AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Based on a tradition that began four decades ago, this year, too, 100 Spanish Muslims will make the Hajj pilgrimage for free.
The pilgrims are from the city of Melilla, which is an autonomous city of Spain on the North African coast.
A spokesman for the city’s Hajj committee said a number of meetings have been held in the central mosque to discuss preparations for the dispatch of pilgrims.
He said the initiative for free dispatch of pilgrims to Mecca began in the city in 1987, when Omar Dudu al-Fanti was the leader of Melilla’s Muslim minority.
At the time, Muslims and others in the city were going through difficult times in terms of recognition of their citizenship rights and the free Hajj was presented as a gift and a move for raising hope among them, the spokesman stated.
Since then, the gift became a regular happening and thousands of Muslims from Melilla and the nearby city of Ceuta have benefited from it so far, he went on to say.
Melilla lies on the eastern side of the Cape Three Forks, bordering Morocco and facing the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of 12.3 km2 (4.7 sq mi). It was part of the Province of Málaga until March 1995, when the Statute of Autonomy of Melilla was passed.
Melilla is one of the special territories of the member states of the European Union.
As of 2019, Melilla had a population of around 90,000. Most of the city’s people are Christian and Muslim.
Hajj is a pilgrimage to Mecca that every able-bodied and financially able Muslim is obliged to undertake at least once during their lifetime.
The annual pilgrimage is regarded as one of the pillars of Islam and the largest act of mass pilgrimage in the world.
It is also a demonstration of Muslims’ unity and their submission to Allah.
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