SRINAGAR: As millions of pilgrims converge on Makkah for Hajj 2025, three Spanish Muslims have completed one of the year’s most extraordinary spiritual quests, riding 6,500 kilometres from southern Spain to the Holy City on horseback, retracing a centuries-old route taken by Andalusian pilgrims more than 500 years ago.
Abdelkader Harkassi Aidi, Tarek Rodriguez, and Abdallah Rafael Hernandez Mancha began their seven-month trek in October 2024, setting off from an old mosque in the village of Almonaster la Real. Their journey, which spanned 13 countries and tested both resolve and faith, was inspired by a promise Hernandez Mancha made as a young teacher more than three decades ago: if he passed a crucial state exam, he would convert to Islam and ride to Hajj in the way his ancestors did. After a successful teaching career, he fulfilled that vow.
“It’s been a dream that’s become reality,” Harkassi Aidi said in an interview with Middle Eastern publication, The National, describing the group’s arrival in Saudi Arabia as the culmination of years of training, planning, and spiritual preparation. “We’ve represented the Spanish Muslim community across the world. It’s been a great achievement for Spain as a whole.”
The three men trained for years with Arabian horses of Khuzestani bloodlines, each contributing €1,500 to fund the journey. The horses, known for their toughness, carried them an average of 40 kilometres a day through shifting climates and terrains, from the snow-laced Balkans to the deserts of the Middle East. Nights were spent camping, meals were cooked over open fires, and shelter was sought wherever it could be found—at equestrian centres, roadside caravans, and sometimes in the open air.
Along the way, they were met with both hardship and hospitality. A Saudi social media influencer gifted them a caravan in northern Italy, and as they rode into Muslim-majority Bosnia, they were greeted with celebrations. “There was a big celebration in the cities that we passed through, especially Mostar and Sarajevo,” said Harkassi Aidi. “That was a turning point.”
Their route took them through Türkiye at the start of Ramazan, making the pilgrimage even more spiritually profound. In Syria, despite apprehensions, they found warmth amid the devastation. “Everything was raw,” said Harkassi Aidi. “We saw a lot of destruction and heard a lot of stories. But we were welcomed everywhere.”
The final leg of the journey brought them into Saudi Arabia, where authorities requested they leave their horses in Riyadh and travel to Madinah by plane. While the government does not encourage pilgrims arriving on horseback, the men were treated with hospitality, put up in a five-star hotel and welcomed with flowers. “They actually paid for our flights,” Harkassi Aidi said.
Now in Makkah and preparing for Hajj, the riders are still processing their epic achievement. “It’s an impossible journey and it’s only been possible with Allah’s help,” Harkassi Aidi told The National’s journalist Hamza Hendawi, who chronicled their expedition. “If you have a clear intention, you have to commit to it. With good, clear and fair intentions, and trusting in Allah, anything is possible.”
The horses remain behind, and their future is uncertain. “I think this is the sad part of the story,” said Harkassi Aidi. “They deserve the best.” Plans are already underway to preserve the bloodlines of the animals that made the historic journey possible.
For the three men, the ride was more than a pilgrimage—it was a spiritual reawakening and a revival of a long-forgotten path of Andalusian devotion.
