Nigerian pilgrim rewarded for honesty after returning over $2,000 to its owner

“He [Suleiman Bello] chose to fear Allah knowing he would account to Allah on the Day of Judgment,” Abdullahi Mohammed, the chairman of NAHCON, was quoted by Premium Times.

“He chose to be a good ambassador of Nigeria. He took the property to his state pilgrim officials and they brought it to us so that we can return it to the owner. This shows that Nigerians are honest and God-fearing,” he said.

The Nigerian Muslim, Suleiman Bello, went to hajj this year as part of hajj mission from Nasarawa state in centeral Nigeria.

Finding the money belt around the vicinity of the Holy Mosque in Ka’aba, Bello came to the Saudi Arabian office of Nigeria’s National Hajj Commission (NAHCON) to report it.

The belt reportedly contained $2,345, SR303 (Saudi Riyal) and 3,020 Afghan currency.

Bello said that he handed over the money to his coordinator, Hamza Naibi, who easily traced the owner by his identity card in the bag.

The owner of the money belt, Mosa Gousdin, expressed gratitude to Bello for his honesty.

Speaking on behalf of the Afghan delegation, Sayed Tahir Hashimi, an official of that country’s International Ministry of Hajj, said that there were not words enough to express the country’s gratitude.

Recognizing him as a role model for Muslims, Nigeria’s NAHCON also awarded Bello for his honesty, presenting him a free seat for next year’s hajj.

Bello is not the first Muslims to make news headlines for his honesty.

In 2008, a world-class violinist gave a free concert at a New York airport taxi stand to show his gratitude to an honest Muslim cab driver who reunited him with his lost 4-million-dollar violin.

Last November, a Muslim owner of a Burger King branch in San Jose returned to police a backpack which contained US$100,000 after finding it abandoned at one of the restaurant’s tables.

More recently, a Pakistani Muslim has been praised for his honesty after returning Dh50, 000 he found on an ATM machine in Dubai.

/129