Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain will be embarking on an intensely personal and emotional journey following the Hajj.
Hussain, who won the UK cookery show in 2015, will be presenting a two part series for BBC One.
The celebrity baker captured audience’s hearts with her humour, creative recipes and her touching victory speech.
When she was crowned best baker, Nadiya said: “I’m never gonna put boundaries on myself ever again. I’m never gonna say I can’t do it. I’m never gonna say ‘maybe’. I’m never gonna say, ‘I don’t think I can.’ I can and I will”.
She has gone on to write a number of books, has a weekly column and was commissioned by Buckingham Palace to bake Queen Elizabeth II's cake as part of her 90th birthday celebrations.
More than 4 million people watched The Chronicles of Nadiya, a two-part television series in which Hussain travelled to Bangladesh to trace her culinary roots.
Every year, millions of pilgrims converge on Mecca for one of the world's largest single gathering of people. Any Muslim, who is fit and healthy and with the means to do so, is expected to make the pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime.
Nadiya completed the Hajj for the first time in 2013. Now, on her return to Mecca, she'll witness the Hajj and immerse herself in her own spiritual journey. She will also meet other pilgrims to hear their stories.
“The Hajj is one of the most intense and emotional experiences you can undertake and I’m delighted to be sharing my journey... I’m really looking forward to showing first-hand exactly what it is like to be there and meeting some of the other pilgrims and hearing their stories as well as finding out more about the cultural and historical significance of this incredible event,” explains Hussain.
The series follows Nadiya from her preparation in England, to her arrival and exploration of Mecca, through the exhilarating, gruelling and spiritually uplifting five days of Hajj itself with its rites and mass movement of three million people. After Hajj she will go on to Medina to visit the Prophet’s Mosque and Muhammad’s tomb.
