Ka'aba

Pilgrims praying around the Ka‘aba during one of the five daily prayers. To see and hear the multitude of nearly three million souls – praying around the Ka‘aba, reciting their invocations to Allah, their voices as one as they speak the supreme supplication, ‘Labbaika Allahumma, Labbaik!’ (Here I am, O God, at thy command, Here I am!) – is an overwhelming reminder of the unifying principles of the hajj, the dense crowd sweeping in an almost impossible, undulating wave.