Politics complicate the hajj spiritual journey for some Muslims

Growing up in New Jersey, Aymann Ismail loved going to school in the days leading up to the annual hajj, a spiritual journey to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

At school, the teachers knew how to make the event fun. "They would make, like, a fake Kaaba," out of giant cardboard boxes — re-creating the house of God, a giant, cube structure in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest site in Islam.

"All of us would go around it, and be like, [chants in Arabic, 'Here I am at thy service O Lord, here I am']," Ismail said. "It was one of the things that we did every year in celebration of the hajj, and it was a nice experience."