Woman declared dead in Hajj returns home days after her funeral in Madina

A shocking case of mistaken identity has left a community in Accra stunned after a woman presumed dead during this year's Hajj pilgrimage walked back into her home alive on Wednesday, July 3, 2025, days after her family had already held her funeral.

The extraordinary return of Fatima Kassim sent shockwaves through the Madina UN community, with some residents reportedly fleeing in terror, believing they had seen a ghost.

Her family had mourned her death and buried her in accordance with Islamic traditions after receiving official confirmation from Ghana's consulate in Saudi Arabia.

The mix-up began when Fatima was wrongly declared dead in Saudi Arabia, complete with a death certificate that appeared genuine. Her heartbroken family organised her funeral, gathering relatives and community members for the solemn ceremony.

However, their grief turned to confusion and joy when Fatima suddenly appeared at their doorstep alive and well.

In an interview with Citi News, a shocked relative struggled to express the family's mixed emotions:

I feel happy and sad because we are still confused about the situation. This is like a wonder.

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The Fatal Mix-Up

The incredible error has been blamed on a serious identification mistake by the Hajj Taskforce. Alhaji Amadu Sorogho, a member of the taskforce, admitted the blunder to JoyNews, saying:

We have mistaken identity. The most important thing is that the lady is alive and everything is over.

Alhaji Iddi Sumaila, Director of Administration of the Hajj Taskforce, explained how the mix-up happened at a Saudi hospital where two women were receiving treatment.

There were two patients there; one had a tourist visa, and the other went with us, but by then their passports were not with them. So, we mistakenly gave the one with the tourist passport to this one. Usually, when it happens, it is the embassy that takes control, so they issued the certificate. So, we knew that one was gone, and one was on admission mistakenly, we exchanged it.

This incident highlights serious problems with identification procedures during mass religious gatherings like the Hajj, which attracts millions of worshippers each year. Around 20,000 Ghanaian pilgrims took part in the 2025 Hajj, making proper identification systems crucial.

The human cost of such errors is enormous. Fatima's family endured the trauma of falsely mourning their loved one, dealing with funeral costs and the shock of her return.

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The mistake has prompted calls for better verification procedures to prevent similar heart-breaking errors in future pilgrimages.

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