DUSHANBE, October 19, 2012, Asia-Plus  -- Two Tajik pilgrims, who are performing the Hajj by foot, reached the holy city of Media, Saudi Arabia on the morning of October 19, an official source a the Committee on Religious Affairs (CRA) under the Government of Tajikistan, told Asia-Plus in an interview Friday afternoon.

According to him, representatives of the CRA and the Al-Medina Arabic TV Channel met them.  “Within the next few days, they will join their fellow countrymen in Mecca to perform the main rituals of the Hajj,” the source said.

We will recall that these two men are part of a group of seven Tajik men who had earlier pledged to travel thousands of kilometers on foot to Saudi Arabia to perform the key Muslim obligation of the Hajj.  This group, led by Abdulaziz Rajabov, who has already once traveled to Mecca by foot, began the journey in May.  Tajik authorities helped the men to get foreign visas for the journey.

The men, most of whom are in their 60s, have pledged to walk all 4,600 kilometers, crossing at least four countries.  However, two of them cut short their journey and returned home, while three others decided to take a plane to Mecca from Iran.