A British man of Iraqi-Kurdish origin from the Midlands has inspired millions of Muslims through his trek, from the UK to Mecca.
Walking from Wolverhampton to Mecca in hopes of reaching there to perform Hajj, 52-year-old Midlander Adam Mohamed set out on foot, on 1 August 2021, and reached Mecca on Sunday 26 June 2022.
Pushing a cart no longer than an adult-sized coffin, that would double up as his home, he hoped to reach his destination by July or earlier.
Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and must be performed at least once in a lifetime, with the annual pilgrimage to Islam’s holiest city being one of the world’s largest gatherings with more than 2 million people partaking each year.
Walking the nearly 4,000-mile journey alone, crossing borders and seas so he can reach the sacred city of Mecca, Mohammed has become an accidental TikTok sensation.
An electrical engineer, who has lived in England for 25 years, he pushed a custom-made cart, in which he slept and carried his belongings.
As Mohamed’s journey to Mecca commenced, he began documenting his travels, as viral videos of him surfaced online, with his three-wheeled trolley and a stray dog, began trending on social media.
In one TikTok video, he was spotted in Istanbul walking with a stray dog that resembles a German Shepherd that began following him in Serbia.
By mid-August, he had reached the Netherlands and went on to pass through Germany, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria and Jordan.
The journey was estimated to be around 6,500 km and he is walking on average 17.8 km each day.
He doubted that he would be able to cross the Syrian border, as he revealed in a video “I am on the Syrian border, if they don’t let me in, I’m going back to Beirut Lebanon, from there I’m going to take a ferry, to Akaba Insha’allah in Jordan”.
After 10 months, of completing the epic 6,500 km “peace journey” he finally reached his destination in time to perform the annual pilgrimage for Muslims, Hajj.
The announcement for Hajj was made on Wednesday, as the crescent moon had been sighted making the first day of Dhul-Hijjah 1443ah to commence on 30 June, and Eid-al-Adha falling on Saturday 9 July and the Day of Arafah one day earlier on Friday 8 July.
He told Arab News “I started on 1 August this month, from Wolverhampton, and I expect that by the beginning of the Hajj, or earlier maybe, inshallah, I get there”.
After seeing all the disasters happening around the world, Mohammed said:
“One day I just woke up and I said I am going to walk toward Hajj, toward Mecca, which is what I did, and to pray on the way and beg for Allah to give us mercy and forgive us as a humankind, all of us, not just one race, or one identity, or one faith, everyone,” Mohamed told Saudi newspaper Arab News in an interview.
Inspiring people from all around the globe, his supporters have commented:
“Love from Malaysia. May Allah eases your journey to Mecca” one person writes.
While others have written “Welcome to Saudia Arabia” and “Inshallah one day I’ll go from Lahore, Pakistan”.
Mohamed spoke to an Anadolu Agency correspondent about his journey to the holy land, saying “There was a powerful voice inside me that said I could go to Mecca by walking all the way from my home. I could not ignore this voice. It was burning inside me like a volcano,” he explained.
Stating that he greatly admires President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Mohamed said: “I would like to meet him when I come to Istanbul. I hope he will make time for me.”
Mohamed, along his travels, was offered respite, as spectators along the way offered to push his cart while he rests and a fan who saw him on TikTok travelled down from Scotland to support him.
A fundraising page that was set up to support Mr Mohamed’s journey has already reached £26, 536, despite the goal of £1,000 being set.
The page states: “Adam is humble enough to walk pushing a cart weighing more than 300kg for a journey of approximately 4,200 miles and 1,330 hours of continuous walking”.
It goes on: “This is not going to be an easy journey for him but is willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of Allah and give himself up to Allah. Please help with any amount of donation so we can support him to reach his destination inshallah and shine a different light on Islam.”
According to Arab News, Mohamed, who speaks four languages, including Arabic and Farsi, has already received many requests for assistance when he returns, among which is a request to help fight against a ban on halal meats in European countries like France, Poland and the Netherlands.
Moving to the UK in the late 1990s after serving in the Iraqi army as a soldier and being captured as a prisoner of war.
According to reports, he expressed his pride in Queen Elizabeth II and the British government for removing difficulties faced by Muslims in other countries and the principle of basic human rights they adhere to.
He is not recorded as the first person to walk to Mecca from the United Kingdom. British man Farid Feyadi also set off on a similar journey from London in 2020 to debunk misconceptions in the Western media about Islam.
