The dream of uniting the Muslims of the world which could not be fulfilled

While traveling on a dusty road in Oman, the Hijaz Railway Station might be out of sight.

To get there, you'll also have to traverse the city's winding streets, which are nothing short of a maze and stretch far and wide around famous places like the city's historic center, mountains and ancient forts.

Although the way to reach Hijaz railway station is only about five kilometers, but due to traffic in the Jordanian capital Oman, it is often crowded, so this journey becomes even longer.

As soon as you enter through the stone entrance of the railway station, you will feel as if you have reached another era or another world. Steam locomotive trains still run here. There is great hope that this railway track can unite the Muslim world.

The Hijaz Railway was built in 1900 on the orders of Sultan Abdul Hamid II of the Sultanate of Osmania (present-day Turkey), to make travel to Mecca easier and safer.

Earlier, pilgrims traveled on camels in convoys for weeks if not months to reach Mecca.

It took at least 40 days to reach Medina from Damascus and the dry desert and mountains caused many pilgrims to lose their lives on the way. But the construction of the railway reduced this journey from 40 days to just five days.

Under this project, after the completion of the Damascus–Medina section of the railway line, the project included the extension of this railway line to Qustuntuniya (today's Stambool), the capital of the Ottoman Sultanate in the north and Mecca in the south. But the importance of this railway station for Islam does not end here.

At the time, funding for the completion of this extraordinary transport project came entirely from Muslim donations, revenue and taxes from the Ottoman Sultanate, and did not involve any foreign investment.

And this is the reason why even today this route is considered a 'Waqf': a property that is the common property of all Muslims.

General Uzma Nalshik, director general of the Hijaz Railway in Jordan, says, "It is not the property of any country, it is not the property of any individual. It is the property of all the Muslims of the world. It is like a mosque and cannot be sold.

Uzma Nalshik says, 'Any Muslim in the world, even a Muslim from Indonesia and Malaysia, can come and claim that I have a part in it.'

For Sultan Abdul Hamid II, uniting the Muslim world was not only a spiritual necessity, but it also had practical benefits. During the last few decades before the construction of the railways, the rival empires had drifted away from the Ottoman sultanate.

By uniting the people of the Osmania Sultanate, Sultan Abdul Hamid II wanted to unite not only the Muslims but also his Sultanate, but it could not happen.

In 1908, the first train ran from Damascus to Medina, and the next year the Sultan was overthrown.

Today the Osmania Sultanate has become a thing of the past. Similarly, the borders that were once the center of this route are now divided into five countries (Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel and Saudi Arabia).

Despite providing travel facilities to 3 lakh passengers every year till the year 1914, the Hijaz Railway remained in importance for only a decade.

When the Turkish army began to use it in World War I, it was attacked by British officer TE Lawrence (who was given the title 'Lawrence of Arabia') and other Arab rebel soldiers.

After the war, when the British and French restored the region of the Levant in the eastern Mediterranean, their first priority was to maintain and restore this railway line that united the Muslims, as by that time most of this railway line was It was bad.

The museum here has various items related to this railway like old tickets, pictures and lanterns. A restored bogie in the early 20th century, luxurious velvet chairs and golden lamps still evoke the opulence of that era.

Scholar Sheikh Ali Atantavi wrote after the closure of this railway line, that 'The story of Hijaz Railway is a real tragedy. There is a line but no train runs. Stations are there but no passengers.'

But it's not just a story of lost hopes and mistakes. Over the years, parts of it have been restored.

Israel has activated the reconstructed section of this railway line from Haifa to Beit Shion in 2016.

Hejaz Railway

The railway line, which ran from Oman to Damascus in 2011, became so popular that many locals wondered how they enjoyed traveling to Syria at the 'week end'.

In Jordan, people still have access to two stretches of this railway line.

There is only a summer steam locomotive intended primarily for tourists and it runs through the desert of the Rome Valley: the same line that was once attacked by Lawrence of Arabia.

In addition there is a weekly train that runs from Oman to Al-Jazzah station throughout the year and is mostly used by locals for entertainment.

Is the future of travel under water?

One Saturday morning, there was a crowd of many families at the Hijaz railway station in Oman. The women, wearing dark and bright colored headscarves, were carrying several bags of food items. The children were carrying footballs and toys.

We were taking the train from Oman to Al-Jazzah: during this 35 km journey, the train has to keep its speed at 15 kmph while passing through narrow routes, and it takes two hours to reach the destination, i.e. 35 The kilometer journey is completed in two hours.

But the real fun lies in this exciting journey. As soon as the train left the station, the children started screaming and making noise with joy. They would gather in each other's bogies and hang on the railing of the train.

In some places this historic track runs alongside a modern road, as if at a crossroads we passed cars parked in the parking lot and a pick-up truck loaded with boxes of fruit and chicken.

But it didn't matter: The kids on the train were excited. Most were residents of Oman who were excited to see their city in a different way, and there was also a small group of Syrian refugees, smiling at everyone.

There was a party atmosphere in the coaches of the train. The women played loud music on the speakers they had brought with them. When I passed a bogie, some ladies were dancing happily, and upon seeing me, they were a little shy and started laughing.

When al-Jazzah reached the station two hours later, everyone took their own course and headed for the tables under the shade of the olive groves. Tea jugs and local food were taken out.

Some boys started drinking hookah behind the station, which they had brought with them.

Recreation, Tourism, Fun: Nowadays this track is mostly used for this purpose but there are still hopes that the importance of Hijaz Railway can increase beyond its height.

First of all, Nalshik says it has practical potential: 600,000 people travel 30 kilometers from Zarqa to Oman every day, but there is little public transport.

Research is being done about whether the restoration of the Hijaz Railway between the two cities could help ease traffic.

Nalshik says, 'One of the objectives is also to familiarize the people with the history of Hijaz Railway. Many people pass through here but do not know that there is any such station which is active for the last 110 years. I am trying to include it in the tourist map of Jordan.

Another purpose is to include this railway in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Saudi Arabia submitted a proposal to consider it in the year 2015. (Although Saudi Arabia, like Jordan, has not restored this line for actual transport, it has a small museum about this railway track and considers the railway as part of its heritage).

It is hard to imagine a time when a train will take passengers from Syria via this railway track to Saudi Arabia again, but as long as the legacy of the Hijaz Railway is kept alive and recognized, there is hope and potential for it to be restored. Will remain.