Adeel Malik
Muslim pilgrimage or hajj is a lifetime journey that many aspire to.
Seeking to fulfill the life-time journey of hajj, Shihab Chottur, an Indian Muslim man from Kerala, has reached Makkah after covering almost 8640 km on foot.
Chottur, who runs a supermarket in his hometown, grew up hearing stories of people travelling to Makkah on foot during ancient times, Siasat reported.
Kicking off the arduous journey on foot last June, he crossed India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and Kuwait, to finally reach Saudi Arabia on June 7 in 12 months and 5 days.
“Anyone who has good intentions can reach his goal,” he told Saudi Arabia’s TV channel Al-Ekhbariya
The year-long journey was not an easy one. When he reached the Wagah border, Punjab in September, he was stopped by Pakistan’s authorities as he did not have a visa.
Getting the visa in February 2023, Chottur finally managed to enter Pakistan and resume his travel to Saudi Arabia.
Among the difficulties he faced were “some predatory animals, in addition to the cold weather in Iran.”
Entering Saudi Arabia last month, Chottur went to Madinah before he left for Makkah.
He covered the 440 kilometers between Madinah and Makkah in nine days. He will perform the hajj after his mother, Zainaba, arrives from Kerala.
There have been other similar adventures, especially with regard to performing hajj.
British man Farid Feyadi also set off on a similar journey from London in 2020 to debunk misconceptions in the Western media about Islam.
Also in June 2022, young Indonesian Muhammad Fauzan’s journey to Makkah took more than seven and a half months, riding his bike for nearly 5000 kilometers.
Source: About Islam
