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Makkah al-Mukarramah مكة المكرمة
Coordinates: 21°25′N 39°49′E / 21.417, 39.817
Province	Makkah
Government
- Mayor	Shareef Usama Al-Barr
Area
- Total	26 km² (10 sq mi)
Elevation	277 m (909 ft)
Population (2004)
- Total	1,294,168

Mecca IPA: /ˈmɛkə/ or Makkah IPA: [ˈmækə] (in full: Makkah al-Mukarramah IPA: [(Arabic) mækːæ(t) ælmʊkarˑamæ]; Arabic: مكّة المكرمة) is an Islamic holy city in Saudi Arabia's Makkah province, in the historic Hejaz region. It has a population of 1,294,167 (2004 census). The city is located 73 kilometres (45 miles) inland from Jeddah, in a narrow valley, 277 metres (910 ft) above sea level. It is located 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the Red Sea. Historically, the city has also been called Becca^[1][2].

The city is revered by Muslims for containing the holiest site of Islam, the Sacred Mosque of Mecca. A pilgrimage to Mecca during the week of the Hajj is one of the Pillars of Islam, a sacred duty that is required of all able-bodied Muslims who can afford to go, at least once in their lifetime. People of other faiths are forbidden from entering the city.

The English word mecca (uncapitalized), meaning "A place that is regarded as the center of an activity or interest" or "A goal to which adherents of a religious faith or practice fervently aspire." ^[3] is borrowed from Mecca.

Contents 1 Geography 1.1 Transportation 2 People 3 Government 4 History 4.1 Early history 4.2 Muhammad 4.3 Political history 4.4 Ottoman return of Mecca 4.5 Mecca in the 20th century 4.5.1 1979 Siege 4.5.2 1987 massacre of pilgrims 5 Tourism 5.1 Kaaba 5.2 Well of Zamzam 6 Current status 7 Non-Muslims and Mecca 8 Spelling 9 Economy 10 See also 11 Notes 12 References 13 Further reading 14 External links

Mecca is at an elevation of 277 m (910 ft.) above sea level, and approximately 50 miles (80 km) inland from the Red Sea.^[4] The city is situated between mountains, which has defined the contemporary expansion of the city. The city centers around the Masjid al-Haram (holy place of worship). The area around the mosque comprises the old city. The main avenues are Al-Mudda'ah and Sūq al-Layl to the north of the mosque, and As-Sūg as Saghīr to the south. As the Saudis expanded the Sacred Mosque in the center of the city, where there were once hundreds of houses are now replaced with wide avenues and city squares. Traditional homes are built of local rock and are generally two to three stories.

Transportation facilities related to the Hajj or Umrah (minor pilgrimage) are the main services available. Mecca has no airport, and most pilgrims access the city through the Hajj terminal of King Abdulaziz International Airport (JED) or the Jeddah Islamic Port, both of which are in Jeddah.

Population density in Mecca is very high. Most long-term residents of Mecca live in the Old City, and many work in the industry locally known as the Hajj Industry. As one Saudi CEO was quoted as saying, "We never stop preparing for the Hajj." Year-round, pilgrims stream into the city to perform the rites of Umrah, and during the last weeks of Dhull-Hijjah, on average 4 million Muslims arrive in the city to take part in the rites known as Hajj.^[5]

Mecca is governed by the Municipality of Mecca, headed by a mayor (amin) appointed by the Saudi Government. The current mayor of the city is Usama Al-Barr. A municipal council of fourteen locally elected members is responsible for the functioning of the municipality.

Mecca is also the capital of Makkah province, which also includes neighboring Jeddah. The governor was Prince Abdul-Majid bin Abdul-Aziz from 2000 until his death in 2007.^[6] On May 16, 2007, Prince Khalid al-Faisal was appointed as the new governor.^[7]

For over 1000 years, Mecca has been one of the most important cities in the Arabian Peninsula.

