KUALA LUMPUR: ARETIRED couple, who travelled by land halfway around the globe to perform their haj, are now on an extended stopover to spend quality time with their family.
On Saturday, Adnan Abdullah and his wife, Hadibah Idris, pulled up at their eldest son Syrrunafis’ driveway in Sale, south Manchester, the United Kingdom, three months after having performed their haj.
In that time, the couple drove their 2011 Ford Ranger 2.5 WLT across Europe, traversing the United Arab Emirates, Iran and Turkey.
They arrived at the French coastal city of Calais on Saturday and transported their vehicle, the ‘Unta Kurus’ (lean camel) on the 1½ hour ferry ride to cross the English Channel to Dover, England.
Since leaving their Shah Alam home on May 2, they have travelled through 22 countries.
‘Alhamdulillah (praise be to God), we safely arrived in Manchester on Saturday. We are well and the ‘Unta’ (Kurus) is okay too. We have gone through 22 countries. Our last leg was from Turkey to Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, the former Yugoslavia territories of Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia, followed by Austria, Germany and France, in which we went north to Calais and crossed the sea to the UK,’ said Adnan, who turned 66 last month.
The couple, who are retired Universiti Teknologi Mara lecturers, are taking a break from their overland expedition as they had planned all along to visit their son in the UK.
But this stopover may prove to be extra special as their children plan to fly their parents back to Malaysia for a short trip home.
The couple’s youngest child, Dr Syrrulfarah, 28, is due to deliver her first baby next month in Kuala Lumpur, and Adnan and Hadibah intend to use the occasion to spend time with their family whom they have not seen for six months.
During that time, the ‘Unta Kurus’ will be left in the care of Syrrunafis in Manchester. The couple will later set off on their next leg of their journey in which they will eventually drive the ‘Unta Kurus’ home.
In the meantime, Adnan and Hadibah, 65, continue to receive admirers throughout their trip.
In Manchester, their son’s neighbour, who is an avid long-distance cyclist, complimented the couple for their impressive camper van-cum-four wheel drive vehicle.
‘My son passed me a message he received from his neighbour.
‘The neighbour said, ‘that’s an interesting truck on your drive.I have just read about their journey. Please pass on my respects to your parents for undertaking such a difficult trip and having the determination to complete such a journey’.
‘The neighbour enjoys travelling. He recently returned from Greece after a three-week cycling trip,’ said Adnan.
The couple are also maintaining their health and enjoying home-cooked food prepared by their daughter-in-law in Manchester.
‘We had a special breakfast on our first morning in the UK. Our daughter-in-law prepared nasi lemak for us.
‘We haven’t had that in a long time. Alhamdulillah.
‘We are keeping ourselves healthy in the way old folks like us can,’ said Adnan.
The couple’s initial part of their journey brought them to Thailand, Myanmar, India and Nepal, but they were delayed for more than a month in Islamabad, Pakistan, due to visa issues for one of the countries they were planning to visit.
The New Straits Times followed them through the Pakistani leg of their journey in July.
They later faced technical issues with their vehicle at the Pakistani-Iranian border, which caused the vehicle to function at only 65 per cent efficiency.
Another challenge they faced involved obtaining haj visas. However, they eventually were able to perform their pilgrimage with furada (private) visas issued by the Saudi Arabian authorities after an application was made by their family through the kingdom’s embassy in Malaysia.
The couple had named their vehicle ‘Unta Kurus’ as a nod to a verse in the Quran, which calls upon Muslims to travel to Makkah to perform the haj.
The verse in Surah Al-Haj is translated as ‘And proclaim the haj among mankind. They will come to you on foot and (mounted) on every lean camel, they will come from every distant pass’ (Quran 22:27).
Adnan and Hadibah had always wanted to take the more challenging way to get to the Holy Land. The trip was a labour of love by the family as their five adult children acted as ‘technical support crew’ who handled their parents’ visa applications, wired in extra funds if needed and looked into their needs.