- published: 18 Oct 2012
- views: 37675
- author: sunnah4holland
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![[3D HD] EXCLUSIVE: The HAJJ (Makkah) as never seen before! 2012 ᴴᴰ - NL](http://web.archive.org./web/20121206012523im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/BOzgcau6y7c/default.jpg "A video with EXCLUSIVE filming material of Makkah-Saudi Arabia and it's Hadj. Enjoy it! The Hadj filming dates from around 2007, while the Abraj Al Bait filming dates from 2011 propably. The last part was recorded this month! (Hajj 2012) SHARE! Ahlul Sunna is the Way Of Life! www.sunnah4holland.nl/english Fouten onder voorbehoud.")
![[EXTREMELY EMOTIONAL] HD Makkah Isha 2nd May 2011 by Sheikh Khalid Ghamdi](http://web.archive.org./web/20121206012523im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/4Wtpmp1I5M0/default.jpg "[EXTREMELY EMOTIONAL] HD Makkah Isha 2nd May 2011 by Sheikh Khalid Ghamdi")
![[HD] Makkah Maghrib 29th Jan 2012 by Sheikh Sudais](http://web.archive.org./web/20121206012523im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/2O4OIpEzbH0/default.jpg "[HD] Makkah Maghrib 29th Jan 2012 by Sheikh Sudais")
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- Abha
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Abha
Abha (Arabic: أبها Abhā) is the capital of Asir province in Saudi Arabia. It is situated at 2,200 metres (7,200 ft) above sea level in the fertile mountains of south-western Saudi Arabia near the National Park of Asir. Its mild climate makes it a popular tourist destination for Saudis. According to 2004 census figures it has a population of 201,912 with an estimate of 252,126 for 2009.
Abha is located in the Southern Region of Asir, it is highly elevated and it is home to the culminating point in Saudi Arabia, Jabal Al Sooda (the rock mountain) which stands at 3000 meters ((10,000 feet)) high
The area is subject to rain, sometimes heavy, some of its neighboring villages and rural areas are sometimes the witnesses of flash-floods during the winter. The cooler weather, comparatively to the rest of the peninsula, makes it an attraction point during the summer.
Abha is the administrative capital of the Asir region, therefore home to the governorate of Asir. All Government departments are located there. Also there are extensive medical and educational facilities. King Khalid University and Prince Sultan College for Hotel Management are located in Abha. There is a regional airport in Abha that has direct flights to Jeddah, Taif, Riyadh, Dammam, Medina, Tabuk and regular international flights to Dubai , Cairo and Sana'a. . Al Watan, which is one of the main Saudi daily newspapers, has its head office and main printing presses in Abha.
wn.com/Abha -
Abqaiq
Abqaiq, or in Arabic Bqaiq (Arabic: بقيق bgayg), is a Saudi Aramco camp in the interior of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, located in the desert 60 km southwest of the Dhahran-Dammam-Khobar metropolitan area. The camp was built in the 1940s by ARAMCO (now Saudi Aramco). The Abqaiq compound itself had a population of approximately 1,950 in 2005, though the inclusion of the population outside the compound, brings this number closer to 30,000.
After crude products (oil, natural gas, water, sand, etc.) are processed by the GOSPs (Gas Oil Separation Plants), the sour oil (containing H2S, hydrogen sulphide) is sent by pipeline to Abqaiq. The Abqaiq site stabilizes the oil, then pumps it to Ras Tanura (where it is exported), or further refined at a domestic refinery. Abqaiq also has NGL (Natural Gas Liquids) plants that extract natural gas liquids (butane, propane, hexane, etc.) from the oil. These NGL's are stabilized by Abqaiq, then sent to other sites for further separation and purification.
wn.com/Abqaiq -
Abraj Al Bait Towers
The Abraj Al-Bait Towers, also known as the Mecca Royal Hotel Clock Tower, is a building complex in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The complex holds several world records, such as the tallest hotel in the world, the tallest clock tower in the world, the world's largest clock face, and the world's largest building floor area. The complex's hotel tower has become the second tallest building in the world in 2012, surpassed only by Dubai's Burj Khalifa. The building complex is meters away from the world's largest mosque and Islam's most sacred site, the Masjid al Haram. The developer and contractor of the complex is the Saudi Binladin Group, the Kingdom's largest construction company.
It was built at the same place as the former Ajyad Fortress, an old fort of the Ottoman epoch dating from the 18th century and which was destroyed in 2002 by the Saudi government in order to begin the building work, sparking global outcry.
The tallest tower in the complex stands as the tallest building in Saudi Arabia, and the tallest and largest hotel in the world, with a height of 601 metres (1,972 feet). Currently it is the second tallest building in the world surpassing Tapei 101 and the fourth tallest structure in the world. The structure had surpassed Dubai International Airport having the largest floor area of any structure in the world with 1,500,000 m2 (16,150,000 sq ft) of floorspace. It also surpassed the Emirates Park Towers in Dubai as the world's tallest hotel.
wn.com/Abraj_Al_Bait_Towers -
Abu `Urwah
Abu `Urwah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Abu_`Urwah -
Abu Hisani
Abū Ḩişānī or Abū Ḩaşānī is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Abu_Hisani -
Abu Qirfah
Abu Qirfah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Abu_Qirfah -
Abu Shu`ayb
Abu Shu`ayb is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Abu_Shu`ayb -
Ad Dabbah
Ad Dabbah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Ad_Dabbah -
Ad Daff
Ad Daff is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Ad_Daff -
Ad Dawh
Ad Dawh is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Ad_Dawh -
Ad Dawh al Kabir
Ad Dawh al Kabir is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Ad_Dawh_al_Kabir -
Ad Dawh as Saghir
Ad Dawh as Saghir is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Ad_Dawh_as_Saghir -
Ad Dirs
Ad Dirs is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Ad_Dirs -
Ad Dur
Ad Dur is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Ad_Dur -
Afghanistan
Afghanistan
i/æfˈɡænɨstæn/ (Persian/Pashto: افغانستان, Afġānistān), officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming part of South Asia, Central Asia, and Greater Middle East, it is also considered to be part of a broader West Asia. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of 647,500 km2 (250,001 sq mi), making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and the east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the far northeast.
Afghanistan has been an ancient focal point of the Silk Road and human migration. Archaeologists have found evidence of human habitation from as far back as 50,000 BC. Urban civilization may have begun in the area as early as 3,000 to 2,000 BC. Sitting at an important geostrategic location that connects the Middle East with Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, the land has been home to various peoples through the ages and witnessed many military campaigns, notably by Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, and in modern era Western forces. The land also served as a source from which the Greco-Bactrians, Kushans, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Timurids, Mughals and many others have risen to form major empires.
wn.com/Afghanistan -
Ajyad
Ajyad is a neighborhood of Mecca in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia. It contains the Ajyad Fortress.
wn.com/Ajyad -
Ajyad Fortress
The Ajyad Fortress (Turkish: Ecyad Kalesi) was an Ottoman fort built in Mecca, in what is now Saudi Arabia, in the late 18th century. It was destroyed by the Saudi government in 2002 for commercial development, sparking global outcry.
