Two brothers from the quaint town of Bonnyrigg, Midlothian, Scotland, recently arrived in the city of Madinah, Saudi Arabia, after covering a distance of 3,635 miles on bicycles to perform Haj this year and raise money for those impacted by the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip.
34-year-old Abdul Rahman and his brother, 29-year-old Reehan Ali, began their ‘Pedal 2 Haj for Gaza’ journey on April 1 and pedaled across 13 countries, including the Netherlands, Germany, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Lebanon.
They pedaled through diverse landscapes and cultures, driven by a strong determination to reach their sacred destination.
Abdul Rahman and Reehan were inspired to undertake this challenge after learning about a group of cyclists who embarked on a similar journey from London in 2019.
Abdul said in a statement, “This really got me thinking what an awesome way to go to Hajj, it also had me questioning whether I had the ability to do that too. That thought set us up to start planning a similar journey for Haj.”
“As our Haj plans were developing, we were witnessing the horrors unfolding in Gaza, with the daily news of how the Palestinians were suffering as a result of the daily attacks on Gaza.”
“Since we had volunteered with World Care Foundation and were aware of the great work they were doing, we decided to use our journey to fundraise for the people of Gaza through World Care Foundation.”
Reehan said, “Since visiting Makkah in November 2022. Both my brother and I have had the desire to return to Makkah to fulfil the Haj pilgrimage. Last year we eventually decided to look at undertaking the journey in 2024.”
“We also wanted to use this amazing journey as an opportunity to fundraise for a cause which we feel very close to. Having witnessed on our TV screens the tragedy faced by the people of Gaza and feeling helpless to do anything to help them, we decided to use our journey to fundraise for the Palestinians in Gaza.”
