14,000 km traveled by 191 pilgrims across 5 countries on the 24-hour journey to reach the Holy Land. The veneration of Ali and 190 of the Fiji Islands, which are located in the Pacific Ocean, about 3,000 km from Australia, were among the pilgrims this year.
This small country consisting of several islands in the heart of the Pacific Ocean, whose population does not exceed half a million people, of whom Muslims constitute about 20%, or the equivalent of 100 thousand, its people incur many hardships to perform the Hajj.
Tazim says: The story of our pilgrimage does not start from the hour of obtaining the visa in Auckland, New Zealand, but rather the real beginning is the collection of the amount estimated at 8 thousand dollars, and the people of the Fiji Islands work in the cultivation of sugar cane in farms on the island inhabited since 3500 BC.
Azim indicates that he came for the second time for Hajj, especially since he is well off, as he works in the chemical trade. Muslims in Fiji are known for their great eagerness to pray, as there are 100 small chapels in Fiji that do not exceed an area of 10 x 10 meters without imams, while there are 50 small chapels with an area of 20 x 20 meters in which imams work part-time. 30 x 30 meters, and it has full-time imams.
The islands suffer, according to a hadith of glorification, from a decrease in the number of Muslims there due to migrations to other countries and neighboring islands in search of a living. Regarding the journey that Fiji pilgrims take to reach the Holy Land, Azim explained that they obtain a visa from New Zealand, then travel from Fiji airport to New Zealand, then to Australia, then to Abu Dhabi, and then to Jeddah on a full-day trip. The pilgrim in his fifties believes that what caught his eye was the presence of volunteers from the scouts and others carrying maps to guide the pilgrims to their camps and the sites they intend to visit.
He noticed something he had never seen before, which was the security men carrying cold water sprays and spraying them on people to soften the atmosphere, something he had never seen before.
Naeem Tamim Al-Hakim (Makkah Al-Mukarramah) @naeemtamimimalhac
