TRIPLETS ‘REUNITE’ IN HOLY LAND
27-year-old brothers feel blessed to perform haj at young age
THEY not only look similar and share the same interests, but are also here on the journey of a lifetime together.
Two of them even have the same jobs and graduated from the same university.
Triplets Muhamad Zaini Fikri Mohd Yusop, Muhamad Zarif Fikri and Muhamad Zazali Fikri, all 27, have caused confusion among Malaysian pilgrims staying at Abraj Al-Janadriyah, the Tabung Haji (TH) headquarters.
It took some time for their roommates to be able to tell them apart, but they are now all settled in and a familiar sight along the corridors of the ninth floor of the TH accommodation building.
Here with their elder brother, Muhamad Faizul Fikri, 34, and his wife, Siti Naqsya Mohamad, the trio, from Batu Pahat, Johor, feel blessed to have been given the opportunity to perform the haj at a young age.
Zaini, a doctor in Klang Hospital, said their parents registered them with TH for the haj when they were in primary school.
“All our duit Raya were deposited into our TH accounts since we were in Year One. We are grateful to our parents for this, even though we did miss our duit Raya then.”
Zaini, who got married eight months ago, hoped to be able to come back to Makkah with his wife one day.
The youngest of the three, Zazali, said TH called all of them to perform the haj in 2015 with their parents, but they could not make it then for various reasons.
“My brother, Zaini, and I were in our final year of our medical degree in Mansoura University, Eqypt then, so we requested for a postponement together with Zarif,” said Zazali, who is working in Batu Pahat Hospital.
He said his two other siblings also performed their haj, thanks to their parents’ efforts in registering all six siblings with TH since they were young.
He said it was more meaningful for him to perform the haj now, when he was working, as he used his own money for expenses.
Zarif said all three of them share the same interests — bowling and ping-pong — and were in the same class until Form Three.
“In Form Four, we went our separate ways as I was not interested in the science stream.”
Zarif took a diploma after completing secondary school, worked for three years, and then registered to get his degree in hotel catering at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia.
He is happy to be “reunited” with his brothers here in the Holy Land. They arrived in Madinah on July 14 and departed here after eight days.