In 1781 (or 1777 or 1780, according to some sources), the fortress was built in order to protect the Kaaba and Islamic shrines in Mecca from invaders. The fort covered some 23,000 m2 (250,000 sq ft) on Bulbul Mountain (a spur of Jebel Kuda) overlooking the Masjid al-Haram from the south.
Ajyad Fortress was demolished and most of Bulbul Mountain levelled by the Saudi government in 2002 to make space for the $533 million construction projectAbraj Al Bait Towers. The 11 high-rise towers will consist of apartments, a twin-tower five-star hotel, restaurants, and a shopping centre, all to be built by the Saudi Binladin Group.
The destruction of the historic structure stirred both domestic and international protest. The Turkish Foreign Minister İsmail Cem İpekçi and other institutions tried to prevent the demolition. The Turkish Democratic Left Party (DSP) Deputy Ertuğrul Kumcuoğlu even suggested a boycott on travelling to Saudi Arabia. The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism condemned the obliteration of the fortress, comparing the act to the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamyan, and accusing the Saudi authorities of "continuing with their policy of demolishing Ottoman heritages."
wn.com/Ajyad_Fortress -
Ajyad fortress
The Ajyad Fortress (Turkish: Ecyad Kalesi) was an Ottoman fort built in Mecca, in what is now Saudi Arabia, in the late 18th century. It was destroyed by the Saudi government in 2002 for commercial development, sparking global outcry.
In 1781 (or 1777 or 1780, according to some sources), the fortress was built in order to protect the Kaaba and Islamic shrines in Mecca from invaders. The fort covered some 23,000 m2 (250,000 sq ft) on Bulbul Mountain (a spur of Jebel Kuda) overlooking the Masjid al-Haram from the south.
Ajyad Fortress was demolished and most of Bulbul Mountain levelled by the Saudi government in 2002 to make space for the $533 million construction projectAbraj Al Bait Towers. The 11 high-rise towers will consist of apartments, a twin-tower five-star hotel, restaurants, and a shopping centre, all to be built by the Saudi Binladin Group.
The destruction of the historic structure stirred both domestic and international protest. The Turkish Foreign Minister İsmail Cem İpekçi and other institutions tried to prevent the demolition. The Turkish Democratic Left Party (DSP) Deputy Ertuğrul Kumcuoğlu even suggested a boycott on travelling to Saudi Arabia. The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism condemned the obliteration of the fortress, comparing the act to the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamyan, and accusing the Saudi authorities of "continuing with their policy of demolishing Ottoman heritages."
wn.com/Ajyad_fortress -
Al `Utaybiyah
Al Utaibiyyah is a neighborhood of Mecca in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_`Utaybiyah -
Al Adl
Al Adl or Al `adl is a neighborhood of Mecca in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Adl -
Al Ashraf
Al Ashrāf is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Ashraf -
Al Bahah
Al Bahah (Arabic: الباحة Al Bāḥa) is a city in the south west of Saudi Arabia. It is the capital of Al Bahah Province nestled between the resorts of Taif and Abha, Al Baha is one of the Kingdom’s prime tourist attractions. It enjoys a pleasant climate and is surrounded by more than forty forests, including Raghdan, al Zaraeb and Baidan. Al Baha is the headquarters of the Governor, local councils and branches of governmental departments. Receiving the state's special attention, the city of Al Baha abounds in educational, tourist and health institutions.
The "Pearl of Resorts" is the name given to Al Baha by those acquainted with the city. The "Garden of Hejaz" (Arabic translation: حديقه الحجاز) was the name given to Al Baha by the sharif of Mecca.
Al Baha City (BC) lies in the south-west of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia between the holy Makkah and Aseer. It is the smallest of the Kingdom's provinces (11,000 square km). It is surrounded by a number of cites, including Taif on the north, Beesha on the east, Abha on the south and the Red Sea coast city of Al Qunfuda on the west. This tourist city is situated in an area characterized by natural tree cover and agricultural plateaus. It consists of six towns, the most important of which are Beljarshy, Almandaq, and Almekhwah, in addition to the Baha city, the center of the province. The province comprises 31 administrative centers and has a population of 533,001.
wn.com/Al_Bahah -
Al Balad
Al Balad is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Balad -
Al Barabir
Al Barabir is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Barabir -
Al Bi'ar
Al Bi’ār is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Bi'ar -
Al Buraykah
Al Buraykah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Buraykah -
Al Faisaliyyah
Al Faisaliyyah is a neighborhood of Mecca in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Faisaliyyah -
Al Fawwarah
Al Fawwārah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Fawwarah -
Al Faydah
Al Fayḑah is a village in Makkah Province, in Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Faydah -
Al Fazz
Al Fazz is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Fazz -
Al Gemmezah
Al Gemmezah is a neighborhood of Mecca in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Gemmezah -
Al Gharith
Al Gharith is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Gharith -
Al Ghassalah
Al Ghassalah is a neighborhood of Mecca in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
Coordinates: 21°27′N 39°52′E / 21.45°N 39.867°E / 21.45; 39.867
wn.com/Al_Ghassalah -
Al Ghulah
Al Ghulah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Ghulah -
Al Hada
Al Hada is a city in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia near Taif. Al Hada is a mountain resort city, with many five star hotels. Theme Parks made it attractive for the tourists.
wn.com/Al_Hada -
Al Halaqah
Al Halaqah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Halaqah -
Al Hamimah
Al Hamimah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Hamimah -
Al Harra'
Al Harra' is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Harra' -
Al Hawiyah
Al Hawiyah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Hawiyah -
Al Hazm, Makkah
Al Hazm is a town in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.It lies near Turabah.
