© rr
No Samer Assecour at the match between Lummen and Hasselt B. After all, last week the coach went to Mecca. He made the pilgrimage three times in succession: for himself, but also for his deceased father and brother.
“As a Muslim you have to live by certain rules,” Assecour knows. “We live in Europe and adapt a bit. But when you come to Mecca where the Prophet was, you have a completely different feeling. You’ll get that. It starts with a ritual cleansing. Then you have to put white sheets around you because everyone, rich or poor, is equal.”
“The real starting point was in the first mosque between Medina and Mecca where we said two prayers (= rakhad). It is important that you say there that you are going to do Umrah for yourself. You have the right to do it for someone else, but they must be deceased or ill,” Assecour explains. “That’s why I did the pilgrimage three times: also for my deceased father and brother.”
“We then went to the hotel to do the prayer of the day and with a group of about forty people we went to Mecca. There we walked around the Kaaba seven times. The next challenge is going back and forth between two hills (Safa and Marwah) seven times. At the end your head is shaved. Because I made the pilgrimage three times, I walked around the Kaaba 21 times and had my head shaved three times, each time a little shorter.”
© luc daelemans
“When you do the great pilgrimage, you stay in a tent camp between Medina and Arafat for three more days. There you read the Koran very intensively, after which you end the Hajj,” says Assecour. “That is because the Prophet used to sit on the Mount of Arafat. We went as far as the mountain and drove past the tent camp during an excursion.”
Family
Coach Assecour did not undertake the journey alone. “I did it together with my wife. After the corona period we started talking about it and we chose a Dutch organization. The advantage is that it is bilingual. I consciously chose to take her with me because it was my first time. My three daughters are of the age to come along, but I don’t think they are ready yet.”
“As long as I stay healthy, I want to continue doing the little pilgrimage.” But the plans don’t stop there. “We dream of doing the big one one day. You can do the small one several times, but as a Muslim you must do the big one once in your life.”
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