By the middle of the sixth century, there were three major settlements in northern Arabia, all along the southwestern coast that borders the Red Sea, in a habitable region between the sea and the great desert to the east. This area, known as the Hijaz, featured three settlements that had grown around oases, where water was available. In the center of the Hijaz was Yathrib, later renamed as Medina. 250 miles south of Yathrib was Taif, a mountain town, and northwest of Taif was Mecca. Though the area around Mecca was completely barren, Mecca was the wealthiest and most important of the three settlements. Islamic histories state that it had abundant water via the Zamzam Well, was the site of the holiest shrine in Arabia, the Kaaba, and was also at the crossroads of major caravan routes.^[4]. In actual fact the well of Zamzam was barely sufficient to support the small community there, the Kaaba was but one of many such Arabian Polytheistic temple found in the peninsula, and the city was the terminus for a single caravan route which ran from mecca to Syria.

The Kaaba is a large cubical building now surrounded by the Masjid al-Haram . According to the Qur'an, the Kaaba was built by Ibrahim (Abraham) and his son Ismail (Ishmael), around 2000 BC. There is no secular evidence to support this claim, and much contradictory evidence from the Jewish torah. Historians state that the Kaaba later became the repository of 360 idols and tribal gods of all of Arabia's nomadic tribes. Prior to Muhammad in the 7th century, the most important idol was that of Hubal, having been placed there by the ruling Quraysh tribe, who had taken control from the Jurhum tribe.^[8] The Kaaba was also said to hold icons of other faiths, such as statues of Jesus and Mary.^[9]

The harsh conditions of the Arabian peninsula usually meant a constant state of conflict between the tribes, but once a year they would declare a truce and converge upon Mecca in an annual pilgrimage. This journey was intended for religious reasons, to pay homage to the shrine, and to drink from the Well of Zamzam. However, it was also the time each year that disputes would be arbitrated, debts would be resolved, and trading would occur at Meccan fairs. These annual events gave the tribes a sense of common identity and made Mecca extremely important throughout the peninsula.^[10]

In the 5th century, the Quraysh tribe took control of Mecca,^[11] and became skilled merchants and traders. In the 6th century they joined the lucrative spice trade as well, since battles in other parts of the world were causing trade routes to divert from the dangerous sea routes to the relatively more secure overland routes. The Byzantines had previously controlled the Red Sea, but piracy had been on the increase. Another previous route, that from the Persian Gulf via the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, was also being threatened by Sasanian exploitation, as well as being disrupted by Lakhm, Ghassan, and Persian-Roman wars. Mecca's prominence as a trading center surpassed the cities of Petra and Palmyra.

Muhammad's great-grandfather had been the first to equip a camel caravan, and they became a regular part of the town's economy. Alliances were struck between the merchants in Mecca, and the local nomadic tribes, who would bring leather, livestock, and metals which were mined in the local mountains. Caravans would then be loaded up in Mecca, and would take the goods to the cities in Syria and Iraq.^[12] Islamic tradition claims that goods from other continents also flowed through Mecca. From Africa and the Far East towards Syria supposedly flowed spices, leather, drugs, cloth, and slaves; and in return Mecca was to have received money, weapons, cereals, and wine, which were distributed throughout Arabia. The Meccans signed treaties with both the Byzantines and the bedouins, and negotiated safe passage for caravans, which included such things as water and pasture rights. These further increased Mecca's political power as well as economic, and Mecca became the center of a loose confederation of client tribes, which included those of the Tamim. A casual examination of a map of the middle east shows that this is improbable. Mecca is simply not on the way to anywhere, from anywhere. Other forces such as the Abyssinian, Ghassan, and Lakhm were in decline, and Meccan influence was the primary binding force in Arabia in the late sixth century.^[10]