wn.com/Al_Hazm,_Makkah -
Al Hindawiyyah
Al Hindawiyyah is a neighborhood of Mecca in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Hindawiyyah -
Al Iskan
Al Iskan is a neighborhood of Mecca in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
Coordinates: 21°24′N 39°47′E / 21.4°N 39.783°E / 21.4; 39.783
wn.com/Al_Iskan -
Al Jadidah
Al Jadidah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Jadidah -
Al Jami`ah
Al Jami`ah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Jami`ah -
Al Jid`
Al Jid` is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Jid` -
Al Ju`ranah
Al Ju`ranah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Ju`ranah -
Al Jumum
Al Jumum is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Jumum -
Al Khadra', Makkah
Al Khadra is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Khadra',_Makkah -
Al Khalas
Al Khalas is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Khalas -
Al Khamrah
Al Khamrah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Khamrah -
Al Khaydar
Al Khaydar is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Khaydar -
Al Khayf
Al Khayf is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Khayf -
Al Khulasah
Al Khulasah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Khulasah -
Al Kidwah
Al Kidwah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Kidwah -
Al Kura`
Al Kura` is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Kura` -
Al Ma`rash
Al Ma`rash is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Ma`rash -
Al Maabda
Al Maabda is a neighborhood of Mecca in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
wn.com/Al_Maabda -
Al Madinah
Coordinates: 25°0′N 39°30′E / 25°N 39.5°E / 25; 39.5
The Madinah Province (Arabic: المدينة المنورة Al-Madīnah al-Munawarah) is a province of Saudi Arabia, located on the country's west side, along the Red Sea coast. It has an area of 151,990 km² and a population of 1,512,724 (2004 Census), subdivided into seven governorates (muḥafaẓat):
Its capital is the sacred city of Madinah. Other towns include Yanbu' al Bahr and Badr Hunayn.
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Al Madiq, Makkah
Al Madiq is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Maghal
Al Maghal is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Mahjar
Al Mahjar is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Majma'ah
Al Majma'ah (Arabic: المجمعة) is a city and a governorate in Ar Riyad Province, Saudi Arabia. It is located at around 25°54′14″N 45°20′44″E / 25.90389°N 45.34556°E / 25.90389; 45.34556, and has an area of 30 000 square kilometers. The population of the town is around 45,000, while the population of the governorate as a whole is approximately 97,349. Al-Majma'ah Governorate borders the Eastern Province and Al-Qasim to the north, Thadig and Shaqra to the south, Rumah to the east, and Zulfi and al-Ghat on the west.
Founded in 1417 CE by an immigrant from the Shammar tribe, Al-Majma'ah was historically considered the capital of the region of Sudair. The city today contains a museum as well as an impressive mud-brick fort that dates to the 18th century.
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Al Maqrah
Al Maqrah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Masarrah
Al Masarrah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Masfalah
Al Masfalah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Mashayikh
Al Mashayikh is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Mathnah
Al Mathnah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Muaisem
Al Muaisem is a neighborhood of Mecca in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Mubarak
Al Mubarak is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Mudawwarah
Al Mudawwarah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Mulayha'
Al Mulayha' is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Mundassah
Al Mundassah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Muqayti`
Al Muqayti` is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Muqr
Al Muqr is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Muraysiyah
Al Muraysiyah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Muwayh
Al Muwayh is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Nuzha
Al Nuzha is a neighborhood of Mecca in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Qadimah
Al Qadimah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Qararah
Al Qararah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Qaryat
Al Qaryat is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Qawba`iyah
Al Qawba`iyah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Qirshan
Al Qirshan is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Qirw
Al Qirw is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Qu`tubah
Al Qu`tubah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Qufayf
Al Qufayf is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Qushashiyah
Al Qushashiyah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Rasaifah
Al Rasaifah is a neighborhood of Mecca in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Shoqiyah
Al Shoqiyah is a neighborhood of Mecca in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Shubaikah
Al Shubaikah is a neighborhood of Mecca in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Sulaimaniyyah
Al Sulaimaniyyah is a neighborhood of Mecca in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Tundobawi
Al Tundobawi is a neighborhood of Mecca in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Ukhaydir
Al Ukhaydir is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Utaibiyyah
Al Utaibiyyah is a neighborhood of Mecca in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Waht
Al Waht is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Yamaniyah
Al Yamaniyah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Zahra
Al Zahra is a neighborhood of Mecca in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Al Ābār
Al Ābār is a village in Makkah Province, in Saudi Arabia.
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Al`Awali
Mecca (
/ˈmɛkə/; Arabic: مكة, Makkah, pronounced [ˈmækːɐ]) is a city in the Hejaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located 70 km (43 mi) inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of 277 m (909 ft) above sea level. Its resident population in 2012 was 2 million, although visitors more than triple this number every year during Hajj period held in the twelfth Muslim lunar month of Dhu al-Hijjah.
As the birthplace of Muhammad and a site of the composition of the Quran, Mecca is regarded as the holiest city in the religion of Islam and a pilgrimage to it known as the Hajj is obligatory upon all able Muslims. The Hijaz was long ruled by Muhammad's descendants, the sharifs, either as independent rulers or as vassals to larger empires. It was absorbed into Saudi Arabia in 1925. In its modern period, Mecca has seen tremendous expansion in size and infrastructure. Because of this Mecca has lost many thousand years old buildings and archaeological sites. Today, more than 15 million Muslims visit Mecca annually, including several million during the few days of the Hajj. As a result, Mecca has become one of the most cosmopolitan and diverse cities in the Muslim world, although non-Muslims remain prohibited from entering the city.
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An Naqa
Mecca ( /ˈmɛkə/; Arabic: مكة, Makkah, pronounced [ˈmækːɐ]) is a city in the Hejaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located 70 km (43 mi) inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of 277 m (909 ft) above sea level. Its resident population in 2012 was 2 million, although visitors more than triple this number every year during Hajj period held in the twelfth Muslim lunar month of Dhu al-Hijjah.
As the birthplace of Muhammad and a site of the composition of the Quran, Mecca is regarded as the holiest city in the religion of Islam and a pilgrimage to it known as the Hajj is obligatory upon all able Muslims. The Hijaz was long ruled by Muhammad's descendants, the sharifs, either as independent rulers or as vassals to larger empires. It was absorbed into Saudi Arabia in 1925. In its modern period, Mecca has seen tremendous expansion in size and infrastructure. Because of this Mecca has lost many thousand years old buildings and archaeological sites. Today, more than 15 million Muslims visit Mecca annually, including several million during the few days of the Hajj. As a result, Mecca has become one of the most cosmopolitan and diverse cities in the Muslim world, although non-Muslims remain prohibited from entering the city.
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Ar Rabwah al `Ulya
Ar Rabwah al `Ulya is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Ar Rabwah as Sufla
Ar Rabwah as Sufla is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Ar Rafah
Ar Rafah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Ar Rudaymah
Ar Rudaymah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Arafah
Coordinates: 21°22′0″N 40°0′10″E / 21.366667°N 40.00278°E / 21.366667; 40.00278
Mount Arafat or Mount Arafah (Arabic: جبل عرفات; transliterated Jabal ‘Arafāt) is a granite hill east of Mecca. It is also known as the Mount of Mercy (Jabal ar-Rahmah). The hill is the place Muslims believe the Islamic prophet Muhammad stood and delivered the Farewell Sermon to the Muslims who had accompanied him for the Hajj towards the end of his life. It reaches about 70 m in height.
