KUALA LUMPUR: Saudi Arabian authorities have issued the furada (private) haj visas to retired couple Adnan Abdullah and Hadibah Idris, which will allow them to perform their pilgrimage next week.
The visas were issued to them after their family made an application for furada haj visas on the couple’s behalf.
The couple have been on the road for the past four months in an overland expedition that has spanned seven countries.
They left their Shah Alam home on May 2, four days before the start of Ramadan, to embark on their lifelong dream of performing the haj the “hard way”.
The outcome follows weeks of anticipation over whether they would be able to perform the haj after travelling 9,835km overland from Malaysia to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The couple did not apply for the furada visa prior to their journey.
They are using a modified 2011 Ford Ranger 2.5 WLT Turbo for their expedition.
They named the vehicle “Unta Kurus”, or Lean Camel, as a nod to a verse in the Quran, which calls upon Muslims to travel to Makkah to perform the haj despite the hardship they would face.
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).
The couple drove an average of 500km a day. Their journey has taken them through Thailand, Myanmar, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Iran and the UAE.
They were delayed for more than a month in Pakistan when they encountered problems with their visa application for a country they were subsequently suppose to enter.
Their predicament was compounded when their vehicle experienced reduced speed due to a faulty diesel pump while travelling along the Pakistan and Iran border.
Though they repaired their vehicle in Bandar Abbas, Iran, it resulted in the Unta Kurus functioning at 65 per cent efficiency.
After reaching the UAE on July 23, they decided to keep the vehicle at a house of a good Samaritan who offered them lodging in Dubai.
Adnan, 65, is a retired interior design lecturer. Hadibah, 64, is a retired town planning lecturer, and both of them were attached to Universiti Teknologi Mara.
They have five adult children — two boys and three girls, aged 28 to 39, and seven grandchildren.
Their children have become the couple’s technical support unit based in Malaysia, who handle administrative matters of their parents’ journey.
Among other things, the children handle documentation matters and wire money whenever their parents need it.
The children had pooled their resources to buy the Ford Ranger three years ago.
Adnan and his sons then began modifying the vehicle into a camper van.
While most of the vehicle’s original body is intact, Adnan had used wood from his old interior design firm to construct the cabin, which is equipped with a bed, kitchenette and sitting area.
He and his children used 90 per cent recycled materials to build the cabin and appliances are solar powered.
After performing their haj, the couple plan to continue their journey to Baitulmaqdis, northern Africa, Europe and Manchester, England, where their eldest child, Syrrunafis, lives and works as a quantity surveyor.
They will then continue their journey back to Malaysia using a different route.