He crossed six countries on foot because he had no money
October 22, 2012A 47-year-old Bosnian Muslim man reached Saudi Arabia this week to perform the annual pilgrimage after travelling nearly 3,600 miles (5,900 km) on foot from his Bosnian village, Saudi newspapers said on Monday.
Senad Hadzic set off from Banovici in north Bosnia Herzegovina in December 2011 during which he crossed six countries, including Turkey, Jordan and Syria before entering Saudi Arabia this week.
Newspapers quoted him as saying in a You-Tube film that he walked all that distance because he had no money.
“I wanted to perform Haj but I had no money…I decided to walk to Saudi Arabia, having only 200 euros,” he said.
“I slept at mosques, schools and other places, including houses offered to me by good people…some people asked me whether I was scared when passing through wild places and I told them ‘why should I…God is with me.”
The Bosnian pilgrim left last December on pilgrimage to Makkah by foot arrived in the holy city of Mecca after passing through seven countries including war-torn Syria.
“I arrived Saturday in Makkah. I am not tired, these are the best days of my life,” Senad Hadzic, 47, told AFP when reached by phone.
He said he had covered some 5,700 km in 314 days of walking through Bosnia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria and Jordan to Makkah, with a backpack weighing 20 kg.
He charted his progress on his Facebook page, where he posted a picture apparently of an entry/exit card for foreigners issued by the Syrian Interior Ministry.
“I passed through Syria in April. I walked some 500 km in 11 days. I went through Aleppo and Damascus and passed dozens of checkpoints held by pro-government and rebel forces alike, but I was never detained,” Hadzic said.
“I walked in the name of Allah, for Islam, for Bosnia-Hercegovina, for my parents and my sister,” he added.
On his Facebook page, he said God had shown him the way in dreams, including to go through Syria instead of Iraq.
During the pilgrimage, Hadzic faced temperatures ranging from minus 35 Celsius in Bulgaria to plus 44 Celsius in Jordan.
He said he had to wait in Istanbul for several weeks to get permission to cross the Bosphorus Bridge on foot and two months at the border between Jordan and Saudi Arabia to obtain an entry visa.
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