In the prevailing climate of Islam-bashing and to counter the widespread ignorance about the religion it's certainly a tribute to the Los Angeles Times that it recently published a multimedia feature titled "The House of Allah" about a California couple, Raef and Ellen Hajjali, who joined 2.3 million Muslims on the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
One of the popular misconceptions is the one that Muslims worship Allah, a different deity. In fact, Allah is the Arabic word for God.
One of the sentences that caught my eye in the accompanying article is:"Using modern American slang to describe the ancient ritual, Hassan Badday, 30, a recent medical school graduate from Claremont, recalled some of his happiest times as "just sitting in front of the Kaaba after the hajj and just chilling."
The LA Times' The House of Allah