Chechen pensioner rides bike to Makkah via Baghdad
URUS-MARTAN, Russia (Reuters) - Cycling across continents in search of inner fulfilment has become commonplace for young adventure-seekers from developed countries.But Dzhanar-Aliev Magomed-Ali is not young, his bike is old and rickety and he lives in Chechnya, a republic in southern Russia where separatists and Russians have fought two wars since 1994.
Last week, however, the 63-year-old finished a 10-week trip of nearly 12,000 kilometres (7,456 miles) on a rusting bike from his village in Chechnya via Iraq and Iran to Makkah
"It was a very tough route, I wouldn't allow anybody else to do it," Magomed-Ali told Reuters at his home in Urus-Martan, 30 kilometres outside the destroyed Chechen capital of Grozny.
One of the hardest legs was in Iraq where, he said, U.S. soldiers stopped him because he did not have an Iraqi entry visa. He said they threw his bicycle to the ground in an argument.
Magomed-Ali, like the vast majority of ethnic Chechens, is Muslim. The haj is an Islamic pilgrimage to Makkah and every able-bodied Muslim is supposed to make the journey once in their lifetime.
Inspiration came to Magomed-Ali from his mother who, he said, told him in a dream to make the haj.
"I replied that I couldn't do this as I didn't have any way of getting there," he said. "She replied that I had a bike and I should use it."
Mogomed-Ali wore a traditional sheepskin hat and a woollen jumper as he posed next to his purple, mud splattered bike.
He had made two modifications: A thick cloth had been wrapped around the saddle for comfort and a green metal sign hung under the main frame, mapping out his route.
"Urus-Matan - Grozny - Khasavyurt - Makhachkala - Baku - Tehran - Baghdad - Damascus - Makkah - Medina - Jerusalem - Urus-Matan," it read in printed white Russian Cyrillic letters.
As the crow flies Grozny and Makkah are a 5,000-kilometre round trip apart, but Magomed-Ali said he clocked up nearly 12,000 kilometres because of his circuitous route.
All i hope is for my mums happiness.Shes my light.Shes my dunya.Her tears are my weakness.Her sadness breaks my heart.She is my mirror.A mirror that keeps me alive.Without her am nothing.shes my saaya.How can i leave her.I pray to Allah(swt) to keep me with her forever inshAllah.
Re: Chechen pensioner rides bike to Makkah via Baghdad
Subhana Allah! That remembers me of an aya (in your thread sis amani)
"And proclaim the Pilgrimage among men: they will come to thee on foot and (mounted) on every kind of camel, lean on account of journeys through deep and distant mountain highways;
22:27
Re: Chechen pensioner rides bike to Makkah via Baghdad
Mashallah... I knew we Chechens had very big endurance and when we had a goal we always went to the bottom of it... But to this point... Wow.. I'm truly amazed.
Re: Chechen pensioner rides bike to Makkah via Baghdad
format_quote Originally Posted by Chechen
Mashallah... I knew we Chechens had very big endurance and when we had a goal we always went to the bottom of it... But to this point... Wow.. I'm truly amazed.
i remember the bad ol' days of cycling to school wich was only a few miles away from my home ohh the agony, if i tried this move i would probably pass out at the next Chechen town
they should have had made a documentary about this trip kinda like the around the world in 80 days only this time around the muslim world(ok the most important parts to reach Makkah..) in 10 weeks :coolalien
Re: Chechen pensioner rides bike to Makkah via Baghdad
format_quote Originally Posted by AHMED_GUREY
i remember the bad ol' days of cycling to school wich was only a few miles away from my home ohh the agony, if i tried this move i would probably pass out at the next Chechen town
they should have had made a documentary about this trip kinda like the around the world in 80 days only this time around the muslim world(ok the most important parts to reach Makkah..) in 10 weeks :coolalien
Lol yeah same with me I'm not sure I would be able to do that. But it's incredible I mean that man is 63 years old and rode on an old bike from Chechnya to Saudi Arabia!! Plus by passing through places like Baghdad where he could get arrested or killed! Honestly I'm not sure if even I could do that.
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