c. 2006 Religion News Service

PORTLAND, Ore. _ Before local Muslims begin their pilgrimage to Mecca, Amr Khalifa works to prepare them in two ways: for an intimate encounter with Allah, or God, and a very public one with millions of their fellow believers.

“Every action has an intention behind it,” Khalifa tells a group of adults from several Portland mosques who have gathered to get ready for the pilgrimage, or Hajj. Some people will travel to Mecca with shopping on their minds, he says, or because they have made a personal vow to visit the holy sites.

“Intention is very difficult to put your finger on,” Khalifa says. But the right intention for the Hajj is to make the journey “for the sake of Allah.”

“We go to Hajj for one reason,” Khalifa says. “We are Muslims. We go because it is ordered by Allah.”

He invokes the meaning of the word “Islam.”

“We surrender to the will of Allah. And you may remember that I told you to bring one small bag of clothes and nine pieces of luggage filled with patience. We will need it.”

Khalifa will accompany one group of about 25 Muslims who will travel to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj. His particular group, organized by Salma Ahmad of Portland, is only one of hundreds that will increase the population of Mecca _ usually just more than 1 million _ by an estimated 2.5 million people during the week of Hajj that begins on Friday (Dec. 29).

Millions of pilgrims will move from Mecca to Mina, a small village east of the city, turning the hills nearby into a sea of white tents. The travelers will visit the Plain of Arafat, where they will fast and pray all day. They will return to Mina and cast pebbles at stone walls that represent the temptations of Satan. Back in Mecca, the birthplace of Muhammad, they will step inside the Grand Mosque and circle the Kaaba, the black stone structure that they link to the biblical patriarch Abraham and his son, Ishmael.

Somewhere in that process, Khalifa says, there will be real and imagined injuries, vexing moments and the temptation to lose one’s patience. Many years, the toll is worse. On the last Hajj, in January 2006, more than 350 people died in a stampede and 76 were killed when the building housing them collapsed. Khalifa’s reminders about patience, following rules and looking out for each other become practical and profound because of the sheer size of the Hajj.

“Think of 10 Super Bowls happening at the same time and in the same spot,” Khalifa says. “The Hajj is a huge undertaking.”

The pilgrimage is one of Islam’s five pillars. In addition to the confession of faith, daily prayers, charity and fasting, any Muslim who is healthy enough and able to afford the pilgrimage is required to make it at least once in his or her life.

Rashed Sarhadi, 28, works on computer networks in Clackamas, Ore. He’s been talking about the Hajj for more than a year. His friends tell him he’s too young to be making the trip, but recurring dreams have convinced him that the time may be right. In his dreams, he stands before the Kaaba, overcome with a sense of awe.

The cost of his tour is about $6,000 and, while he could have spent his money on other things, it is a small enough price to pay for what he wants: “To be more humble, to wash away my sins, to understand humanity, that we are all children of Adam.”

Children posed something of a Hajj challenge for Shamima Banu, 44. This year she will make her first Hajj, with her husband, Shahriah Ahmed. Their 20-year-old son, Shehab Ahmed, will be home between terms at the University of California at Los Angeles. He’ll watch over his younger sister, Sumaiya, 17, and his brother, Hamzah, 7.

Because Muslims follow a lunar calendar, the timing of the Hajj is different every year. This year, because the Hajj falls around the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, it is easier for Muslims to arrange time off from work either to travel to Mecca or help others make the pilgrimage.

With her son home from school and her daughter not quite off to college, this seemed like a good year to go, Banu says. She visited the same holy places with her family a few years ago, but it wasn’t the designated time of the Hajj.

She says she cannot begin to imagine how huge the crowds will be, how they will fill the “humongous” mosque that surrounds the Kaaba. She remembers her parents, who made the Hajj about 14 years ago. They tried, but failed, to convey the emotions stirred by the pilgrimage.

“You cannot explain the feeling,” Banu says. She longs to hear so many voices with so many accents reading and reciting from the Quran, to hear men and women praying together in Mecca.

“But I am not quite ready to go,” she says sheepishly. “I have more work to do. Spiritually, I am not that perfect.”

(OPTIONAL TRIM FOLLOWS)

Salma Ahmad, organizer of the tour, sounds just as humble. She is making her second Hajj this year. Her first one was in 1997. She knows something of the crowds, the physical risks, the confusion of so many languages being spoken, of the bacteria that fill the air on the flight home and probably will sicken some pilgrims.

She has taken what precautions she can to protect her fellow pilgrims, but she admits that her mind turns to memories of her first Hajj, and tears come to her eyes.

“Your whole body trembles for no reason,” she says. “When you pray in Mecca, it is equivalent to thousands of prayers. … God said, `Come and visit me.’ And you respond, `Here I am, God. You asked me to come, and I came.”’

(Nancy Haught writes for The Oregonian in Portland, Ore.)

KRE/LF END HAUGHT

Editors: To obtain a photo of Sarhadi, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.