See also: Muhammad

See also: Conquest of Mecca

Muhammad was born in Mecca in 570, and the story of his life has been inextricably linked with Mecca ever since. He was a member of a minor faction, the Hashemites, of the ruling Quraysh tribe. After he began receiving revelations and preaching against the paganism of the city, he emigrated in 622 with some followers to the northern city of Medina, and launched raids on Meccan commerce. In the Battle of Badr he decimated Mecca's leadership, and won for himself considerable prestige among the Bedouin tribes. Conflict continued, such as at the Battle of Uhud and the Battle of the Ditch.^[13]

In 628, Muhammad adopted a more peaceful posture, as he and some followers attempted to enter Mecca on pilgrimage, to show that the traditional rituals could be adopted into his new religion of Islam. At al-Hudaybiya, he agreed to a truce with the Meccans, whereby Muslims would be allowed into the city. Two years later, the truce was broken, but rather than fight, the city of Mecca simply surrendered to Muhammad. He declared amnesty for the inhabitants, gave generous gifts to the leading Quraysh, and instituted some major changes. He removed or destroyed all of the cult images from the Kaaba, declaring it the holiest site in Islam, and dedicating it as the center of Muslim pilgrimage.^[13]. He then returned to Madinah after appointing a 20 year old named Attab Bin Usaid as governor with a salary of 1 dirham per day. Many of the Arabian tribes then chose to accept Islam as their own faith. Muhammad had succeeded in something that seemed impossible for hundreds of years -- uniting the warring tribes of the Arabian peninsula into a single umma, a congregation and community, all followers of a single god. His preaching and Koranic visions had created a synthesis of multiple belief systems, which combined elements of pagan Arabian religious ideas, Judaism, Christianity, the hellfire monastic preaching of the Syriacs, and new ideas unique to the new religion of Islam.^[14]

Muhammad died in 632, but with the sense of unity that he'd passed on to the Arabians, Islam began a rapid expansion, and within the next few hundred years stretched from northern Africa well into Asia. As the Islamic Empire grew, Mecca continued to attract pilgrims not just from Arabia, but now from all across the Empire, as Muslims sought to perform the annual Hajj.

Another major change was that prior to Muhammad, Muslims had faced towards Jerusalem in their daily prayers, but Muhammad changed this practice and required everyone to face towards the Kaaba of Mecca instead.

Mecca also attracted a year-round population of scholars, pious Muslims who wished to live close to the Kaaba, and local inhabitants who served the pilgrims. Due to the difficulty and expense of the Hajj, pilgrims arrived by boat at Jedda, and came overland, or joined the annual caravans from Syria or Iraq.

Mecca was never the capital of any of the Caliphates nor the Ottoman Empire, in Islamic History, Prophet Muhammad's emigration to Medina established the city as the first capital of the Ummah. Ali ibn-Abi Talib, Prophet Muhammad's son-in-law moved the capital to Kufa, Iraq as the 4th Amir of the Ummah. When the Umayyad Dynasty took power they moved the capital to Damascus, Syria, and then the Abbasid Caliphate moved the capital to Baghdad, Iraq. The center of the Muslim Ummah remained at Baghdad for nearly 500 years, and flourished into a center of research and commerce.In the 13th century, the Mongols invaded Baghdad and sacked the city. This event was one of the most detested events in Islamic History. Soon after the Sack of Baghdad, the Mongols rampaged west and conquered Syria. The next city to quickly emerge as the center of power in the Ummah was Cairo, which in Arabic means "The-Triumphant" or "The-Radiant". When the Ottoman Empire came into prominence the capital was moved to Constantinople. Mecca still remained as a prominent trading center though. When pilgrims arrived for the hajj they often financed their journey by bringing goods which they could sell in the Meccan markets, and acquiring goods there which they could sell when they returned home.^[15]

Mecca re-entered Islamic political history briefly when it was held by Abd-Allah ibn al-Zubayr, an early Muslim who opposed the Umayyad caliphs. The caliph Yazid I besieged Mecca in 683.^[16]

