Al-Qalam 
By Nabeelah Shaikh
It’s all systems go for this year’s hajj season and the South African Hajj and Umrah Council’s president says the quota of 2500 has been filled.
Preparations are in full swing for an anticipated smooth sailing 2024 Hajj season. SAHUC President Moaaz Cassoo and a delegation from the South African Hajj and Umrah Council (SAHUC) recently returned from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to finalise arrangements for this year’s hajj season.
While busy with Hajj and Umrah arrangements in the Holy Land, Casoo received an unexpected surprise when he was invited to pray inside the holy Kaaba by Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Hajj and Umrah, Dr Tawfiq Al Ribah.
“The Hajj and Umrah conference we attended there went very well. We met with the relevant people and negotiated good prices for our South African hujjaj. We managed to negotiate to bring the pricing down for the five days of hajj for our hujjaj … so there will be some savings for them. We made sure we communicated with the Saudi Minister himself, and not just anybody else. They have agreed to look into our matters and our concerns. And from those discussions, the hujjaj of 2023 will benefit from this as well because of their concerns last year. We will make some announcements about this in the coming days,” said Casoo.
Casoo says the trip was a life-changing experience for him because he was invited to pray inside the holy Kaaba, something he never anticipated would happen while he visited the Kingdom. He was shocked when he was contacted by authorities there, giving him the news of this. “With regard to my experiences in the Kaaba, after the meeting with the Minister, he told me he had a surprise for me. After their meetings, they would normally give you a gift or just a token of appreciation, but this was something I did not expect at all.
“The Minister looked at me and told me he is going to meet me at the entrance of the Kaaba tomorrow and we are going to go inside the Kaaba to pray our salaah,” said Casoo.
“Alhamdulilah, what better news to receive from any individual and I was just shocked by it. I could not believe it. There was no formal invitation, everything was verbal. I could not believe that Allah had chosen me for this,” said Casoo.
He said the experience was something he would forever be grateful for.
“I am not a pious person, I am not someone who wears a kurta every day. I have a day job. I go to work, I have a normal ordinary life. I am not a perfect Muslim. There is nothing that I do that warrants such a great honour. I couldn’t understand why Allah had chosen me. I thought about it and said it only boils down to a few things: The duas of the hujjaj, my parent’s duas and thirdly, I love the Quran and I read a lot of Quran,” said Casoo.
He said he strives to be a good human being and this was his advice to other Muslims: “Just strive to be a good person. You will never know whose dua was accepted when someone made dua for you. You can be awarded with any award in this world, but there is no better staircase you want to climb up in this world to, like the Kaaba. This is the only time in a person’s life when you pray salaah in four different directions, SubhanAllah.” said Casoo.
He said the experience had to be the greatest honour and highest reward one can receive in this world and was most definitely the highlight of his life.
“It has been an unbelievable experience and we pray that all Muslims are provided with such an honour and opportunity, God willing,” said Casoo.