According to Islamic tradition, it was on Mount Arafah that Adam and Eve, separated for 200 years following their expulsion from the Garden of Eden, met and recognized each other and were reunited[citation needed]. Here too they were forgiven by Allah for their transgression after offering their repentance. A main reason of the ritual of pilgrimage is the renewal of that Prayer of Repentance every year standing on the hill of mercy, the climax of Hajj. The pilgrims will spend the whole day on Arafah supplicating to Allah to forgive their sins and praying for personal strength in the future.
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Arya`
Arya` is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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As Sabahani
Mecca ( /ˈmɛkə/; Arabic: مكة, Makkah, pronounced [ˈmækːɐ]) is a city in the Hejaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located 70 km (43 mi) inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of 277 m (909 ft) above sea level. Its resident population in 2012 was 2 million, although visitors more than triple this number every year during Hajj period held in the twelfth Muslim lunar month of Dhu al-Hijjah.
As the birthplace of Muhammad and a site of the composition of the Quran, Mecca is regarded as the holiest city in the religion of Islam and a pilgrimage to it known as the Hajj is obligatory upon all able Muslims. The Hijaz was long ruled by Muhammad's descendants, the sharifs, either as independent rulers or as vassals to larger empires. It was absorbed into Saudi Arabia in 1925. In its modern period, Mecca has seen tremendous expansion in size and infrastructure. Because of this Mecca has lost many thousand years old buildings and archaeological sites. Today, more than 15 million Muslims visit Mecca annually, including several million during the few days of the Hajj. As a result, Mecca has become one of the most cosmopolitan and diverse cities in the Muslim world, although non-Muslims remain prohibited from entering the city.
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As Sadr
As Sadr is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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As Samd ash Shamali
As Samd ash Shamali is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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As Sayl al Kabir
As Sayl al Kabir is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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As Sayl as Saghir
As Sayl as Saghir is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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As Sifyani
As Sifyani is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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As Sudayrah, Makkah
As Sudayrah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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As Sur, Saudi Arabia
As Sur is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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As Suwadah
As Suwadah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Ash Shafa
Ash Shafa is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Ash Shajwah
Ash Shajwah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Ash Shamiyah
Ash Shamiyah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Ash Shara'i`
Ash Shara'i` is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Ash Shaybi
Ash Shaybi is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Ash Shi`b
Ash Shi`b is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Ash Shishah
Ash Shishah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Ash Shumaysi
Ash Shumaysi is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Ash Shuwaybit
Ash Shuwaybit is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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At Tan`im
At Tan`im is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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At Tarfa'
At Tarfa' is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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At Turqi
At Turqi is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Az Zaymah
Az Zaymah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Az Zilal
Az Zilal is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Az Zughbah
Az Zughbah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Az Zurra`
Az Zurra` is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Az Zuwayb
Az Zuwayb is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Aziziyah
Aziziyah is a neighborhood of Mecca in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia..
There are also neighborhoods in the cities of Jeddah and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia by that name. Its nickname is "Mini Pakistan" as there are a lot of Pakistan living after migration from Pakistan in early 1980s.
Now most important during haj days
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Baghdad
Baghdad (Arabic: بغداد, Baġdād, IPA: [bæɣˈdæːd]) is the capital of Republic of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Province. The population of Baghdad as of 2011 is approximately 7,216,040, making it the largest city in Iraq, the second largest city in the Arab World (after Cairo, Egypt), and the second largest city in Western Asia (after Tehran, Iran).
Located along the Tigris River, the city was founded in the 8th century and became the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. Within a short time of its inception, Baghdad evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellectual center for the Islamic World. This in addition to housing several key academic institutions (e.g. House of Wisdom) garnered the city a worldwide reputation as the "Center of Learning". Throughout the High Middle Ages, Baghdad was considered to be the largest city in the world with an estimated population of 1,200,000 people. The city was largely destroyed at the hands of the Mongol Empire in 1258, resulting in a decline that would linger through many centuries due to frequent plagues and multiple successive empires. With the recognition of Iraq as an independent state (formerly the British Mandate of Mesopotamia) in 1938, Baghdad gradually regained some of its former prominence as a significant center of Arabic culture.
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Bahrah
Bahrah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Bahrat al Qadimah
Bahrat al Qadimah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Bahwil
Bahwil is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Baranah
Baranah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Barzah
Barzah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Bashm
Bashm is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Battle of Badr
The Battle of Badr (Arabic: غزوة بدر), fought Saturday, 13 March 624 AD (17 Ramadan, 2 AH in the Islamic calendar) in the Hejaz region of western Arabia (present-day Saudi Arabia), was a key battle in the early days of Islam and a turning point in Muhammad's struggle with his opponents among the Quraish in Mecca. The battle has been passed down in Islamic history as a decisive victory attributable to divine intervention, or by secular sources to the strategic genius of Muhammad. It is one of the few battles specifically mentioned in the Quran. Most contemporary knowledge of the battle at Badr comes from traditional Islamic accounts, both hadiths and biographies of Muhammad, recorded in written form some time after the battle.
Prior to the battle, the Muslims and Meccans had fought several smaller skirmishes in late 623 and early 624, as the Muslim ghazawāt (prophet-led battles) had become more frequent. Badr, however, was the first large-scale engagement between the two forces. Advancing to a strong defensive position, Muhammad's well-disciplined force broke the Meccan lines, killing several important Quraishi leaders including Muhammad's chief antagonist, 'Amr ibn Hishām.[citation needed] For the early Muslims the battle was the first sign that they might eventually defeat their enemies among the Meccans. Mecca at that time was one of the richest and most powerful cities in Arabia, fielding an army three times larger than that of the Muslims.[citation needed] The Muslim victory also signalled other tribes that a new power had arisen in Arabia and strengthened Muhammad’s position as leader of the often fractious community in Medina.[citation needed]
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Black Stone
The Black Stone (Arabic: الحجر الأسود al-Ḥajar al-Aswad) is the eastern cornerstone of the Kaaba, the ancient stone building toward which Muslims pray, in the center of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is revered by Muslims as an Islamic relic, which, according to Muslim tradition, dates back to the time of Adam and Eve.
The stone was venerated at the Kaaba in pre-Islamic pagan times. It was set intact into the Kaaba's wall by the Islamic Prophet Muhammad in the year 605 A.D., five years before his first revelation. Since then it has been broken into a number of fragments and is now cemented into a silver frame in the side of the Kaaba. Its physical appearance is that of a fragmented dark rock, polished smooth by the hands of millions of pilgrims. Islamic tradition holds that it fell from Heaven to show Adam and Eve where to build an altar. Although it has often been described as a meteorite, this hypothesis is now uncertain.