Thereafter the city figured little in politics; it was a city of devotion and scholarship. For centuries it was governed by the Hashemite Sharifs of Mecca, descendants of Muhammad by his grandson Hassan ibn Ali. The Sharifs ruled on behalf of whatever caliph or Muslim ruler had declared himself the Guardian of the Two Shrines.^{[citation needed]}

Mecca was attacked and sacked by Ismaili Muslims in 930.^{[citation needed]}

See also: Ottoman return of Mecca 1813

See also: Battle of Mecca 1916

In June 1916, Sharif of Mecca, Hussein bin Ali revolted against Ottoman Empire from Mecca and Mecca was the first city captured by his forces.

In 1926, the Sharifs of Mecca were overthrown by the Saudis, and Mecca was incorporated into Saudi Arabia.^{[citation needed]}

Main article: Grand Mosque Seizure

On November 20, 1979 two hundred armed Islamist dissidents led by Saudi preacher Juhayman al-Otaibi seized the Grand Mosque. They claimed that the Saudi royal family no longer represented pure Islam and that the mosque, and the Kaaba, must be held by those of the true faith. The rebels seized tens of thousands of pilgrims as hostages and barricaded themselves in the mosque. The siege lasted two weeks, and resulted in several hundred deaths and significant damage to the shrine, especially the Safa-Marwa gallery. While it is the Saudi forces that carried out the assault, they were assisted with weapons and planning by a small team of advisors from France's GIGN commando unit.^[17]

Main article: 1987 massacre of Iranian pilgrims

On July 31, 1987, during an anti-US demonstration by pilgrims, 402 people were killed and 649 wounded after the Saudi police opened fire against the demonstrators.

The primary industry in Mecca in modern times is to support the annual pilgrimage of the Hajj, as well as to support the pilgrims who visit the city at all other times of the year. Major stops in their visit include:

Main article: Kaaba

The Kaaba is the ancient stone building towards which all Muslims pray. It was originally one of multiple such buildings in Arabia, but was the only one made of stone, and therefore is the only one still standing. Many Muslims believe that it dates back to the time of Abraham in 2000 BC. All pilgrims are required to walk counter-clockwise around the Kaaba seven times, in a ritual called the Tawaf.

Main article: Zamzam Well

Muslims believe that the Zamzam well was revealed to Hagar, mother of Ishmael. She was desperately seeking water for her infant son, but could find none. Mecca is located in a hot dry valley with few other sources of water. According to tradition, the water of the Zamzam well is divinely blessed. It is believed to satisfy both hunger and thirst, and cure illness. The water is served to the public through coolers stationed throughout the Masjid al Haram in Mecca and the Masjid al Nabawi in Medina. All pilgrims make every effort to drink of this water during their pilgrimage, and some dip their ihram clothing into it, so that the cloth can be used as their own burial shroud when they die.

The city has grown substantially in the 20th and 21st centuries, as the convenience and affordability of jet travel has increased the number of pilgrims participating in the Hajj. Thousands of Saudis are employed year-round to oversee the Hajj and staff the hotels and shops that cater to pilgrims; these workers in turn have increased the demand for housing and services. The city is now ringed by freeways, and contains shopping malls and skyscrapers.^[18]

As is evident from the image, the modern-day Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has engineered an efficient transportation system in and around Mecca. Saudi government use the following verse as a Quranic confirmation for this law, however there are other interpretations to this verse:

"O ye who believe! Truly the Pagans are unpure; so let them not, after this year of theirs, approach the Sacred Mosque. And if ye fear poverty, soon will Allah enrich you, if He wills, out of His bounty, for Allah is All-knowing, All-wise." -- Qur'an, 9:28

Non-Muslims are not permitted to enter Mecca per Saudi law. Officials conduct checks to confirm that motorists are either Muslims and non Muslims. The main airport has a similar security policy.

