Muqdisho(INO)-A group of Ulama’a (Islamic religious leaders) Sunday staged a mock demonstration of the Hajj performance at Hodhan neighbourhood in the capital Mogadishu in order to acquaint this year’s Hajj-goers with how to perform the pilgrimage ahead of their actual visit next year.
The clerics constructed a duplicate of the Kaaba, the structure in Mecca that houses the Black Stone, to familiarize the people with the correct performance of the pilgrimage. The volunteers in the mock demonstration were required to go round the Kaaba-like structure seven times. Trainers were on sight to correct them where they go wrong in the whole process. The performance of the pilgrimage is an obligatory pillar of Islam where every able Muslim is expected to visit the sanctuary city of Mecca and the Kaaba among other activities.
Kasim Sheikh Mohamed Noor who was among the team that orgernised the demonstration, said they decided to orgernise for the event following massive ignorance on the side of the Hajj-goers as they would come back from Mecca while not having performed the important pillar of the religion as per required. Kassim noted that Hajj guides—persons charged with directing the hajj-goers in their visit to the holy cities of Mecca and Madina and along towns that occur between the cities—have complained about the issue, saying only familiarization session would solve the problem. He said the initiative is practiced in many Muslim nations across the world where Hajj-goers are trained on the process.
“After we noted the problems that they go through after spending lots of money on the journey, we have taken it upon ourselves to familairise them with the whole process and how to go about it,” he explained. “We are aware of many Somalis who got stranded in Jeddah while looking for guidance, or a relative they came in with since they are not familiar with the process,” he continued, adding that most of them feel out of place when they are faced with such a challenging situation without a prior knowledge and proper training.
Overseeing the training was Sheikh Mohamud Suley who is a well-known sheikh in Mogadishu. He lauded the demonstration as fruitful, saying the training was timely and highly needed.
“Every prayer session requires training and knowledge before it’s actually done and the Hajj performance is not exceptional,” he said.
He said the participants were trained mostly on the Hajj activities, particularly where to start and where and how to end the Tawaf, the seven times circumnavigation of the Kaaba.
Mogadishu residents and the Somalis at large welcomed the initiative, but called for further training on other religious duties.
Idale News Online, Muqdisho
