For weeks, Alhaji Alieu Dausy Wurie and his wife, Haja Isatu Wurie, prepared for the Hajj, a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims.
The couple walked two to three miles a day in their Bowie, Maryland, neighborhood to prepare for the trip they had always wanted to take together, said their daughter, Saida Wurie. They bought insoles for their shoes. They bought liquid IVs. They prayed.
But ultimately, that preparation wouldn’t be enough to ensure they returned home safely.
Alieu Wurie, 71, and Isatu Wurie, 65, were among more than 1,300 people who died from extreme heat this year in Mecca, the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad. His family says the Maryland-based tour company they hired failed them repeatedly.
Saudi authorities said about 1.8 million people made the trip this year to the holy city where the Prophet Muhammad is believed to have recited the first revelations of the Koran. Taking a trip to the city is one of the pillars of Islam.
But in weather up to 110 degrees, adequate resources are needed for safe travel. Saida Wurie said the trip for her parents, who were part of a group of between 80 and 100 people traveling with the tour company, was difficult from the beginning. They were not provided with Hajj credentials, leaving them confined to a hotel for days and the company lacking sufficient transportation. The couple had paid the company $11,500 per person for an all-inclusive hotel, flight and transportation package.
“I think it was a totality of circumstances,” Saida Wurie said. “The fact that they didn’t have the right credentials, the right transportation, they had to walk a long time.”
He said he wants to make sure the tour company can’t do that to anyone else: “Our family has to grieve this way. In our religion, they believe that dying in the Holy Land is a beautiful thing, but there are several things that could have been avoided, so I hope they don’t operate again.”
Ehajj and Umrah Tours, a Silver Spring-based company established in 2022, is not in good standing with the state after failing to file required annual reports with the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxes, according to public records.
The tour company is registered at an apartment complex address in Silver Spring. That apartment has also been the subject of five complaints of nonpayment of rent since February 2023, with the last complaint being filed in May.
Mohamed Bah, the registered agent of the tourism company and a defendant in the rental cases, is also listed as the registered agent of a second company called Embese for Hajj and Umrah, which was created in 2017 and is also not up to date with its obligations. Bah did not immediately respond to questions Monday.
A Facebook page and website for the tourism company have been removed, but a cached version of the website shows that the company offered visa processing services for clients wishing to travel to Saudi Arabia and two travel packages for pilgrimages to religious sites in Mecca and Medina. .
A State Department official told the Washington Post: “We offer our deepest condolences to the family for their loss. “Our team in Saudi Arabia is working around the clock to respond to the concerns of American citizens and provide assistance to the families of those who have died.”
The couple were pillars in their Prince George’s County community, remembered for their civic engagement, family values and fight for social equity. To their family, they were the quiet, calm father and the strong, energetic mother, instilling faith and values in their home.
Saida Wurie said her family contacted her parents through a group chat, where they sent her photos of their smiling faces. Back in the United States, she said, her family was looking for flights for the couple to return home because of the difficulties, but her parents persisted by faith.
“They say, ‘No, maybe this is just a struggle that God wants us to go through to get there,’” he said. “’Let’s be patient’ is what my father would say.”
The couple left for the pilgrimage on June 5, and the trip was scheduled to last until June 23, with visits to Jeddah, Mecca and Medina. Saida Wurie said the family received word on June 16 that her parents were possibly missing.
Over the next two days, the family contacted the U.S. Consulate General Office, stayed in touch with people on the ground, and called local hospitals. The family heard from the U.S. Embassy, which confirmed that the names and passports of Alieu Wurie and Isatu Wurie were among a list of dead people, Saida Wurie said. They had died on June 15.
The report says “natural cause of death,” Saida Wurie said, and officials have informed the family that this could mean heat stroke or heat exhaustion.
Saida Wurie said that on the day her parents died, the last time she heard from them was that they had been waiting for three to four hours to be transported to Mount Arafat, which symbolizes the successful completion of the Hajj, and she finally decided to walk with a group up the mountain to offer their prayers.
Her mother’s last text message read: “I’m sorry my love We’ve been walking since you last called Over 2 hours!! MMM”.
The memory of the spiritually united couple and the impact they had on Sierra Leoneans will never be forgotten, friends and politicians told The Washington Post in interviews.
Wala Blegay (D-Ward 6), one of three current Prince George’s County Council members who are of African immigrant descent, met Wurie while trying to connect with the Sierra Leone community. Wurie acted as a maternal conduit for one of the growing populations in Prince George’s County, guiding Blegay on what to wear to the mosque, when to bow and where to sit among the women. Isatu Wurie was always eager to find ways to connect those in the African and Islamic diaspora to issues within the county, Blegay said.
Isatu Wurie and Alieu Wurie came from well-known families with names linked to great achievements in education and business in Sierra Leone, said Imam Teslim Alghali of Sierra Leone Muslim Jamaatlocated in Prince George’s County.
Alghali said Isatu Wurie believed in diversity and inclusion and was always willing to merge the two, especially if it meant helping her community in Prince George’s County.
The faith leader has fond memories of working with her on coronavirus messaging during the pandemic, where they partnered with the county executive’s office to find the best way to reach the immigrant and Muslim community, Alghali said.
The void the couple leaves will be difficult to fill, but Alghali said it is a comfort to know that they died in the service of God despite the sadness many feel.
“The most important thing was the intention to say, ‘I want to do this for Allah because he ordered me to do it,’” he said, adding that there is a belief that they are both in heaven. “They were together for a long time with beautiful children, a happy family, but this happened to them. There is a belief that there is love until eternity. It’s a good example. They will continue like this for eternity by the will of Allah.”
For as long as Saida Wurie can remember, her parents were involved in civic engagement, attending local campaign meetings and campaigning during elections. The Sierra Leonean couple met through their mothers, who were best friends. Alieu Wurie moved to the United States in the 1980s and Isatu Wurie joined him after finishing nursing school in London. They both attended college, with Isatu Wurie retiring as a registered nurse and Alieu Wurie owning his own nursing agency. They have three children: Saida, 33 years old and a lawyer, and her two older brothers. The couple also had four granddaughters.
Saida Wurie said the family hopes to recover her parents’ belongings, the two fanny packs they took, and locate their burial site. They had a prayer service at her home in Bowie and will hold a memorial in July.
Razzan Nakhlawi contributed to this report.
correction
An earlier version of this article did not include the full name of Alhaji Alieu Dausy Wurie. The article has been corrected.
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