THE MUSLIM WORLD

A Bosnian man has embarked on the life-time spiritual journey of hajj, preparing himself to cross thousands of miles on foot. “To be honest, before I started on this trip, everybody was frightened for me, asking how will I, as a Muslim, be able to travel though Christian countries like Serbia and Bulgaria,” 47-year-old Senad Hadzic said. Aspiring to perform hajj, which falls at the end of October 2012. Hadzic first hit the road for his lengthy trip from his hometown in northern Bosnia in December 2011. The distance is about 3,600 miles from Bosnia to Makkah and he covers between 12 to 20 miles a day. In his back bag, he carries his copy of the holy Qur’an wrapped in plastic to protect it from weather elements. He also carries a bible, maps and flags of the six countries he plans to cross. Cutting 600 miles so far, the journey has not been without problems. In Istanbul, he was stuck for 20 days, trying to get permission to walk across the Bosphorus Bridge connecting Europe to Asia, which is open only to vehicles. At the end, he decided to resume his trip towards Makkah though the Syrian lands where he will wave a Syrian flag with the word “victory” written on it. Traveling with very little money, Hadzic says he depends on the kindness of strangers for much of the lengthy road. Hadzic claimed he must travel by foot because God told him to in a dream, seeing this journey as a benefit for himself and everyone he meets. “By this act, I am proving that everything I do is for the love of God,” Hadzic says. “For all the riches in the world, I would never stop what I am doing.”

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in collaboration with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and The Coca-Cola Company, organised a reception and viewing of new Galleries for the Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and South Asia, last fortnight. The ceremony was attended by OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Ambassadors from the Arab world. Ihsanoglu told the audience: “I believe that it is high time for the nations and people representing the Muslim heritage and the nations and people representing the Judeo-Christian traditions to continue to set aside their differences and to work together towards developing a culture of mutual understanding, respect and dialogue, built on the commonalities and shared values.” The Museum’s President, Emily K. Rafferty told the audience that the suite of the 15 galleries showcases works from 22 countries and traces the full course of Islamic civilization, over a span of 14 centuries, from the Middle East to North Africa, Europe, and Central and South Asia. “It (exhibition) is particularly significant because it offers its viewers an education about the great achievements of the Islamic civilization, an education that can act as a peace builder in today’s world,” he said. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is the nation’s largest and most encyclopedic museum. The collections include more than two million works of art spanning 5,000 years of culture, from pre-history to the present and from every part of the globe.