KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian backpackers who traveled through seven countries to reach Saudi Arabia for Umrah have completed their 30-day Ramadan journey, fasting with Muslim communities they visited along the way.

Farhan Mokhali, 28, and Ainaa Fakhira, 27, started their journey from Padang Besar, a town bordering Thailand in the northern part of the Malaysian state of Perlis.

“The inspiration and idea solely came from Ainaa. She is the one who has always dreamed of being a backpacker and traveling around the world since she was a teenager,” Mokhali told Arab News.

“After several years of postponing the dream, in 2025 she decided to pursue it because she didn’t want to wait any longer.”

From Hatyai on the other side of the border, they reached Bangkok and traveled to Vientiane in Laos, from where they crossed to Kunming in China and traveled to Xi’an and further to Khorgos, where they entered Kazakhstan.

There the land journey had to end when they faced problems in obtaining visas to Turkmenistan and Syria.

Within 30 days, they visited seven countries, taking 10 trains, three buses and two aeroplanes.

Self-employed and running a media startup, they kept on working during their travel, which they estimate cost them about $4,300 in total.

While the journey took place during Ramadan, both kept on fasting as they experienced the cultures of various Muslim communities that they met on their way.

“We camped in the snow in negative temperatures and hiked 15 km during snowfall just to experience the Altyn Arashan hot springs while fasting in Kyrgyzstan. We loved every part of this journey since it gave us the chance to spend more quality time together and learn a lot of new things,” Mokhali said.

“We are also thankful to have had the opportunity to experience the beauty of Ramadan in other countries. We experienced different cultures, like iftar with the locals, Taraweeh at different mosques in several countries, and many more Ramadan traditions.”

Last week they reached Madinah, from where they traveled to Makkah to complete their pilgrimage.

It was the best part of their journey because they could experience Umrah together, Mokhali said, as they packed to return home on Saturday, right before the end of the fasting month.

“We are going to celebrate Eid in Malaysia,” he added. “We are going back to Malaysia tomorrow. We haven’t experienced Ramadan in our country this year yet.”

LONDON: Donald Trump thanked the “hundreds of thousands” of Muslim Americans who helped to elect him president as he hosted an iftar at the White House on Thursday.

The event was attended by Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the US Princess Reema bint Bandar along with other representatives from Muslim countries, the Muslim community in America, and senior administration officials.

“I want to extend a very special thanks to the hundreds of thousands of Muslim Americans who supported us in record numbers in the 2024 presidential election,” Trump said. “It was incredible. We started a little slow with you, but we came along and by the time that election was finished we went up like a rocket ship.”

“The Muslim community was there for us in November, and while I’m president, I will be there for you,” he added.

Angered by the US approach to the war in Gaza, many Muslim voters abandoned support for the Democrats in November’s election, switching instead to Trump or other candidates.

The Arab American and Muslim vote helped Trump to win Michigan — a key swing state.

Trump thanked two Muslim mayors from Michigan, Bill Bazzi and Amer Ghalib, who endorsed his campaign and attended the iftar. They have now been appointed ambassadors to Tunisia and Kuwait, respectively.

The president also used his address at the iftar to highlight his administration’s efforts to bring an end to the war in Gaza. His team helped to broker a ceasefire in January, although Israel resumed attacks on Gaza last week. 

“My administration is engaged in relentless diplomacy to forging lasting peace in the Middle East, building on the historic Abraham Accords, which everybody said would be impossible, and now we’re going to start filling them out,” he said.

The Abraham Accords were a series of normalization agreements reached during Trump’s first term between Israel and Arab countries the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.

Trump also used the occasion to reflect on the importance of Ramadan for Muslims around the world.

“To our Muslim friends, I look forward to working with each of you to achieve a brighter and more hopeful future,” Trump said.

Posting on X, Princess Reema said that she was honored to attend the iftar. 

“Grateful for his (Trump’s) kind invitation and thoughtful gesture toward the Muslim community,” she said. “It’s a testament to the spirit of friendship and cooperation that brings our nations together.”