More than 2 million Muslims from across the globe descended on Saudi Arabia over the weekend to perform the ancient rituals of the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca that is considered the spiritual pinnacle of a devout Muslim's life.
As Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Hajj notes in a website on the event, the word "hajj" merely means "to set out for a place." But the hajj itself, based on events in the life of the Prophet Abraham, symbolizes essential concepts of Islam, such as submission to God and unity.
The hajj is one of the five "pillars," or basic requirements, of Islam. The others:
* Belief in one God and in Muhammad as his final messenger;
* Prayer five times a day;
* Zakat, a form of tithing to the needy;
* Fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, if physically able.
This month the Ministry of Hajj announced that it had granted 175,000 visas for foreigners -- among them the Chechen and Sudanese presidents -- to enter the kingdom for the pilgrimage. Thousands of Saudis also will attend the rituals, which began Saturday.
This year controversy has erupted over the participation of Muslims from the Gaza Strip. Thousands of would-be pilgrims have been stranded, unable to travel to Mecca, because of a power struggle between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah over which has the right to distribute visas to visit Saudi Arabia.
Many hajjis consider the spiritual highlight of the pilgrimage a noon-to-dusk prayer vigil on Mt. Arafat, a granite hill outside Mecca, where the pilgrims pray and ask forgiveness of their sins.
But perhaps the most striking and familiar image associated with the hajj, at least in the non-Muslim world, is the Kaaba, the cube-like building at the center of the marble-paved plaza at the Grand Mosque in Mecca.
All pilgrims in Mecca must complete umrah -- a several-hour series of rituals that start with seven counterclockwise revolutions, or tawaaf, around the Kaaba. Umrah can be performed in conjunction with the hajj or at any time of the year.
Islam teaches that an angel presides over each corner of the building and that the angels will testify on behalf of hajj pilgrims on Judgment Day.
When the Prophet Muhammad, Islam's founder, was born in 570, the building was already the centerpiece of an ancient annual religious festival observed by various tribes in the Arabian peninsula.
