At Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia, Muslim children sit in tents, pray, throw stones, and make seven circuits around a replica of the Ka’ba as part of a mock hajj, the traditional pilgrimage to Mecca. More →

September 9, 2016

Sacred journeys, says author Bruce Feiler, are “this experience of trying to get closer to God. There is so much noise in our lives; sometimes in order to hear you have to step away from that ordinary life and open yourself to the extraordinary.” More →

December 12, 2014

Watch more of our conversation with Bruce Feiler on his journey to Lourdes with wounded warriors, on pilgrimage as movement, and on the power of pilgrimage as “a walk that has been ground into the stones, the dirt, the path.” More →

December 12, 2014

This year, almost three million Muslims are making the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. It’s considered one of the five fundamental obligations of Islam. An estimated 15,000 Muslims from the U.S. traveled last year, and considerably more were expected this year. Imam Shaker Elsayed of the Dar Al Hijrah Islamic Center in Virginia has been on many hajjes. He went again this year and agreed to discuss the journey. More →

December 29, 2006

The number of Muslims in the U.S. is variously estimated at between two and six million — or more. About half are immigrants, and most of the rest, African Americans. We have a profile today of two Caucasian converts who were attracted to Islam when they were living abroad. More →

October 8, 2004

“Home from the Hajj,” is the last chapter in our story of one man’s journal of faith. In April, almost two million Muslims converged on Mecca in Saudi Arabia for the hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage. One of this year’s pilgrims is Abdul Alim Mubarak from Maplewood, New Jersey. We first met him as he prepared for this, his first hajj. Now, our correspondent Anisa Mehdi visits the Mubaraks back home. More →

July 10, 1998

Previously, we told the story of Abdul Alim Mubarak, a Muslim, a CNN videotape editor, who lives in New Jersey, as he said good-bye to his family and took off for Saudi Arabia on his first religious pilgrimage, the hajj. Now, we have the story of Mubarak’s hajj, reported by our correspondent Anisa Mehdi, who just returned from Saudi Arabia herself. More →

April 17, 1998

On April 5, Muslims around the world will begin observing events associated with the annual hajj, one of the five pillars of the Islamic faith. Millions are converging on Mecca, located near the west coast of Saudi Arabia. Anisa Mehdi accompanies one American pilgrim as he says good-bye to his family and heads off to Mecca for the first time.
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March 27, 1998