Today’s new moon arrives with a surge of motivation and renewed self-belief, encouraging us to step boldly into what we ...

As we move through the waning crescent moon, we're called to pause, reflect, and restore.

In a city defined by towering landmarks, an unexpected column of smoke becomes the focal point. From a distance, smoke pours upward from a hotel building near Mecca’s clock tower, forming a thick ...

(RNS) — I was disappointed to not experience my children’s reaction to seeing the Kaaba for the first time, but made my peace. After leaving Medina, where we’d spent a few days before going to Mecca, ...

Muslim pilgrims circle the Kaaba, the cubic building at the Grand Mosque in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on Sept. 15, 2015. Muslim pilgrims circle the Kaaba, the cubic building at the ...

MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Billboards line the Umm Al Qura highway leading to the Grand Mosque in Mecca, displaying manicured public spaces, glass-fronted stores and sleek towers. It’s part of a $26 ...

MECCA, Saudi Arabia - As a child, Osama al-Bar would walk from his home past Islam's holiest site, the Kaaba, to the market of spice and fabric merchants where his father owned a store. At that time, ...

At the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the booming call to prayer competes with the racket of construction. The Grand Mosque is the destination for the most sacred Muslim pilgrimage and it holds ...

MECCA, Saudi Arabia — More than 2 million Muslims began the annual hajj pilgrimage at first light Sunday in Saudi Arabia, circling the cube-shaped Kaaba in Mecca that Islam's faithful face five times ...

Anne Kristoff / For the News-Miner Jan 20, 2013 Jan 20, 2013 Updated Oct 22, 2021 FAIRBANKS — Looking at Jodi Blakely, you’d never guess that she was a sharpshooter and an expert hostage negotiator.