Two persons from Jharkhand, including a woman lost their lives in the stampede at Mecca on Friday. Out of a total of 14 Indian losing their lives in the incident, two were from Jharkhand.
However, family members of the persons who died in stampede have no regrets for losing their near and dear ones during the incident and they consider it a “grace of God” that their kin lost their lives on the holy land.
“According to the list of dead persons which has been sent to us from the Indian Embassy, one male of 62 years of age Md. Rustam Ali of Godda and a 75 year lady named Gulabi Begam, belonging to Ranchi have been died in the stamped,” said Haj Committee spokesperson Khursheed Hassan Rumi.
Rustam’s family claimed that his father achieved martyrdom by losing his life in Mecca. “It’s is due to the grace of Allah that my father lost his life in the holy city of Mecca. Now, there is only one request with the Saudi Government that they should bury my father to the nearest point from the ‘Bade Hazrat,” said Rustam’s son Md. Shahid. His mother told them about the incident over phone, added Shahid.
According to Shahid, his father has the credit of being the first person in Godda District of getting to ‘Jannat’ as he breathed his last while wearing the holy cloth of ‘ehram.’ “Death of a Muslim while wearing the holy cloth in Mecca is considered to be a kind of martyrdom for us,” Shahid added.
Rustam was a retired School teacher and had gone for Haj along with her wife. They had taken the flight from Ranchi on September 13 for Jeddah.
Rustam hailed from Sarautia Panchayat under Mahgama block of Godda District while Gulabi Begum was from Raeen Mohalla of Hindpiri in Ranchi.
Similarly, the relatives of Gulabi Begam are also happy that she died at the holy place of Mecca.
“It is a dream of every Muslim to breath his last on the land of Allah and it is one in the millions who gets an opportunity to be buried beside the house of Allah,” said Gulabi Begum’s son Imamudddin. Everyone present in Mecca today offered ‘Janaje ka Namaj’ for her, nothing could be more satisfactory than this that my mother was buried today at the ‘Jannatul Mualla’ (Garden of the Mualla) in Mecca, a place where Muhammad's wife, grandfather, and other ancestors are buried, added Imamuddin.
Gulabi Begum, along with her elder son Nizamuddin and his wife Jarina Begam, had left Ranchi on September 14. She was taken to the place to offer the ritual of Rammi on a wheel chair on Friday.
According her elder son, when they were returning from the place, she felt ill after hearing about the incident and breath her last while she was being taken to the hospital.
At least 717 people, including 14 from Indians, were killed during the stampede in Saudi Arabia on Friday during the pilgrimage in the deadliest incident in the last 25 years.
The authorities blamed it on unruly pilgrims for the indent which took place while observing the ritual of ‘stoning the devil’ in a tent city of Mina, about two miles from the holy site in Mecca, Islam's holiest city.