Makkah

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 1,700,000 (2008 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 Grand Mosque of Mecca. A pilgrimage to Mecca during the season of the Hajj is one of the Five 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 officially forbidden from entering The city.

Etymology and spelling

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 ^[3]. (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^[4], United States Department of State^[5] and the British Foreign Office ^[6], but the spelling Mecca remains in common use.

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." ^[7] is borrowed from Mecca.

Government

Mecca is governed by the Municipality of Mecca, headed by a mayor (Also known as Amin) appointed by the Saudi Government. The Current mayor of The city is Osama Al-Bar. A municipal council of fourteen locally elected members is responsible for the functioning of the municipality.

Mecca is the capital of Makkah Province, which includes neighboring Jeddah. The governor was Prince Abdul Majeed bin Abdul Aziz from 2000 until his death in 2007.^[8] On May 16, 2007, Prince Khalid al Faisal was appointed as the new governor.^[9]

History

1787 Turkish artwork of the Holy Mosque and related religious sites (Jabal al-Nur)

Early history

For over 4000 years, Mecca has been one of the most important cities in the Arabian Peninsula. By the middle of the 6th 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 Hejaz, featured three settlements that had grown around oases, where water was available. In the center of the Hejaz was Yathrib, later renamed as Medina. 250 miles (400 km) 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, which was the site of the holiest shrine in Arabia, the Kaaba, and was also at the crossroads of major caravan routes.^[10]. 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.^[11]

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 (ابراهيم, Abraham) and his son Ismā'īl (اسماعيل, Ishmael), around 2000 BC. The inhabitants were stated to have fallen away from monotheism through the influence of the Amelkites.^[12] Historians state that the Kaaba later became the repository of 360 idols and tribal gods of all of Arabia's nomadic tribes. Prior to the Islamic prophet 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.^[13] The Kaaba was also said to hold icons of other faiths, such as statues of Jesus and Mary.^[14]

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.^[15]

In the 5th century, the Quraysh tribe took control of Mecca,^[16] 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 Byzantine Empire 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 exploitation from the Sassanid Empire, as well as being disrupted by the Lakhmids, the Ghassanids, and the Roman-Persian 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.^[17] 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 Banu 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 6th century.^[15]

Muhammad

Main articles: Muhammad and 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 (see Hijra) 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 Trench.^[18]

The Ottoman Empire, Including Mecca

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 the new religion of Islam. With the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, 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. The citizen of mecca removed or destroyed all of the cult images from the Kaaba, and Mohammed through divine Decree declaring Mecca as the holiest site in Islam, and dedicating it as the center of Muslim pilgrimage.^[18]. 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 nation, a congregation and community, all followers of one God. His preaching and Quranic 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.^[19]

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 North 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.

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 Jeddah, and came overland, or joined the annual Caravans from Syria or Iraq.

Political history

The First Saudi State, Including Mecca

Mecca was never the capital of any of the Caliphates nor the Ottoman Empire. In Islamic history, Muhammad's emigration to Medina established The city as the first capital of the nation. 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 Islamic Empire 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 Battle of Baghdad, the Mongols rampaged west and conquered Syria. the next city to quickly emerge as the center of power in the Islamic state was Cairo, in Egypt. 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.^[20]

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.^[21]

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.

In 930, Mecca was attacked and sacked by Qarmatians, an extremist Ismaili Muslim sect centered in eastern Arabia.^[22] The Black Death pandemic hit Mecca in 1349.^[23] In 1517, the Sharif of Mecca, Barakat bin Muhammed, acknowledged the supremacy of the Ottoman Caliph, but maintained a great degree of local autonomy.^[24]

Mecca in 1850

The city was captured in 1802 by the First Saudi State (Also knows as Wahhabis), The Saudis held Mecca until 1813. This was a massive blow to the prestige of the Ottoman Empire, who had exercised sovereignty over the holy cities since 1517, and the lethargic Ottomans were finally moved to action. The task of destroying the Saudis was given by the Ottomans to their powerful viceroy of Egypt, Muhammad Ali Pasha.^[25] Who successfully returned Mecca following the Battle of Mecca (1813). In 1818, the Wahhabis were defeated, But some of Al Saud clan lived on to found the Second Saudi State that lasted until 1891, and later the present Saudi Arabia.

