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| The Great Mosque in Mecca |
Mecca in western Saudi Arabia is Islam's holiest city. It is the birthplace of Mohammad and the place he returned to after his exile to Medina. Five times a day more than one billion Muslims around the world turn towards it to pray to Allah.
Enclosed by the sandy Valley of Abraham, Mecca is surrounded by low rocky hill ranges in a region of western Saudi Arabia known as Hijaz, which also comprises Medina and Jedda.
Mecca stands almost 300 metres above sea level and approximately 70 kilometres east of the Red Sea. It has a resident population of 650,000 which more than triples during the annual Hajj. Non-Muslims have been forbidden entry to the city since 630CE when Mohammad made Mecca the centre of the Muslim faith.
According to the Quran, 'The first ever temple to be built for mankind was that at Bakkah [Mecca], a blessed site, a beacon for the nations. In it there are veritable signs and the spot where Abraham stood. Whoever enters it is safe.'
Mecca is the seat of the holy shrine of the Ka'aba, a cubical stone structure otherwise known as the House of God. According to legend, the famous Black Stone (a large black monolith) of the Ka'aba fell from heaven during the time of Adam and Eve. On God's command, the Prophet Abraham and his son Ishmael built the Ka'aba around it. The Black Stone is said to be the only feature of the original Ka'aba that still remains.
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Circling the Ka'aba
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In pre-Islamic times, the Ka'aba was worshipped by numerous pilgrims and devotees. Following the death of Abraham, the Meccans fell into idoltary and paganism and the Ka'aba was filled with more than 300 idols.
At the time of Mohammad's birth, Mecca was an ancient centre of commerce ruled by a few powerful merchant families from the Quraysh tribe. Initially, the Meccans objected to the rise of Islam during Mohammad's lifetime, the new religion as it jeopardised the revenue they collected from the visiting pilgrims and devotees of the Ka'aba.
Forced into exile in Medina in 622, Mohammad established a model Islamic community in Medina but returned to take Mecca in 629, purifying the Ka'aba of its idols before spreading the word of Islam.
The Ka'aba is enclosed by the Great Mosque, the focus of Muslim worship. The healing waters of the Zam Zam well flow nearby, miraculously appearing over 4,000 years ago to save Abraham's son Ishmael from dehydration in the Meccan desert. In a city where the inhabitants centre their lives around the spiritual thrust of the city, Mecca is a place of pilgrimage devoted to God where the five prayers pace every day. In Mecca, time runs according to the divine.
Pronounced ma-KAH, it is one of the most recognisable Islamic words in the world.
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History