Bahraini who performed Tawaf around Kaaba during 1941 floods dies

Sheikh Al Awadi, aged 86, died on Wednesday

A Bahraini man, who shot to fame after being captured by a photographer performing Tawaf around a flooded Kaaba has died, aged 86.

In one of the rare pictures of 1941 flood that submerged the Makkah’s Grand Mosque and Holy City, the then 12-year-old Sheikh Al Awadi could be seen almost submerged in water while circumambulation around a flooded Holy Kaaba.

According to the Bahrain News Agency, Al Awadi died on Wednesday, and the news of his death went viral on social media.

In 1941, the floodwater had engulfed the Grand Mosque, and water had risen to six feet, making it virtually impossible for anyone to perform Tawaf.

Recalling his memories of his Tawaf performed over seven decades ago, Al Awadi told the Kuwait’s Al-Rai television in 2013, “I was a student in Makkah at the time when the holy city witnessed torrential rains for nearly one week incessantly throughout day and night, resulting in flash floods inundating all parts of the holy city. I saw several people, vehicles and animals washed away by flashfloods and several houses and shops inundated.”

Al Awadi, along with his brother Haneef and two friends, on the last day of the rain decided to go to the Grand Mosque to see the situation.

“Our teacher Abdul Rauf from Tunis also accompanied us,” he said adding that “As children, we were delighted to see the flooded mataf. Being a good swimmer, I was struck by the idea of performing Tawaf and my brother and friends also joined me.”

Al Awadi revealed when they started swimming, a policeman tried to stop, fearing they might try to steal Hajra-e-Aswad, the Holy Black Stone, mounted on one of the corners of Kaaba or simply they might drown.

"I tried to convince the police to allow me to complete Tawaf while one of my friend Muhammad Al Tayyib and another boy Ali Thabit could not continue and took shelter by climbing on the doorstep of the Holy Kaaba, waiting to be rescued.”

“I had a mixed feeling of joy and fear while circumambulating the Holy Kaaba. “I experienced the joy of having the great opportunity to perform the ritual in a unique way and the fear that the policeman may shoot at me from his rifle for disobeying him, but later I found out that there were no bullets in his gun.”

He also told the local TV that when twenty years ago when his son and daughter-in-law went to Makkah to perform Haj, they saw souvenirs with pictures of Al Awadi performing Tawaf that day.

This article originally appeared on Saudi Gazette