-forgotten way to Hajj,' he said. In June 2022, British pilgrim Adam Mohammed arrived in Makkah after setting off from his home in Wolverhampton, UK 11 months earlier and 6,500km away. He walked through the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan to reach Saudi Arabia. Mohammed told Arab News at the time that, while studying the Qu'ran during COVID-19 lockdowns, he felt a spiritual calling inviting him on the journey. 'Suddenly, I woke up one day and something inside me told me to go to Makkah all the way by foot from my home,' he said. 'I could not ignore this voice and decided to go for it.' Pulling a 250kg cart in which he slept, prepared food and kept his personal belongings, Mohammed said that there were 'no big difficulties' on his travels, and that he was undertaking the challenge for religion and not for fame. Nabil Ennasri, a French pilgrim of Moroccan origin, cycled more than 5,000km to reach Makkah for the 2023 Hajj season. He began his journey in Paris and crossed 11 countries including Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Greece, Jordan and Turkiye. The 41-year-old wanted to revive the traditional pilgrimage experience and use his trip to raise awareness for global warming. Ennasri was able to retrace the historical journey taken by Muslims, and some of his own relatives, in the past. 'Some members of my family also traveled on foot. It could have taken months or even years. Some lost their lives during the journey,' he said. 'When I remember these moments, I find the strength in me.' Explaining the significance of his journey, he added: 'My first objective is to explain global warming; it is very important for our children and future generations. 'My second goal is to understand what kind of difficulties people (experienced) on pilgrimage in ancient times, to understand their long journeys on foot.' The trip was reminiscent of those carried out by millions of Muslims over the centuries, most of whom would have to have endured far greater hardships than travelers today. Perhaps history's most well-known Muslim explorer, Ibn Battuta, set off from his native Morocco in 1325 and did not return for another 24 years. He ended up discovering a love of travelling, reaching as far as China, but the first leg of his journey was to the holy capital to perform Hajj. In 2020, a Moroccan named Ghulam Yassin arrived in Makkah after retracing much of Ibn Battuta's original journey. Yassin travelled on foot and by bicycle for four years to perform Hajj — one of the five essential pillars of Islam. Generous Saudis were so inspired by his journey that they pledged to cover the cost of his pilgrimage the following year. In June 2022, Indian pilgrim Shihab Chottur arrived in Makkah after walking 8,600km from his home in Malappuram, Kerala. Chottur, who was 31 at the time, set off on foot carrying 12kg of luggage with $8,500 in his pocket. He passed through Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and Kuwait, and a year later arrived in the Kingdom. The money he brought with him turned out not to be needed, because the Saudi government and Indian consulate decided to sponsor his Hajj. Instead, the shop owner used it to pay for his mother to complete the pilgrimage the following year. The Hajj pilgrimage is mandatory for all Muslims who are physically and financially able to complete it at least once in their life. While the Saudi authorities continue to make the process more accessible and comfortable for all believers, including those with mobility issues, every year physically demanding journeys such as these remind us of the difficulties of performing Hajj in the past.
Daily Mail
27-05-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
I drowned for 30 minutes and suffered a near-death experience... I saw God and didn't want to return
Lisa Bliss was 10 when she fell into an icy river while playing by a river near her grandparents' cabin and remained unconscious for more than 30 minutes. But while her body lay lifeless, her spirit, she says, was journeying elsewhere. Instead of fear or confusion, the New Yorker describes an overwhelming sense of peace. A path appeared before her, lined with trees and blossoms in 'beautiful vibrant colors.' 'I was in this huge field of flowers and a meadow opened up before me,' she recalls. 'All of a sudden, everything blasted into this bright light everywhere.' 'Anytime I would walk by a flower, I would see these levels and layers of color to each petal of the flower,' she says. 'It was as if I could dive into the colors or dive into the flowers and all of me would just go right into it.' She wandered the field, drawn deeper by a sensation she describes as a 'magnetic pull' — something invisible but irresistible, tugging her forward along the path. 'I kept getting distracted by all the beautiful colors,' she says. 'And then I would pull myself back out and look around, and I started to feel this magnetic pull down through the path that split the meadow in half.' Talking to Utah-based psychologist and filmmaker, Wesly Lapioli, Ms Bliss can still recall the visions with perfect clarity decades on — as if the event happened yesterday. As she moved forward through the field, she saw something breathtaking: a pair of 'absolutely gorgeous' gates in the distance. Though only a child, Lisa instantly understood what she was seeing. 'As a kid, I thought: these must be the 'pearly gates'—the ones I'd heard my family talk about in church,' she says. Standing in front of the gates was a single figure. The gates were open, the figure still. 'I had to stop and I was so blown away,' she says. 'I just had to take a moment and then I noticed that there was a figure standing in front of the gates.' Though she couldn't see the figure's face clearly, Lisa says she felt an instant recognition. 'I knew who he was,' she says. 'But I couldn't get close enough to see his face clearly.' She now believes that the figure was God. The path was also lined with 'long lines of people dressed in white,' she recalls, but she couldn't make out their faces. She didn't speak to them. She didn't need to. Everything felt calm and silent. Desperate to reach the gates before they closed, she began 'running and running.' But just as she neared the threshold — she was pulled back. The colors, the peace, the presence — all of it vanished. Lisa woke to find herself lying on cold rocks beside the river. Her cousin had dragged her out and she had been resuscitated after being clinically lifeless for more than half an hour. 'I knew instantly I was back in my body and it felt horrible... absolutely horrible,' she says. 'My body felt like 10 times heavier than it was and it was the middle of the day on a bright sunny day and the light just seemed dim and dark. 'It was horrible feeling, the worst depression I have ever felt.' After being resuscitated, Bliss was taken back to her grandparents' cabin. They told her that she had been under the water 'for a good half hour.' The family suspect she didn't perish because the water was 'so freezing cold' it helped preserve her brain and she didn't suffer any brain damage. She slept for two to three days straight, running a fever and slipping in and out of consciousness. Studies have shown that humans exposed to cold temperatures for long periods of time can survive and show normal brain activity despite being apparently 'dead' to others. After her near death experience, Bliss remembers 'sleeping for two or three days without waking up' and running a fever. She says the sleep was 'so strange' and it felt like she was 'almost in a coma' as she doesn't remember anything from that period of time. When she was finally better, Bliss says her family never talked about her brush with death until almost two decades later. That course of events went on to change the course of her life and encouraged her to pursue a career as a therapist, helping others deal with death and 'what lies beyond'.
