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WAVENEY ANN MOORELocal Muslims take the trip of a lifetime to meet an obligation and stand together with 2-million others.
PINELLAS PARK - Roxanne Issa was born a Baptist but now wears the head covering and long robe of Islam.
She and her husband said their prayers Friday at their mosque - fenced off for security - and with a small group of fellow Muslims later boarded a plane to embark on a 24-hour journey to Mecca for the event of a lifetime, the pilgrimage.
They will be among 2-million believers from around the world.
Because of their names, their dress and their destination, they anticipated some hassles while traveling - searches and stares, among them. But it's worth it to make the hajj, as it is known.
"In the area of the hajj, you could be a king and you could be nobody. We're all in the house of Allah ... asking for mercy," said Tarek Issa, a 37-year-old St. Petersburg resident who's making his second one. His wife, Roxanne, converted to Islam from her Baptist upbringing after their marriage five years ago.
"Spiritually, it is beautiful."
Muslims try to make the trip once in their lifetimes. To raise the money, Issa sold his cell phone and pager business in St. Petersburg.
He budgeted $18,000 for the journey - $9,600 in travel expenses and the rest to cover required charitable donations, gifts for his large family in Jordan, and souvenirs for friends and family in Florida.
The annual convergence of Muslims from around the world is a pilgrimage to the birthplace of the prophet Mohammed and site of the Kaaba, the faith's holiest shrine. Every Muslim who is financially and physically able must make the pilgrimage to Mecca, in Saudi Arabia.
"The rich, the poor, the black the white, the tall, the short, everybody will be standing together doing the same thing," said Imam Haitham Barazanji, who heads the Islamic Society of Pinellas County and is undertaking his first hajj.
Muslims believe that their sins are forgiven during the religious experience. It's also a time to sip from the holy spring that saved Ishmael, Abraham's son, and his mother, Hagar. And it's an opportunity to share a spiritual fellowship that overlooks the common barriers of race, culture and social status. Each male pilgrim must swaddle himself in simple clothing, two pieces of cloth without stitches.
The first time Issa traveled to Mecca, it was to fulfill his spiritual obligation. This time, he is making the religious journey on behalf of his mother, who died in 1995. The pilgrimage will be a first for his wife, Roxanne.
"I am very happy and emotional," Mrs. Issa, who is Puerto Rican, said the day before her departure.
"I know that it's not just everybody gets to go. I feel very, very fortunate."
After Friday prayers, or jumah, at the mosque, at 9400 67th St. in Pinellas Park, she said goodbye to friends in the section where women worship. The Issas and their traveling companions, including Barazanji, the imam, would fly from Tampa to New York to take Royal Jordanian Airlines to Jordan, before going on to Jedda in Saudi Arabia and eventually to Mecca.
The Issas said they were not apprehensive about flying, despite the feeling among Muslims of being under particular scrutiny.
"It's a big event for us," Issa said of his pilgrimage. "The excitement is going over every other feeling I have."
He was questioned when he traveled for last year's hajj.
"I would not take that personally. It was just random. It was smooth," he said.
"Now, what is going to happen tomorrow ..."
Mrs. Issa, 36, who wears a head covering, or hijab, and a long robe, also takes traveling in stride.
She has been stopped for extra searches, she said. "It's part of the routine and I just follow the rules and regulations and be kind and peaceful and don't cause any problems."
To make it possible for the couple to go on the pilgrimage, Issa's sister, who lives in Jerusalem, has to come to St. Petersburg to take care of their daughter, 13-month-old Jeneen, and Mrs. Issa's two sons, Josean, 12, and Joshua, 10, from a previous marriage.
The rites of the hajj, one of the five "pillars," or obligations, of Islam, reach a peak the end of the month.
Rites include circling the Kaaba - the place of worship that Muslims believe God told Abraham and Ishmael to build - seven times. (Muslims around the world turn toward the Kaaba when praying.) They also walk seven times between the mountains of Safa and Marwa, imitating Hagar's search for water for her infant son, Ishmael.
"When Hagar was trying to save her son and couldn't find any water, she kept running back and forth from Safa and Marwa until God opened up the famous spring of Zamzam. It's a very blessed spring," Barazanji said.
Issa will bring back bottles of the water for friends in St. Petersburg.
Another ritual requires that pilgrims spend the night in a tent city at a place called Minah. They also stand in the valley of Arafat from noon to sunset and ask for God's forgiveness. That particular act will take place on Jan. 31, Barazanji said.
"That is one of the most important actions of the hajj, when we all stand there praying," he said.
"It is very dear to God for us to stand there. During that day he will be declaring to the angels he will be forgiving everyone in that valley."
The end of hajj will be celebrated with Eid al-Adha, a festival that commemorates the willingness of the prophet Abraham to sacrifice his son at God's command.
"Toward the end, when we are ready to take off the special clothing, we have to do two things, and one of them is to either shave our heads or cut our hair," Barazanji said.
The second requirement is to pay for the slaughter of sheep or cattle, which will be distributed to the poor in and around Mecca and in other countries, he said.
Hours before his departure, the imam spoke of his hopes for the pilgrimage.
"I definitely would like my life to be reformed," he said, "to come back as a different person."