WATCH: A beautiful conversation about faith and cricket

While the annual Hajj to Makkah in Saudi Arabia has concluded, two cricket players from England’s national cricket team have shared their experiences about performing Hajj.

The video was shared by England’s Barmy Amy this week, under the caption: “This was a beautiful conversation about faith and cricket”.

It features England cricketers Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid.

About 850 000 pilgrims from abroad including 1 132 South Africans who performed Hajj this year.

In addition, 150 000 locals also performed Hajj bringing the total number of pilgrims to one million.

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Ali describes the unity among millions of pilgrims from across the globe during Hajj, “You’re all on this journey and you’re all wearing this same clothing, so there’s no difference between a rich person or poor person, everyone is exactly the same – focusing on what they need to do”.

“When I went, I think there was around three of four million people, and I know it’s a bit less now because of Covid-19, but there was a lot of people and you need a lot of patience and you just learn more about yourself,” Ali said.

Ali says the journey of Hajj is about sacrifice.

“It’s tough, it wasn’t easy so, its about the sacrifice, the patience and hopefully you come back a changed person and that’s the most important thing.”

Rashid says he was fortunate to embark on the journey of a lifetime this year.

“It’s something that I’ve been wanting to do for a little while as well, but obviously with cricket, it’s been a bit difficult, but this year I was fortunate that it went well with the ECB and Yorkshire, making it very easy for myself, and giving me the chance and go ahead.”

“It was an experience of a lifetime, something I’ve wanted to do. It teaches you a lot of things, it teaches patience and also teaches being grateful for what you have,” Rashid said.

After a two-year absence due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there are hopes that many more pilgrims will be allowed to perform Hajj next year following a successful Hajj.

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