Muslim pilgrims circle the Kaaba as part of the Tawaf ritual of the Hajj. Many of them try, if possible, to stop and kiss the Black Stone, emulating the kiss that Islamic tradition records that it received from Muhammad. If they cannot reach it, they point to it on each of their seven circuits around the Kaaba.
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Buraydah
Buraydah (Arabic: بريدة Burayda) is the capital of Al-Qassim Province in northcentral Saudi Arabia in the heart of the Arabian peninsula. Buraydah lies equidistant from the Red Sea to the west and the Gulf to the east. It has a population of 609,000 (2010 census).
Buraydah, the regional capital of Al-Qassim Province, is located on the edge of the Wadi Al-Rummah. Buraydah has a typical desert climate, with hot summers, cold winters and low humidity.
In Buraydah, agriculture is still the cornerstone of the economy. The traditional oasis products of dates, lemon, orange and other fruits are still important. Modern introduction of wheat production has become so successful that Buraydah is one of the largest producers in the kingdom, important in making Saudi Arabia a net exporter of cereal.
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Buraykah
Buraykah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Burayman
Burayman is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Climate of Mecca
Coordinates: 21°25′0″N 39°49′0″E / 21.416667°N 39.816667°E / 21.416667; 39.816667
Mecca features an arid climate. Mecca retains its warm temperature in winter, which can range from 17 °C (63 °F) at night to 25 °C (77 °F) in the day. Summer temperatures are considered very hot often being over 40 °C (104 °F) during the day dropping to 30 °C (86 °F) at night. Unlike other Saudi Arabian cities, Mecca retains its warm temperature in winter, which can range from 17 °C (63 °F) 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 between November and January. The rainfall, as scant as it is, also presents the threat of flooding and has been a danger since earliest times. According to Al-Kurdī, there had been 89 historic floods by 1965, including several in the Saudi period. In the last century the most severe one occurred in 1942. Since then, dams have been constructed to ameliorate the problem.
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Dabyah
Dabyah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Dammam
Dammam (Arabic: الدمام Ad Dammām) is the capital of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, the most oil-rich region in the world. The judicial and administrative bodies of the province and several government departments are located in the city. Dammam is the largest city in the Eastern Province and third largest in Saudi Arabia, after Riyadh and Jeddah. It is an important commercial hub and port.[citation needed]
Dammam, and the rest of the Eastern Province, is served by the King Fahd International Airport (KFIA), the largest airport in the world in terms of land area (approximately 780 km2), about 20 km to the northwest of the city.
Dammam's King Abdul Aziz Sea Port is the largest on the Persian Gulf. Its import-export traffic in the country is second only to Jeddah's port.
The origins of the name "Dammam" is disputed, some say that it is onomatopoeic and it was given to the area because of a drum positioned in a nearby keep, when sounded for the alarm it produced a melody called "damdamah", others say that the name was given according to the Arabic word "dawwama" (whirlpool) which indicated a nearby sea site that dhows usually had to avoid.
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Dhahran
Dhahran (Arabic الظهران aẓ-Ẓahrān) is a city located in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, and is a major administrative center for the Saudi oil industry. Large oil reserves were first identified in the Dhahran area in 1931, and in 1935 Standard Oil of California (now Chevron Corporation) drilled the first commercially viable oil well. Standard Oil later established a subsidiary in Saudi Arabia called the Arabian American Oil Company (ARAMCO), now fully owned by the Saudi government as Saudi Aramco.
Dhahran is a short distance west of downtown Khobar. It is about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) south of Dammam. Both are older Saudi port cities on coast of the Persian Gulf. Looking farther afield, Dhahran is northeast of Abqaiq, and southeast of Qatif and, further north, Ras Tanura, a major oil port. The island of Kingdom of Bahrain is also within easy driving distance to the east (about 20 miles (32 km)), across the King Fahd Causeway, from Khobar.
The patch of desert on which the city is built is hilly and rocky, and most of the earliest productive oil wells in Saudi Arabia were drilled in the area, such as Dammam Well #7: "Prosperity Well," the first commercially viable oil well in Saudi Arabia in the 1930s. This well is still in production 70 years later. This later led to the selection of two barren nearby hills as the place for Aramco to construct its headquarters.[1]
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Diriyah
Al-Diriyah (Arabic: الدرعية; also spelled Ad-Dir'iyah, Ad-Dar'iyah or Dir'aiyah) is a town in Saudi Arabia located on the northwestern outskirts of the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Diriyah was the original home of the Saudi royal family, and served as the capital of the first Saudi dynasty from 1744 to 1818. Today, the town is the seat of the Diriyah Governorate, which also includes the villages of Uyayna, Jubayla, and Al-Ammariyyah, among others, and is part of Ar Riyad Province.
The Turaif district in Diriyah was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010.
The ruins of the old city of Diriyah lay on either side of the narrow valley known as Wadi Hanifa, which continues southwards through Riyadh and beyond. Consisting almost entirely of mud-brick structures, the ruins are divided into three districts, Ghussaibah, Al-Mulaybeed, and Turaif, set on top of hills overlooking the valley. Of the three, Turaif is the highest, and its bottom is easily accessible to tourists by foot. Part of the city wall, running along the edges of the wadi and also made of mud-bricks, are still extant along with some short observation towers.
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Duba
Duba (Arabic: ضبا) is a small city on the northern Red Sea coast, of Saudi Arabia. It is in Tabuk Province. Local citizens describe it as The Pearl of the Red Sea. Population: Population of Duba is about 65,000.
The first reference to Duba, under this name, is from 1203. However, the Valley of Salma and Valley of Kafafah were already known many centuries before.
The ancient Greek scholar Ptolemy mentioned a trade route leading from Kafafah to Lihyan (today's Al-`Ula). Sheikh Abdulghani Al Nabulsi wrote about Duba in 1790, in his account of going to Mecca for the Hajj.
Historically it is part of Madian; the city is mentioned in heavenly scriptures. According to Quran, Prophet Mosa settled in Madian (the region starts from Jordan river and extends to the town of Duba) where Prophet Shoaib hosted him. The town of Prophet Shoib as it is called is said to be located near Maqna where an ancient well can still be seen. The well is said to be the one where Prophet Mosa fed Prophet Shoaib's flock.