In June 1916, During the Arab Revolt, the Sharif of Mecca, Hussein bin Ali revolted against the Ottoman Empire from Mecca and it was the first city captured by his forces following Battle of Mecca (1916). Sharif Hussien declared a new state, Kingdom of Hejaz, and declared Mecca as the capital of the new kingdom. In 1924, the Sharif of mecca were overthrown by the Saudis, and Mecca was incorporated into Saudi Arabia. Following the Battle of Mecca (1924), The city joint Saudi Arabia until the present days.

View of Mecca 1910

Events

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 The French GIGN commando unit.^[26]

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

Geography

Climate

Unlike other Saudi Arabian cities, Mecca retains its warm temperature in winter, which can range from +17 °C at midnight to +25 °C (77 °F) in the afternoon. Summer temperatures are considered very hot and break the +40 °C (104 °F) mark in the afternoon dropping to +30 °C (86 °F) in the evening. Rain usually falls in Mecca in small amounts in December and January.

Some unusual Events often happen during the year, such as dust storms in Summer, coming from the Arabian Peninsula's deserts or from North Africa. Snow does not fall in Mecca.

Area

Mecca is at an elevation of 277 m (910 ft) above sea level, and approximately 50 miles (80 km) inland from the Red Sea.^[10] The city is situated between mountains, which has defined the contemporary expansion of the city. The city centers around the Grand Mosque Area. 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 Assaghīr to the south. As the Saudis expanded the Grand 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. The total Area of Mecca metro today stands over 1,200 km² (463.3 sq mi)^[27]

Economy

Umm Al-Qura Street, one of the high commercial streets in The city

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.^[28] 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 via Shu'eyba water plant and Jeddah.

Demographics

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."^{[citation needed]} Year-round, pilgrims stream into The city to perform the rites of Umrah, and during the last weeks of Dhu al-Hijjah, on average 4 million Muslims arrive in The city to take part in the rites known as Hajj.^[29] Pilgrims of different ethnicities and backgrounds, from Africa, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe and the Middle East, many of whom remained and became residents of The city. As a result, Mecca is much more ethnically diverse than most Saudi cities and its Culture more eclectic in nature. Added to the traditional diversity, the oil-boom of the past 50 years has brought hundreds of thousands of working immigrants.

Culture

Religious significance

"Non-Muslim Bypass:" Non-Muslims are not permitted to enter Mecca

The vast majority of Meccans are Sunni Muslims, with a minority of Shiite Pilgrims. The city has over 2100 Mosques,^[30] and has no Churches, synagogues, or other types of places of worship. Non-Muslims are also not allowed to reach The city.

The cultural environment of today's Mecca has been influenced by a religious movement that began in Central Arabia in the mid-eighteenth century. This movement is commonly known as the Wahhabi movement. It has been also influenced by the Shafi`i school. Also, the conflict between liberals and religious scholars made a major impact on the Society of Mecca.

Since the 7th century , Mecca has hosted millions of Muslim pilgrims from all over the world in their way to Hajj. This merge with pilgrims has also a major impact on the Society and the religion of Meccans.

Non-Muslims are not permitted to enter Mecca per Saudi law. Officials conduct checks to confirm that motorists are either Muslims or non-Muslims. The main airport has a similar security policy. The Saudi government uses the following verse as a Koranic confirmation for this law, however there are other interpretations to this verse (in particular, People of the Book would usually not be regarded as pagans):

"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 God enrich you, if He wills, out of His bounty, for God is All-knowing, All-wise." -- Koran, 9:28

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. 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.^[31] Burton traveled as a Qadiriyyah 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]}

Cuisine

The Sagga

Mecca residents are a mix of several different ethnicities and nationalities. This mixture of races has made a major impact on mecca's traditional cuisine.

Like other Saudi cities, The Nejdi Kabsa is the most traditional lunch for Meccan People. The Yemeni Mandi is also popular as a lunch meal.

Grilled meat has a good market in Mecca such as Shawarma, Kofta and Kebab. During Ramadan Sambousak and Ful are the most popular meals during Dusk. These meals are almost found in Lebanese, Syrian, and Turkish restaurants. During Ramadan also but long years ago, A slave man called Sagga, Used to provide mineral water for People during dusk, The Saggas used to provide Grapes Juice also. Today, Saggas became rich businesspeople, And their business include sweets such as, Baklawa and Basbosa, along with Juice.

