A man from Kerala, India, accomplished an incredible feat by walking from his home state all the way to the sacred city of Mecca in just over a year, covering a distance of approximately 8,640 kilometers. Shihab Chottur, a resident of Valancherry in Kerala’s Malappuram district, embarked on this remarkable journey on June 2, 2022, with the intention of performing the Haj pilgrimage. After crossing India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and Kuwait on foot, he finally entered Saudi Arabia from Kuwait in the second week of May.
Upon entering Saudi Arabia, Shihab made a stop at Medina, an important Islamic pilgrimage site, where he spent 21 days before continuing his expedition to Mecca. The 440-kilometer stretch between Medina and Mecca was covered in just nine days. Shihab plans to perform the Haj pilgrimage once his mother, Zainaba, arrives in the city from Kerala.
Throughout his extraordinary journey, Shihab, who operates his own YouTube channel, diligently kept his viewers updated on his progress from Kerala to the holy city of Mecca.
A notable moment in Shihab’s odyssey occurred when he reached the Wagah border, the entry point into Pakistan. Having commenced his Haj journey in June of the previous year, he encountered his first obstacle at the Wagah border when Pakistani immigration authorities halted his progress due to his lack of a visa. Consequently, he had to wait for several months at a school in Wagah to obtain a transit visa. Finally, in February 2023, Shihab succeeded in acquiring the transit visa, enabling him to resume his journey to Saudi Arabia. Four months later, he successfully reached his ultimate destination, Mecca, to embark on the Haj pilgrimage.