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Dughaybjah
Dughaybjah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Fayd
Fayd or Fa'idah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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First Saudi State
The Emirate of Diriyah was the first Saudi state. It was established in the year 1744 (1157 A.H.) when Imam Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab and Prince Muhammad ibn Saud formed an alliance to establish a religious and political sovereignty determined to purge the Arabian Peninsula of heretical practices and deviations from orthodox Islam as they understood it. This joint effort is seen by Wahhabi as the restoration of the basic belief in Tawhid, and many Salafi maintain it marks the beginning of the broader Salafi revivalist movement.[citation needed] Practices such as offering prayers to saintly figures, making pilgrimages to tombs and special mosques, venerating trees, caves, and stones were abolished under this rule. Since the establishment of the First Saudi State none of these practices have ever been observed again in Saudi Arabia. In 1744, both Muhammed bin Abd Al Wahhab and Muhammad bin Saud took an oath to achieve their goal. Marriage between Saud's son, Abdul Aziz Ibn Mohammed Ibn Saud, and the daughter of the Imam helped to seal the pact between their families which has lasted through the centuries to present day.
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Ha'il
Ha'il (Arabic: حائل Ḥā'il), also spelled Hail, Ha'yel, or Hayil, is an oasis city in Nejd in northwestern Saudi Arabia. It is the capital of the Ha'il Province. The city has a population of 356,876 according to Ha'il Province.
Ha'il is largely agricultural, with significant grain, date, and fruit production. A large percentage of the kingdom's wheat production comes from Ha'il Province, where the area to the northeast, 60 km to 100 km away, consists of irrigated gardens. Historically Ha'il derived its wealth from being on the camel caravan route of the Hajj. Ha'il is well known by the generosity of its people in Saudi Arabia and the Arab world as it is the place where Hatim al-Tai lived.
Ha'il was the center of the emirate of Al Rashid, a clan of the Shammar tribe, from 1836 until 1921. The first emir, Abdullah bin Rashid, took power with his brother emir Obaid and Jabbr's sons. Abdullah bin Rashid continued constructing the Barzan Palace in Ha'il which had been started by Mohammad Ibn Ali. After the death of Abdullah bin Rashid (in 1847 or 1848) his son and successor, Talal (or Telal), completed the palace.
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Hadda'
Hadda' is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Haddat ash Sham
Haddat ash Sham is a Fvillage in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Hadhah
Hadhah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Hafar Al-Batin
Hafar Al-Batin (ar:حفر الباطن) is a Saudi Arabian city in the Eastern Province and located in the Northeastern region. It is located 480 km the north of Riyadh, 90 km from Kuwait border and about 70 from the Iraq border. The city lies in the dry valley of the Wadi al-Batin, part of the larger valley of the long, now-dry river Wadi Al-Rummah, which leads inland toward Medina and formerly emptied into the Persian Gulf.
In the 1st century after hijrah in 638 CE, Hafar Al-Batin was just a route in the desert that pilgrims passed through from Mecca for Hajj. At that time , there was no water available in this land, the pilgrims travelled from Iraq to Mecca on a long route without water. During Uthman ibn Affan's reign (644 CE - 656 CE), complaints of pilgrims reached Abu-Musa al-Asha'ari, a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, who answered by digging for new wells along this route in the Al-Batin valley. The name of Hafar Al-Batin (Arabic: حفر الباطن) is derived from this which means "the hole of Al-Batin Valley". During the 1991 Gulf War Hafar Al-Batin was targeted by a barrage of Iraqi Al Hussein missiles on February 14, 1991. At least two missiles hit the town. An automobile workshop, two houses and five cars were destroyed. Four civilians were injured.
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Hajur
Hajur is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Halamah
Halamah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Harat al Bab
Mecca ( /ˈmɛkə/; Arabic: مكة, Makkah, pronounced [ˈmækːɐ]) is a city in the Hejaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located 70 km (43 mi) inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of 277 m (909 ft) above sea level. Its resident population in 2012 was 2 million, although visitors more than triple this number every year during Hajj period held in the twelfth Muslim lunar month of Dhu al-Hijjah.
As the birthplace of Muhammad and a site of the composition of the Quran, Mecca is regarded as the holiest city in the religion of Islam and a pilgrimage to it known as the Hajj is obligatory upon all able Muslims. The Hijaz was long ruled by Muhammad's descendants, the sharifs, either as independent rulers or as vassals to larger empires. It was absorbed into Saudi Arabia in 1925. In its modern period, Mecca has seen tremendous expansion in size and infrastructure. Because of this Mecca has lost many thousand years old buildings and archaeological sites. Today, more than 15 million Muslims visit Mecca annually, including several million during the few days of the Hajj. As a result, Mecca has become one of the most cosmopolitan and diverse cities in the Muslim world, although non-Muslims remain prohibited from entering the city.
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Hayy al Hamdaniyah
Jeddah (Arabic: جدّة Jidda), sometimes spelled Jiddah or Jedda, is a city located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, the largest sea port on the Red Sea, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh. The population of the city currently stands at 3.2 million. It is an important commercial hub in Saudi Arabia.
Jeddah is the principal gateway to Mecca, Islam's holiest city, which able-bodied Muslims are required to visit at least once in their lifetime. It is also a gateway to Medina, the second holiest place in Islam.
Jeddah is one of the most cosmopolitan, diverse, and tolerant of all Saudi Arabian cities, hosting expatriates from all over the world who have made Jeddah their home.[citation needed] Economically, Jeddah is focusing on further developing capital investment in scientific and engineering leadership within Saudi Arabia, and the Middle East. Jeddah was independently ranked 4th in the Africa / Mid-East region in terms of innovation in 2009 in the Innovation Cities Index.
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Hayy as Salihiyah
Jeddah (Arabic: جدّة Jidda), sometimes spelled Jiddah or Jedda, is a city located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, the largest sea port on the Red Sea, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh. The population of the city currently stands at 3.2 million. It is an important commercial hub in Saudi Arabia.
Jeddah is the principal gateway to Mecca, Islam's holiest city, which able-bodied Muslims are required to visit at least once in their lifetime. It is also a gateway to Medina, the second holiest place in Islam.
Jeddah is one of the most cosmopolitan, diverse, and tolerant of all Saudi Arabian cities, hosting expatriates from all over the world who have made Jeddah their home.[citation needed] Economically, Jeddah is focusing on further developing capital investment in scientific and engineering leadership within Saudi Arabia, and the Middle East. Jeddah was independently ranked 4th in the Africa / Mid-East region in terms of innovation in 2009 in the Innovation Cities Index.
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Hira
Hira (Arabic: حراء Ḥirāʾ) or the Cave of Hira (غار حراء Ġār Ḥirāʾ) is a cave about 2 mi (3.2 km) from Mecca, on the mountain named Jabal Al-Nūr in the Hejaz region of present day Saudi Arabia. The cave itself is about 12 ft (3.7 m) in length and 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m) in width.
It is notable for being the location where Muslims believe Muhammad received his first revelations from God (Allah) through the angel Jibreel, also known as the angel Gabriel to Christians.
