Three individuals from different countries who passed away and had their Janazah prayers performed at the Haram Mosque. History shows that these individuals were notable: Muhammad Al-Badr—He was the last king of Yemen before the revolution overthrew his rule. He passed away in London in 1996.

Al-Badr was born in 1926 as the oldest son of Ahmad bin Yahya, later imam of the Zaydis and king of North Yemen. In 1944 he moved to Taizz in the south of the country, where his father had already been the imam’s deputy for several years, to continue his education. Soon after the assassination of Imam Yahya in February 1948 plotted by Sayyid Abdullah al-Wazir, al-Badr arrived in Sana’a, the capital, but apparently only gave tacit support to the new regime. Meanwhile, Sayf al-Islam Ahmad had managed to get away from Taizz and made for Hajjah, where he gathered the tribes around him, proclaimed himself Imam with the title of al-Nasir and within a month of the assassination, had easily regained control of Sana’a and executed the principal perpetrators of the rebellion.

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali—the former president of Tunisia who ruled the country for a long time before the revolution. He passed away in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in 2019.

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (Tunisian Arabic: Zīn il-ʿĀbdīn bin ʿAlī, Standard Arabic: زَيْن الْعَابِدِين بْن عَلِيّ, romanized: Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn bin ʿAliyy; 3 September 1936 – 19 September 2019), commonly known as Ben Ali or Ezzine, was a Tunisian politician who served as the second President of Tunisia from 1987 to 2011. In that year, during the Tunisian revolution, he was overthrown and fled to Saudi Arabia.

Ben Ali was appointed Prime Minister in October 1987. He assumed the Presidency on 7 November 1987 in a bloodless coup d’état that ousted President Habib Bourguiba by declaring him incompetent.^[2] Ben Ali led an authoritarian regime.^[3] He was reelected in several non-democratic elections where he won with enormous majorities, each time exceeding 90% of the vote, his final re-election coming on 25 October 2009.^[4][3] Ben Ali was the penultimate surviving leader deposed in the Arab Spring; he was survived by Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, the latter dying in February 2020.

Alhaji Aminu Alhassan Dantata—a prominent businessman from Kano, Nigeria. He passed away in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), on Saturday, June 28, 2025.

The families of these prominent individuals requested permission from the Saudi government to hold Janazah prayers for them in the Haram Mosque in the holy city of Medina—a request that is rarely granted. May Allah have mercy on them.”

Aminu Alhassan Dantata 19 May 1931–28 June 2025) was a Nigerian businessman and philanthropist who was one of the promoters of Kano State Foundation, an endowment fund that supported educational initiatives and provided grants to small-scale entrepreneurs in Kano.^[1][2] He was the head of a group of companies that managed his real estate and other business ventures.^[3]

Aminu Alhassan Dantata was the founder of Express Petroleum & Gas Company Ltd. and one of the organizers of Jaiz Bank in Nigeria. In 1978, he was a member of the National Movement, an organization that later transformed into the National Party of Nigeria.^[4]

Saudi Arabia has stopped Kaduna-based Islamic scholar Sheikh Ahmad Gumi from performing the 2025 Hajj and deported him back to Nigeria.

Kaduna-based Islamic scholar Sheikh Ahmad Gumi confirmed this in a post made on Monday, May 26, 2025, via his Facebook page.

He said the Saudi government had granted him a visa to enter the country for Hajj, but he was not allowed to enter Medina to begin his religious duties.

“Due to some reasons related to my views on world politics, the authorities in Saudi Arabia do not want me to be present at Hajj even though they have granted me a visa,” Sheikh Gumi said in a post on his Facebook page.

He added, “I am grateful to the authorities in Nigeria who have pledged to engage with the Saudi authorities on this matter.”

According to findings, Sheikh Gumi is part of a delegation of scholars sponsored by the Nigerian Hajj Commission (NAHCON) to travel to Saudi Arabia for religious services.

Gumi arrived in Medina with other clerics last Saturday at around 10:30pm on an Umza Air flight, but upon arrival at the city’s airport, Saudi immigration officials prevented the cleric from entering the country.

Reports revealed that Sheikh Gumi has now returned to Nigeria to continue his daily activities, especially teaching.

On Friday President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu received the newly Crowned Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Abimbola Owoade, and members of his entourage at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

Oba Abimbola Owoade visit marks his first official audience with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu since his coronation on April 12, 2025.

The King and his entourage arrived at the Aso Rock Villa shortly after the Jumaat prayers, after which he had a closed-door meeting with the President, service chiefs and the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.