Becoming the Youngest Hajj Pilgrim at 13, Fardan: Prayed for Father at Arafah, Wants to Meet in Heaven

Leaning his thin body against the sofa, the boy in a white gamis kept moving his feet. Occasionally he smiled to himself and glanced at his mother, who sat calmly beside him. Being the youngest hajj pilgrim apparently was not something special for Fardan Aruna Syafzani Wibowo, 13. “Happy,” was his brief reply when Republika had the opportunity to chat with him at the Millennium Taiba Hotel in Madinah on Saturday (13/6/2026) local time. A first-year student at MTs Khadijah in Malang City, East Java, he was able to perform the hajj at such a young age because he replaced his father, who died three years ago from cancer. To accompany his mother, Fardan’s name, the eldest of four siblings, was submitted to travel to the holy land. While in the holy land, there were moments when he missed his father. Some of them were when visiting the Raudhah at the Nabawi Mosque and when performing wukuf at Arafah with his mother, Siska Aprilia, 41. “When I woke up at Arafah, I remembered my father. I didn’t cry,” said Fardan, occasionally glancing at his mother. For Siska, the wukuf moment was special because its timing, 26 May 2026, coincided with the date her husband died three years earlier. “We registered for hajj in 2013. But three years ago, by God’s decree, my husband passed away after battling cancer for the previous three years,” said Siska, who was part of the SUB 71 group with hajj pilgrims from Denpasar, Bali.