Taking 600 steps to reach, the cave is at a height of 270 m (890 ft) and the radius is 263.23 m (863.6 ft) During the Hajj around 5,000 Muslims climb up to the Hira cave daily to see the place where Muhammed received the first revelation of the Qu'ran on the Night of Power.
Coordinates: 21°27′27.2″N 039°51′33.9″E / 21.457556°N 39.859417°E / 21.457556; 39.859417
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Hofuf
Al-Hofuf (also Hofuf , Hofof' or Hufuf) (Arabic: الهفوف) is the major urban center in the Al-Ahsa Oasis in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.
The city proper has a population of 1,200,000 (2009 census} and is part of a larger populated oasis area of towns and villages of around 600,000. It is located inland, southwest of Abqaiq and the Dhahran-Dammam-Al-Khobar metropolitan area on the road south to Haradh. It is the closest city to the famous Ghawar oil field, one of the world's largest conventional (land-based) fields.
Hofuf is one of the major cultural centers in Saudi Arabia. A lot of well known families live there. The faculties of agriculture, veterinary medicine and animal resources for King Faisal University are located in the city (the others being in Dammam). The Hofuf campus also has facilities where Saudi women can study medicine, dentistry and home economics.
Legend places this as the burial place of Laila and Majnoon, the star-crossed pair of the most popular love story in the Arab and Muslim world. The Queen of Sheba is also fabled to have visited this city from her kingdom in Yemen.
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Husnah
Husnah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Iraq
Iraq (/ɪˈræk/ or
i/ɪˈrɑːk/; Arabic: العراق al-‘Irāq); officially the Republic of Iraq (Arabic: 
جمهورية العراق (help·info) Jumhūriyyat al-‘Irāq), is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.
Iraq borders Syria to the northwest, Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Jordan to the southwest and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to the south. Iraq has a narrow section of coastline measuring 58 km (36 mi) on the northern Persian Gulf. The capital city, Baghdad is in the center-east of the country.
Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run through the center of Iraq, flowing from northwest to southeast. These provide Iraq with agriculturally capable land and contrast with the steppe and desert landscape that covers most of Western Asia.
Historically, Iraq was the center of the Abbasid Arabic Islamic Empire. Iraq has been known to the west by the Greek toponym 'Mesopotamia' (Land between the rivers) and has been home to continuous successive civilizations since the 6th millennium BC. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is often referred to as the cradle of civilization and the birthplace of writing, law and the wheel. At different periods in its history, Iraq was the center of the indigenous Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Abbasid empires. It was also part of the Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires, and under British control as a League of Nations mandate.
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Jabal Al Nour
Jabal Al Nour is a neighborhood of Mecca in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Jamarat Bridge
Coordinates: 21°25′17″N 39°52′22″E / 21.42139°N 39.87278°E / 21.42139; 39.87278 The Jamaraat Bridge (Arabic: جسر الجمرات; transliterated: Jisr Al-Jamaraat) is a pedestrian bridge in Mina, Saudi Arabia near Mecca used by Muslims during the stoning of the devil ritual of the Hajj. The bridge was originally constructed in 1963, and has been expanded several times since then. The purpose of the bridge is to enable pilgrims to throw stones at the three jamrah pillars from either the ground level or from the bridge. The pillars extend up through three openings in the bridge. Until 2006 the bridge had a single tier (i.e. a ground level with one bridge level above).
At certain times, over a million people may gather in the area of the bridge, which has sometimes led to fatal accidents. “Jamaraat” is the plural of jamrah which is the Arabic term for each of the pillars involved in the stoning ritual. It literally means a small piece of stone or a pebble.
Following the January 2006 Hajj, the old bridge was demolished and construction began on a new multi-level bridge. The ground and first levels were complete in time for the 2006/2007 Hajj, which passed without incident. Construction on the remaining two levels are scheduled to be completed in time for the 1428 AH (Dec. 2007) Hajj.
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Jeddah
Jeddah (Arabic: جدّة Jidda), sometimes spelled Jiddah or Jedda, is a city located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, the largest sea port on the Red Sea, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh. The population of the city currently stands at 3.2 million. It is an important commercial hub in Saudi Arabia.
Jeddah is the principal gateway to Mecca, Islam's holiest city, which able-bodied Muslims are required to visit at least once in their lifetime. It is also a gateway to Medina, the second holiest place in Islam.
Jeddah is one of the most cosmopolitan, diverse, and tolerant of all Saudi Arabian cities, hosting expatriates from all over the world who have made Jeddah their home.[citation needed] Economically, Jeddah is focusing on further developing capital investment in scientific and engineering leadership within Saudi Arabia, and the Middle East. Jeddah was independently ranked 4th in the Africa / Mid-East region in terms of innovation in 2009 in the Innovation Cities Index.
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Jeddah Seaport
King Saud International Seaport (also called Jeddah Islamic Seaport) has an excellent location in the middle of the international shipping route[which?] between east and west.
The port lies on the Red Sea coast at latitude 28° 21' north and longitude 39° 10' east. It is the Saudi's principal port serving the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. The port serves the commercial centers through which 59% of the Saudi's imports by sea are being handled[citation needed]. The importance of Jeddah Port increased and reached its maximum limit when Saudi Arabia was developing into a modern country.
The Port established in September 1976[citation needed], whereupon it started developing its facilities. The port has expanded from a modest 10 operational berths in 1976[citation needed] to the 58 berths of international standard in service today[when?].
Jeddah Islamic Port is a congestion free harbor[according to whom?]. It occupies an area of 10.5 square kilometers and its deep water quays provide an overall berthing length of 11.2 kilometers with a maximum draft of 16 metres[citation needed].
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Julayyil
Julayyil is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Khafji
Ras Al Khafji (رأس الخفجي) or Khafji (الخفجي) is a town on the border between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. It lies in what was before 1970 a neutral zone between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The Japanese-owned Arabian Oil Company Ltd signed a concession agreement with the government of Saudi Arabia in December 1957 and with the government of Kuwait in July 1958 for exploration and development of hydrocarbon reserves in the offshore Neutral Zone. The Arabian Oil Company discovered the Kafji oil field in 1960 and the Hout oil field in 1963.
It was only after the discovery of these oil deposits off-shore of Khafji that a permanent demarcation of the neutral zone between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia was established, with Khafji formally located within Saudi Arabia.[citation needed] However, the agreement concluded that both states would still maintain joint rights to all natural resources within the designated neutral zone. With the termination of the Arabian Oil Company lease to explore and extract within the area, operations within the Khafji Fields reverted to a joint venture between shareholder companies representing both states, with production being split on a 50:50 agreement between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
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Khamis Mushait
Khamis Mushait (Arabic: خميس مشيط Khamis Mushait) is a city in south-west Saudi Arabia, located 35 minutes east of Abha, the provincial seat of the Asir province. It is the capital of the Shahran Tribe. Until the 1970s Khamis Mushait was a small town of less than 50,000 servicing the surrounding mild-climate agricultural region. Since then its population has grown eightfold to reach 446,467 (2004 census).
