Majed Al-Mufdali Okaz/Saudi Gazette MINA — Saeed Morsi, the brother of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, had the opportunity to perform Haj this year after waiting four years for the wish to be fulfilled. Saeed Morsi said his brother, Mohamed Morsi, had asked him to pray to God for the stability of Egypt, and to perform his Haj rites without disturbing fellow pilgrims. Saeed, who is eight years younger than the president, talked about the great responsibility that fell on the family after his brother became the president. He said Mohamed, an ardent advocate of equality and justice, dealt with people with passion. Saeed, a simple person, did not like the spotlight and reluctantly spoke to Okaz/Saudi Gazette about his pilgrimage. Saeed has been working as a technical supervisor in the housing directorate of Al-Sharqiya for the past 28 years and his brother's new role has not changed his lifestyle. He still works in the same job and his social life has not changed a bit. Alongside hundreds of thousands of ordinary Muslims, the brother of the Arab world's most powerful president, traveled all the way from Arafat to Mina, then to Makkah and back to Mina on foot on the 10th of Dhul Hijjah. “I applied for Haj with the others for permission to perform Haj. I was selected after a four-year-wait,” Saeed said, adding that he paid the Haj fees of 22,000 pounds, and left Egypt on economy class to Madinah. He was accommodated in a simple hotel with Atiyah Al-Husaini, an engineer friend from his neighborhood, Al-Sharqiya. As he was keen to perform all Haj rites alone, he separated from his group. “I spent the Tarwiyah day in Mina and the next morning found a seat in a taxi going to Arafat. He trekked back to Mina on foot, went straight to stone the Jamrat Al-Aqaba and continued his walk to Makkah to perform the Tawaf Al-Ifadah, the mandatory circling of the Ka'aba in Haj. He walked back to Mina and spent the remaining Haj days alone in meditation and prayer. Haj Saeed, as he prefers to be called, has four sons and two daughters. He named his oldest son, Mohamed, so that he may follow in the footsteps of his uncle. Haj Saeed considers his eldest brother, the president, as his role model. He pointed out that his nephew, Ahmad Mohamed Morsi, worked as a doctor in a private hospital in the Kingdom. He added that the president's wife and sons also performed Haj this year along with ordinary Egyptian pilgrims.
