PETALING JAYA, March 21 — Religion should not be an excuse to stop oneself from exploring limitless possibilities that the world has to offer, says the first Malaysian ever to participate in a 300-kilometre Arctic dog sled race this April.
Mohd Khairizal Mohd Khalif, 42, or fondly known as Rizal, will be one of the selected 20 to take part in a challenging expedition across the Arctic wilderness called the Fjällräven Polar 2018.
Rizal, who is also Malaysia Airlines group corporate facilities head, said he is determined to show the world that the Islamic way of life does not have to hinder Muslims from living life to the fullest.
“Sometimes people use religion as an excuse, which should not be the case. Why should you let it stop you? There are still certain ways that we can practice the teachings, regardless of the situations.
“It will be exciting because these are the things that I know theoretically but have never experienced. I cannot wait,” he told a press conference at Malaysia Airlines Academy in Kelana Jaya here today.
Rizal said he is fortunate to be getting guidance from the office of the Federal Territories Mufti, who has also provided him a set of guidelines to be followed during the week-long journey.
Some of which include the proper way to handle dogs from a religious perspective, the alternatives to telling prayers’ time in a place where it is hard to tell sunrise from sunset and other methods to take ablutions.
“I will be meeting the Mufti this Monday to seek advice from him.
“I am not concerned about controversies surrounding Muslims and dogs because it is their saliva that is considered impure. As long as I do not touch them with bare hands ― I can’t anyway because it would be too cold ― and I follow the guidelines, it will be fine.
“I am more worried about taking care of the dogs, familiarising myself with them so they would like me and that our journey together will be smooth,” Rizal said, adding he will be meeting a dog breeder soon to learn more about Alaskan Huskies.
He said the Mufti’s office was also looking forward to use his experience in the Fjällräven Polar 2018 to model a guideline after, specifically for Muslims who wish to have a similar outdoor experience.
The Fjällräven Polar is an exclusive, money-cannot-buy expedition where the participants are selected based on a strict voting system or the juries’ picks.
Rizal won a seat for himself among the 20, as the first representative from both Malaysia and the Asia/Ocenia region by getting over 6,000 votes.
“It was really stressful to score those votes and keeping tabs of where I stand in the rankings. At one point, I even went to a shopping mall and persuaded strangers to vote for me.
“I wanted it so bad and there is no way you can buy your way into this expedition,” he said.
In the 20th edition of the expedition, the participants will travel from Signalden in Norway to Väkkäräjärvi in Sweden, covering a span of 300 kilometres, from April 9 to April 14.
Participants are expected to drive their own dogs leds, take care of their own dogs, prepare all their own food and set up their own camps.
Rizal said he will be arriving in Norway on April 6 and would have three days to adjust to the extremely cold weather, which could easily reach -25 to -35 degrees Celsius.
“So far I am quite fortunate that my body has been able to adapt well to cold temperature. Mentally, I know I am strong.
“I have experienced -25 degrees Celsius when I trekked Altai Mountains in Mongolia so this should be exciting,” he said, adding he had done a lot of research on cold weather-related effects on human bodies.
The father of five said some of the biggest worries he has during the expedition include relieving himself when he has to take care and navigate six dogs at the same time.
“It sounds funny but the scenarios keep on playing in my head. What if I have to relieve myself and the dogs are excited to just continue on? I read that they are really fast. Will they stop and wait for me? These are the things in my head at the moment,” he said to the crowd’s laughters.
Rizal, who is an experienced backpacker, has travelled solo since a young age of 13 and has pursued four of the seven summits in Indonesia.
He is expected to come back to Malaysia three days after Fjällräven Polar 2018 ends.
