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Somali religious leaders stage mock Hajj performance to familiarise Hajj-goers with the process

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MOGADISHU—A group of Somali Islamic scholars Sunday held a mock demonstration of the Hajj performance at Hodhan neighbourhood in the capital Mogadishu in a bid to familiarize this year’s Hajj-goers with the process ahead of their visit to Mecca next month.

The sheikhs set up a mock structure that closely looked like the structure that houses the Black Stone in the sanctuary city of Mecca. The participants were told to go round the Kaaba look-alike for the procedural seven times as they were rectified on where they went wrong in the mock performance.

Speaking to the media after the session, Kasim Sheikh Mohamed Noor who was part of the team that orgernised the unprecedented event, said they decided to orgernise for the training after it emerged that quite a number of the hajj-goers from the country have reportedly been coming back from Mecca while not having performed the Fifth Pillar of Islam 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.

“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. “They mostly (hajj-goers) get stranded in Jeddah while looking for guidance, or a relative they came 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 challenge.

Participants in the training were trained on Tawaf (the circumnavigation of the Kaaba seven times)

Participants in the training were trained on Tawaf (the circumnavigation of the Kaaba seven times) {BBC Somali}

Inspecting the mock session was a popular sheikh in Mogadishu, Sheikh Mohamud Suley who 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 continued, “Here we are showing the participants where to start and how to end the “Tawaf” (circumnavigation of the Kaaba seven times).”

Mohamed Abdulle Hassan who participated in the training thanked the orgernisers, saying he actually practiced what he read on the religious books. “I applied for Hajj this year and this training will really help me when I go to Mecca,” he said.

The sheikhs set up a mock structure that closely looked like the structure that houses the Black Stone in the sanctuary city of Mecca. / (BBC Somali)

The sheikhs set up a mock structure that closely looked like the structure that houses the Black Stone in the sanctuary city of Mecca. / (BBC Somali)

“They mostly (hajj-goers) get stranded in Jeddah while looking for guidance, or a relative they came with since they are not familiar with the process,”  (BBC Somali)

“They mostly (hajj-goers) get stranded in Jeddah while looking for guidance, or a relative they came with since they are not familiar with the process,” (BBC Somali)

quite a number of the hajj-goers from the country have reportedly been coming back from Mecca while not having performed the Fifth Pillar of Islam as per required

Quite a number of the hajj-goers from the country have reportedly been coming back from Mecca while not having performed the Fifth Pillar of Islam as per required. (BBC Somali)

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