By Khidir Al-Khairat

Okaz / Saudi Gazette

MAKKAH — Two sons of Umm Rakan, a Saudi mother in her 70s, competed to push her wheelchair in the Jamrat area to pebble the Satan while she raised her hands in supplication. They alternately kissed her head in appreciation for what she has done for them.

She said she gave birth to ten sons who all joined the military to serve their homeland.

"I insisted on making them soldiers to serve their country and King. I told them that their country was kind to them so they should reciprocate in love, appreciation and sacrifice," she said.

Umm Rakan said she was loving and loyal to her country so Allah rewarded her with ten loving, caring and obedient children.

One of her sons, Abdullah, was martyred in the southern region in the fighting against the Houthis.

Jar Allah Mohammed Al-Qahtani, one of the two sons accompanying her on her Haj journey, is a captain in the army. He said that their mother insisted that all of them should join the military to serve their homeland and King.

He said two of them are military officers and a third, his twin, was serving at the Haj security forces.

"Rakan Al-Qahtani, my eldest brother, was accompanying us in Haj while the other brothers are serving in various military sectors," he said.

Rakan said that the martyrdom of their brother, Abdullah, made them more insistent on sacrificing their own lives for their country.