c. 2007 Religion News Service

SYRACUSE, N.Y. _ As millions of Muslims performed hajj rituals in Saudi Arabia this month, Saad and Fatima Sahraoui have been with them in spirit.

In 2000, the Syracuse couple made the pilgrimage, or hajj, to Mecca, the birthplace of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. The memories remain powerful.

“People describe it to you but there’s really no way to prepare. It’s very intense. It’s the highlight of people’s lives,” said Saad Sahraoui, who had earlier made the pilgrimage alone.

Making the hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam. The others are belief in Allah, praying five times daily, charity, and fasting during the holy month of Ramadan. Muslims are expected to perform hajj when they are physically and financially able to do so; for most it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

While the Sahraouis won’t be in Saudi Arabia this year, they praise fellow Muslims who performed the hajj and all those celebrating Eid al-Adha, also known as the Feast of Sacrifice, which began at sundown on Wednesday (Dec. 19).

By Thursday, at least 1.5 million of the expected 2.5 million Muslim pilgrims had arrived in Mecca, according to the Web site of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Hajj. The annual pilgrimage officially began Monday, which is the eighth day of the Muslim month of Dhi al-Hajja.

Last week, the Sahraouis described memories of their 2000 pilgrimage.

Natives of Algeria, the couple married there in 1983. They have five children, aged 11 to 22. Their two oldest children attend Syracuse University. Saad works as a chaplain at the Cayuga County Correctional Facility in Moravia, N.Y.; Fatima is an college student.

They recalled at least five days of religious activities, including lots of walking, praying among huge crowds, and a night sleeping under the stars at Arafat.

Rituals include:

_ walking seven times around the Ka’bah. The Ka’bah is a cube-shaped worship site Muslims believe was built by Abraham and Ishmael, whose story is also told in the Hebrew Bible’s Book of Genesis. Muslims consider Abraham and Ishmael prophets.

_ traveling seven times between the hills of Safa and Marwa as Hagar did while searching for water for her son Ishmael in the Genesis story. Eventually and miraculously, Muslims believe, Hagar found a spring, which continues to flow today. Muslims consider water from the spring to be holy and to provide healthful and spiritual benefits. Many pilgrims take home bottles of the water,called Zamzam.

_ visiting the plains of Arafat, a large desert area near Mecca where Muslims believe Adam and Eve were reunited after being expelled from the Garden of Paradise. Pilgrims there pray privately for God’s forgiveness.

_ throwing pebbles at pillars, symbolically stoning Satan’s temptation of Abraham to show they reject evil.

_ cutting their hair to symbolize the completion of hajj.

_ sacrificing an animal to help the poor, and in remembrance of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael at God’s command. The meat is distributed to relatives and to the needy.

The trip is physically and spiritually draining, the Sahraouis said. They spent about $3,000 each, including expenses for a guide. This year it costs about $7,000 a person.

They showed postcards and photos from a Web site, but they said taking personal photos during hajj is discouraged because the pilgrimage is meant as a time of personal introspection and prayer.

“The purpose of the trip is not for sightseeing,” Saad Sahraoui said.

For some rituals, men dress in two pieces of white cloth, symbolizing unity and equality.

“You strip yourself of your daily clothes,” he said. “Kings and presidents and servants will be the same.”

Seven years after their trip, both remember crowds of pilgrims, all worshipping together, chanting in Arabic and following the actions Muslims have made for centuries.

“You meet people from all over the world,” Fatima Sahraoui said.

“It’s the best of humanity,” her husband said. “People from all over the world are here for one purpose. You want to mend the fences with God.”

(Renee K. Gadoua writes for the Post-Standard in Syracuse, N.Y.)

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