CHAPTER 4 HAJJ AND FINANCE
5.4. TRAVEL BY AIR FOR HAJJ
In 1948, the South African Airways made arrangements to take hajjis from South Africa to Jeddah. Hajji Mohammad Hanief Allie was the first person in Cape Town to leave by air on August 12, 1948 for hajj. He left on board the "Lode Star" from the Wing Field Airport to Port Elizabeth, then flew to East London and thereafter landed in Durban. In Durban, he and other pilgrims boarded a charter plane to Johannesburg where they were joined by more hajjis. The travelled on the "Viking International" to Jeddah. En route to Jeddah the plane stopped at the following places: Salisbury, Entebi (Uganda), Tabora (Central Africa), Khartum and Wadi Khalfah. At the time planes could not fly at night and would land before sunset, and the passengers would sleep overnight in hotels.33
Photo: M H Ebrahim Hajji Mohammad Hanief Allie - first Capetonian who left by air
for hajj in August 12, 1948.
In September 1950,17 year-old Hajji Savd Abrahams accompanied by his father's cousin, Doctor Abdurahim Abrahams and his wife, left with the South African Skymaster from the Wing Field Airport for hajj. All along he was under the impression that he was the first hajji from Cape Town to have travelled by air to Mecca - and was surprised when I informed him that Hajji Mohammad Hanief Allie had travelled by air in 1948 two years earlier. This flight was organised by Thomas Cook, the most popular travel agent amongst the Cape Muslims at the time. The only other hajji on this flight was the late Hajji Achmat Hendricks, who was the brother-in-law of Sayed Safi vAlwT. The popular route by plane during this period was Cape Town to Johannesburg, Johannesburg to Nairobi and Nairobi to Jeddah.34
Photo: M H Ebrahim In 1950 Hajji Savd Abrahams went
on hajj with the Skymaster.
However, when the hajjis arrived in Nairobi there was only one seat available on the charter plane for a hajji. Hajji Achmat Hendricks was given this seat and proceeded to Mecca. In the meantime, Hajji Savad Abrahams and his relatives were stranded in Nairobi for five days. On the sixth day, Thomas Cook, who had an office in Nairobi contacted them and referred them to an agent known as Takim and an Englishman by the name of Powel. Takim managed to get a charter plane and offered the hajjis a free package to Zanzibar with full board and lodge at a hotel for two days. In Zanzibar they were put on the charter specifically for hajjis which left for Aden, and the following morning they departed from Aden for Jeddah. When the hajjis returned to South Africa, Thomas Cook reimbursed them with 80 pounds for the time they had wasted in Nairobi while waiting for the connecting flight.35
Hajji Sa'ad Abrahams, who had since 1950 performed many pilgrimages, confided to me:
/ had been in Mecca more than once, but my best trip was the first one in 1950.
There were no lifts, air conditioners in the bayts and only a few had electricity. I remember that the owners of the hotels, who had radios, operated it from car batteries. The people of Mecca, specifically the mu^allims, were closely linked with the hajjis of Cape Town. Sayed Sqfi ^Alwi, Sayed Hashim KAlwi and Sayed Sirdj Wall could speak Afrikaans mainly through intermarriage.36
During my research, I discovered that the first person ever to leave the shores of South Africa by air for Mecca was M J Mohamed of 188 Prinsloo Street, Pretoria. He departed from Pretoria on Tuesday, February 5, 1937 with the Imperial Air Mail for Cairo and from there he sailed by boat to Jeddah.37
At the beginning of 1953, only the Masjid al-Haram and the Main Road where Sayed Shafi lived had electricity. At the time, Sayed SafI vAlwI used to issue the hajjis with lanterns whenever they used to go the Masjid al-Haram or to the suqs (markets). There were no fridges, nor electrical fans. Hajjis used hand fans to keep cool. It was late in 1953 that electricity was introduced at the hotels and the other roads were lit up. Water was extracted from fountains and was carried in clay pots and sold to the hajjis. Some of the mu^allims used to store water underground where they lived. The water storage was enclosed with a tap attached to it. When water became scarce and expensive, the mu"allims would sell the water to the hajjis at reasonable prices.
Sayed SafTAlwi's bayt (situated in Al-Gazza Street) attracted many potential hajjis of the Cape after electricity had been installed in his bayt. An advertisement that appeared in the Muslim News concerning these special facilities, mentioned; electricity in every room, electric fans with beds supplied and separate rooms for married couples. In the same advertisement, Sayed Safi vAlwT offered personal attention to the hajjis. Shaykh Abdurahman of Church Street, Woodstock in the Cape had acted as a sub-agent for Sayed Safi" Alwi at the time. The hajjis were also asked to mention the name of their mutawwifs to the authorities the moment they arrived at the Jeddah Airport.39