International food is also popular in The city. American chains such as McDonald's, Burger King, Domino's Pizza and KFC.

Media

Jeddah is served by one major Arabic-language newspaper, Shams, However, Other Saudi Arabian and International newspapers are also provided in Mecca such as, Al-Madina, Okaz, Al-Bilad, The Saudi Gazette. Okaz and Al-Madina are Mecca's and some other Saudi cities' primary newspaper with over a million readers focusing mainly on issues that affect The city.

Many television stations serving The city Area include Saudi TV1, Saudi TV2, Saudi TV Sports, Al-Ekhbariya, ART channels network and hundreds of cable, satellite and other specialty television providers.

Sport

Football (Soccer) is the most popular sport in Mecca. The city hosts some the oldest sport clubs in Saudi Arabia. Such as, Al-Wehda FC which was established in 1945.

King Abdulaziz Stadium is the largest Stadium in Mecca with capacity of 33,500 People.

Accent

Main article: Hejazi Arabic

The Mecca City Area has a distinctive regional speech pattern called the Hejazi dialect, alternatively known as Meccan or Makkawi. It is often considered to be one of the most recognizable accents within the Arabic language.

Pronunciations in Hejazi differ from other Gulf dialects in some respects. The Classical Arabic qaaf (ق) is pronounced as /g/ sound, as in "get". Hijazi Arabic is also conservative with respect to the sound of the pronunciation of the letter ğim (ج), which is very close to the two sounds considered, by specialists, to be the best candidates for the way it was pronounced in Classical Arabic, namely, the voiced palatal plosive /ɟ/ and the palatalized velar stop /gʲ/.[citation needed] This stands in contrast with many dialects in the region which use /g/ or /ʒ/ for ğim instead. Some speakers replace the interdental /θ/ with /t/ or /s/.

The Hejazi dialect also contains fairly recent borrowings from other Arabic dialects, including Levantine and Egyptian Arabic.

Life

Mecca in 1880

Mecca in 2007

Life in Mecca is different from many cities in Saudi Arabia for many reasons. Firstly, Jeddah is a cosmopolitan city, more so than most other cities in the country; it has many People coming from all over the world, who share their cultures.

Current status

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.^[32]

Pilgrimage

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:

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.

Muslims believe that the Zamzam Well was revealed to Hagar (هاجر), 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 and the Al-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.

See also: Kaaba and Zamzam Well

Cityspaces

A Skyline Image of Mecca

the Grand Mosque

an expected Image of Abraj Al Bait

Grand Mosque

Main article: Masjid al-Haram

Al-Masjid al-Ḥarām is the largest mosque in the world. Located in The city of Mecca, it surrounds the Kaaba, the place which Muslims turn towards while offering daily prayer and is considered to be the holiest place on Earth by Muslims. The mosque is also commonly known as the Haram or Grand Mosque.^[33]

The Current structure covers an Area of 356,800 square meters including the outdoor and indoor praying spaces and can accommodate up to 4 million worshippers during the Hajj period.

Landmarks

The recent expansion of The city provided many modern landmark such as the huge towers of Abraj Al-Bait, with height of 577 m (1,893 ft).^[34] The construction of the towers will be completed in 2009, Being one of the world tallest buildings. The site of the towers is located across the street from the entrance to the Grand Mosque.

As a historical city, Mecca owns hundreds of historical landmarks such as the Kaaba, Muslims believe it was built by Abraham and his son Ishmael. The Zamzam Well is another historical place as well.

The Qishla of Mecca Used to be one of the most notable structure for Mecca, The Qishla was an Ottoman castle facing the Grand Mosque and defending The city from any possible attack. However, The Saudi government removed the structure, Giving free space for new hotels and business buildings around the Mosque.^[35]

Education

See also: List of universities in Saudi Arabia

The school system in Mecca has many public and private schools for both males and females. As of 2005, there were 532 public and private schools for males and another 681 public and private schools for female students.^[36] The medium of instruction in both public and private schools is Arabic with emphasis on English as a second language, but some private schools which are by foreign entities such as (International schools) use the English language for medium of instruction. They also allow the mixing between males and females while other schools do not.

For higher education, The city has only one univers