As one might expect, the existence of cities closed to non-Muslims and the mystery of the Hajj aroused intense curiosity in people from around the world. Some have disguised themselves as Muslims and entered the city of Mecca and then the Kaaba to experience the Hajj for themselves.^{[citation needed]} The most famous account of a foreigner's journey to Mecca is A Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, written by Sir Richard Francis Burton. Burton traveled as a Qadiri Sufi from Afghanistan; his name, as he signed it in Arabic below his front piece portrait for "The Jew, The Gypsy and al-Islam," was al-Hajj 'Abdullah.^{[citation needed]}

There are also several other individuals who have entered the city namely Thomas Poclum, Dr. John Horse and Polega Kaler. They have recorded their findings in the Book With in the Holy City of Mecca. They described their journey through European eyes. It gives great insight to the myths, fears and legends to the Hajj.

Mecca is the original English transliteration of the Arabic name. In the 1980s, the Saudi Arabian government and others began promoting the transliteration Makkah (in full, Makkah al-Mukarramah), which more closely resembles the actual Arabic pronunciation.

The spelling Makkah or Meccah is not new and has always been a common alternative ^[19]. (In the works and letters of T E Lawrence, almost every conceivable variation of the spelling appears.)

The spelling Makkah is starting to be taken up by many organizations, including the United Nations^[20], U.S. Department of State^[21] and the British Foreign Office ^[22], but the spelling Mecca remains in common use.

The Meccan economy is almost entirely dependent on money spent by people attending the hajj. The city takes in more than $100 million during the hajj. The Saudi government spends about $50 million on services for the hajj. There are some industries and factories in the city, but Mecca no longer plays a major role in Saudi Arabia's economy, which is mainly based on oil exports.^[23] The few industries operating in Mecca include textiles, furniture, and utensils. The majority of the economy is service oriented. Water is scarce and food must be imported.^{[citation needed]}

• Allat
• Hejazi Arabic
• Jeddah
• Manah
• Sharif of Mecca
• Shia
• Uzza
• Guru Nanak & Mecca

• (1999) What life was like in the lands of the prophet: Islamic world, AD 570 - 1405. Time-Life Books. ISBN 0-7835-5465-6. 
• "Quraysh". 'Encyclopaedia Britannica'. (2007). Britannica Concise Encyclopedia (online). Retrieved on 2007-02-19. 
• Lapidus, Ira M. (1988). A History of Islamic Societies. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0 521 22552 5. 
• Hawting, G. R. (1980). "The Disappearance and Rediscovery of Zamzam and the 'Well of the Ka'ba'". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 43 (1): 44-54. 

• Rosenthal, Franz; Ibn Khaldun (1967). The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-09797-6. 
• Crone, Patricia (1987). Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam. Princeton University Press. 

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• Mecca travel guide from Wikitravel
• Islam Quran Sunnah - The Right Path
• Holy Makkah Municipality Official website (in Arabic)
• Emirate of Makkah Official website
• Saudi Information Resource - Holy Mecca
• Inside Mecca DVD National Geographic documentary about Mecca
• Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al Madinah and Meccah, by Richard Burton
• Siege of Mecca A wesbite about the 1979 siege of Mecca's Grand Mosque.

• Mecca is at coordinates 21°24′29″N 39°49′04″E / 21.408, 39.8178Coordinates: 21°24′29″N 39°49′04″E / 21.408, 39.8178

Saudi Arabian Cities	List of main Saudi Arabian cities
	Afif | Arar | Abha | Abqaiq | Al-Bahah | Buraydah | Dammam | Dhahran | Diriyah | Duba | Ha'il | Hofuf | Al Jawf | Jeddah | Jizan | Jubail | Khamis Mushait | Al-Kharj | Khobar | Al Majma'ah | Mecca (Makkah) | Medina | Najran | Bisha | Qatif | Ras Tanura | Khafji | Riyadh (National Capital) | Ta’if | Tabuk | Unaizah | Yanbu' al Bahr | Hafar Al-Batin