In the year 2008, Gustavo was walking in one of the streets of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, and he saw a mosque that people enter and leave with respect and reverence that he had not known before. The imam and I asked him to learn about Islam, so he gave me some books in Spanish.”
Gustavo returned to his city of Tokman, which is about 1,200 km away from the capital, and began searching for Islam by looking at the books he obtained from the imam or by logging on to the Internet, to return to the mosque and take his final decision to convert to Islam. Gustavo was not satisfied with that, but decided to gather his family and their friends in his house to announce to them his decision to enter Islam, and on one of the nights of Tuchman, Gustavo sat with his father Ahmed, his mother Olfa, his wife Kartina, his uncle Martin, his uncle's wife Maria, a family friend Rolindo and his wife Christina, talking about Islam, explaining its virtues and benefits, He did not complete his session until everyone was convinced of his hadeeth and made their decision to join him and convert to Islam.
Since that day, Gustavo and his family began to learn more about Islam, and every day their attachment to it increased. Rather, watching the prayers in the Holy Mosque of Mecca and the Kaaba became a sight that they did not tire of watching, and they decided to visit the Holy Land for Hajj or Umrah. But fate was quicker with the death of the father, so that the family's desire to perform the ritual increased, and indeed they collected the required amount, estimated at 5 thousand dollars per person, and obtained the visa from the Saudi consul in Argentina, who facilitated the matter for them within 24 hours. And through a long journey extending from Tokman, passing through Sao Paulo, then Dubai, then Beirut, they settled in Jeddah after a 30-hour journey during which they traveled nearly 17,000 km.
Gustavo speaks on behalf of his family, whom "Okaz" met at the residence of some of their friends from Lebanon's pilgrims who helped them perform the religious duty: "We thought the crowds were scary and terrifying when we saw them on TV, and when we stood with the crowds, we felt a strange relief." As for his uncle Martin It is hard to believe how more than two million people pray in one place.
The Argentinian young man who works in the field of accounting tried to invite some of his friends to Islam and succeeded in convincing one person out of 20, but he still insists on inviting the rest of the friends..and he hopes that they will be his companions for Hajj in the coming years.
Naeem Tamim Al-Hakim (Makkah Al-Mukarramah) @naeemtamimimalhac
