The obligation to worship in Mecca at least once in a lifetime, called one of the five pillars of Islam, binds all Muslims together.

Taufiq Lakhany, an Augusta businessman and former president of the Islamic Society of Augusta, journeyed to Mecca in 1991.

"See - here is the Kaaba, or House of God," he said, pointing to a building on the computer-enhanced poster. Surrounding the Kaaba is a sea of believers.

Curiosity about Islam and its practices has grown since the faith was thrown onto the world's stage after Muslim terrorists attacked the United States on Sept. 11. Here is a glimpse at the religion claimed by more than 1 billion people throughout the world.

In the United States, Muslims account for about 1 percent of the population, or about 2.8 million, according to pollster George Gallup Jr. Others peg their numbers at between 1.9 million and 2.8 million, while Muslims themselves estimate some 6 million to 7 million.

In Augusta, about 200 to 300 Muslims worship at the Martinez mosque.

On his hajj, Mr. Lakhany and his family also traveled to Medina, another Muslim holy city, and to Pakistan to visit relatives. Though born in India, he grew up in Karachi.

Both Mr. Lakhany and his wife were "just babies" in 1947 when they were taken from India to Pakistan after India gained independence from Britain and was partitioned along Hindu and Muslim religious lines, said Hina Lakhany, the couple's daughter.

Uthaman Yousufzai completes wudu, a purification ceremony, before attending afternoon prayers. MICHAEL HOLAHAN/STAFF

Ms. Lakhany, 22, was born in Baltimore and moved to Augusta in 1983.

The United States "is all I know as home," she said. "When I go to those other countries, I can identify with their being Muslim or Pakistani, (but) I wouldn't give this place up for anything."

A Lakeside High School graduate, she majored in chemistry and Middle Eastern studies and minored in Arabic at Emory University in Atlanta.

Like other devout Muslims, she prays five times a day. At Lakeside, she was able to pray before and after school; while at Emory, she joined other Muslim students in a campus prayer room.

"(Daily prayer) definitely doesn't impede your life," she said. "At most, it would require an hour out of your entire day, probably not more."

Except for times she prays, Ms. Lakhany doesn't wear a head scarf, the traditional dress for Muslim women. "In the future I will wear one, but I'm not at that point now," she said. "I do believe it is the prescribed way of dress for a Muslim woman, anytime during prayer."

Choosing to go without the scarf was her decision, she said. "Your parents need to guide you, but ultimately it comes down to you and your relationship with God, and how you practice, how much of the religion you adapt into your life."

At the mosque, tradition dictates that women enter through a door marked "sisters." Once inside, worshippers slip off their shoes and store them in pigeonholes along a wall.

Separate areas are provided for men and women to wash before going to the prayer room. The purification is called a wudu.

The right hand, then the left are washed three times each, then the mouth, nose, face, arms. "Then you put your hands in your hair and wipe your hands through it, around your neck and behind the ears," she said. The feet - first the right, then the left - are last.

Presentation The Islamic Center of Augusta, 3416 Middleton Drive in Martinez, will present Islam: Basic Beliefs, Practices and Misconceptions at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10. For more information, call 868-7278.

It is important to cleanse before standing before God and praying, she said.

If people do the ritual at home, they just slip off their shoes and go directly to the worship area.

Clothes also should be kept clean, said Mr. Lakhany, who uses a prayer rug when he prays in his store, GQ Menswear.

In the Augusta mosque's prayer area, there are no chairs. Instead, tape divides the red carpet into rows where believers generally either stand or are prostrate while an imam, or preacher, leads the prayers.

Men take the front rows, women the back, according to tradition. A screen also separates part of the women's area from the men's. Some women choose to pray behind the screen, while others do not. "I go wherever there is space" in the women's area, Ms. Lakhany said.

Opinions are mixed at the Augusta mosque about the need for a screen. It depends on a believer's interpretation of the Quran, the Muslim holy book, she said. "America's a melting pot."

During services, men recite the Quran out loud. Women say it simultaneously but under their breath.

Ms. Lakhany's Arabic helps her get around the Quran, but she can't understand it all. The book is written in eloquent, almost poetic language, and Arabic is not her native language, she said. "You would have to study for three, four or five years to grasp the entire gist of what the Quran is saying."

For more information, visit the Web site www.islamfortoday.com.

Islamic primer
The followers of Muhammad now number more than a billion throughout the world.

• Islam, which means "submission" in Arabic, is based on revelations by the Angel Gabriel to Muhammad (b. 570/d. 632).
• Allah is Arabic for God.
• The revelations are contained in the Muslim holy book, the Quran, which means "recitation" in Arabic. The work was written in Arabic after Muhammad's death.
• Muslims also follow teachings called "the tradition of the prophet."
• The five pillars of Islam require followers to: believe that "There is no god but God, and Muhammad is his prophet" (the shehada); pray five times a day (salat); give alms to the poor (zakat); fast during Ramadan; and make a pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj).
• Islam has two main sects. The majority Sunnis hold that Muhammad's successors were elected religious leaders. The Shiites, mainly in Bahrain, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq, hold that Muhammad named his son-in-law, Ali ibn Abi Taleb, his successor.
• The 8-year-old Taliban, which rules two-thirds of Afghanistan, wants to institute Islamic law, or sharia, in the country. The Taliban captured Jalalabad on Sept. 11, 1996, before taking over the government Sept. 26, 1996.
• Islamic feasts and holy days are based on a lunar calendar.
• Ramadan, a holy month of prayer and fasting, will begin Nov. 17.

Reach Virginia Norton at (706) 823-3336 or vanorton@augustachronicle.com.