Khamis Mushait is the largest city in Asir province, nowadays one of the most populated regions in Saudi Arabia. The city's name comes from the weekly market that is held each Thursday; "Khamis" simply meaning Thursday in Arabic. Khamis Mushait is a popular tourist destination in the summer, due to its relatively mild summer weather, frequent rainfall, and famous well maintained parks. The city is served by the Abha regional airport, located approximately 18 km from the city centre.
Khamis Mushayit is well connected with a good quality road network. The city lacks a bus or rail network, so private vehicle hire plays a significant role in the transport system.
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Khobar
Khobar (also written al-Khobar or al-Khubar; Arabic: الخبر) is a large city located in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on the coast of the Persian Gulf. It has a population of over 410,000 and forms part of the greater Dammam metropolitan area along with Dhahran, which together have a combined population of over 2,500,000. All three urban centers are served by the King Fahd International Airport, the distance to the airport terminal from Khobar is about 50 km (30 Miles).
Many of Khobar's residents work for Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil company. Traditionally, Khobar has also been a city of shopkeepers and merchants, and the city today has many modern malls and boulevards with shops run by international franchises, and restaurants. Together, Khobar, Dhahran and Dammam are often known as "The Triplet Cities". Khobar today is a bustling economic centre with many skyscrapers under construction. The nearby city of Dammam has the second-largest port in Saudi Arabia.
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Khulays
Khulays is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Khumrah
Khumrah is a small town in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.It lies just to the south of Jeddah.
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Kufa
Kufa (Arabic,الكوفة al-Kūfah) is a city in Iraq, about 170 kilometres (110 mi) south of Baghdad, and 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000.
Along with Samarra, Karbala, Kadhimiya and Najaf, Kufa is one of five Iraqi cities that are of great importance to Shia Muslims. The city was the final capital of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, and was founded within the first hundred years of the 622 Hijra[citation needed].
The city contains the Great Mosque of Kufa, one of the earliest mosques in Islam, built in the 7th century.
File:Kufa masjid.pdf
See Ancient Mesopotamia.
Ruled by Sassanian Empire as part of Suristan province. See Middle Bih-Kavad.
The Arabs, led by Caliph ʻUmar ibn Khattāb, conquer Iraq and begin ruling Suristan around 637.
ʻUmar ibn Khattāb became the second caliph in 634. After the Arab victory against the East Roman Empire at Battle of Yarmouk in 636, Kūfah was founded and given its name in 637–638 CE, about the same time as Basra. The Companion of the Prophet Saʻd ibn Abī Waqqas founded it as an encampment adjacent to the Lakhmid Arab city of al-Hīrah, and incorporated it as a city of seven divisions. The city was alternately known to non-Arabs as Hīrah and Aqulah before the consolidations of ʻAbdu l-Mālik in 691.
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Kulakh
Kulakh or Kulaikh is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Ma`shi
Ta’if (Arabic الطائف aṭ-Ṭā’if) is a city in the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia at an elevation of 1,879 m (6,165 ft) on the slopes of the Sarawat Mountains (Al-Sarawat Mountains). It has a population of 521,273 (2004 census). Each summer the Saudi Government moves from the heat of Riyadh to Ta'if. The city is the centre of an agricultural area known for its grapes, roses and honey.
The inhabitants of Ta'if, are largely made up of the Hanbali and Maliki Sunnis Saudi Arabians. There are also significant foreign populations, primarily from Asia, Turkey, and other Arab countries.
In the 6th century the city of Tā'if was dominated by the Banu Thaqif tribe.
The town is about 100 km (62 mi) southeast of Mecca. The walled city was a religious centre as it housed the idol of the goddess Allāt, who was then known as "the lady of Tā'if." Its climate marked the city out from its dry and barren neighbours closer to the Red Sea. Wheat, vines, and fruit were grown around Tā'if and this is how the city earned its title "the Garden of the Hejaz."
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Madrakah
Madrakah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Mafruq
Mafruq is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Makkah province
Coordinates: 21°30′N 41°0′E / 21.5°N 41°E / 21.5; 41
The Makkah Province or Mecca Province (Arabic: مكة المكرمة Makka al Mukarrama) is the most populous province of Saudi Arabia. It is located in the western Saudi Arabia and has an extended coastline. It has an area of 164,000 km² and a population of 5,797,971 (2004 census). Its capital is the sacred city of Mecca (also transliterated as Makkah) and its largest city is Jeddah, which is also Saudi Arabia's main port city.
Governors of the Makkah province since the establishment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are as follows:
The province is divided into 12 governorates (with 2004 Census populations):
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Makkah Province
Coordinates: 21°30′N 41°0′E / 21.5°N 41°E / 21.5; 41
The Makkah Province or Mecca Province (Arabic: مكة المكرمة Makka al Mukarrama) is the most populous province of Saudi Arabia. It is located in the western Saudi Arabia and has an extended coastline. It has an area of 164,000 km² and a population of 5,797,971 (2004 census). Its capital is the sacred city of Mecca (also transliterated as Makkah) and its largest city is Jeddah, which is also Saudi Arabia's main port city.
Governors of the Makkah province since the establishment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are as follows:
The province is divided into 12 governorates (with 2004 Census populations):
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Malakan
Malakan is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Mashajji
Mashajji is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Masihat Mahd al Hayl
Masihat Mahd al Hayl is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Maskar
Maskar is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Matiyah
Matiyah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Mecca
Mecca ( /ˈmɛkə/; Arabic: مكة, Makkah, pronounced [ˈmækːɐ]) is a city in the Hejaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located 70 km (43 mi) inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of 277 m (909 ft) above sea level. Its resident population in 2012 was 2 million, although visitors more than triple this number every year during Hajj period held in the twelfth Muslim lunar month of Dhu al-Hijjah.
As the birthplace of Muhammad and a site of the composition of the Quran, Mecca is regarded as the holiest city in the religion of Islam and a pilgrimage to it known as the Hajj is obligatory upon all able Muslims. The Hijaz was long ruled by Muhammad's descendants, the sharifs, either as independent rulers or as vassals to larger empires. It was absorbed into Saudi Arabia in 1925. In its modern period, Mecca has seen tremendous expansion in size and infrastructure. Because of this Mecca has lost many thousand years old buildings and archaeological sites. Today, more than 15 million Muslims visit Mecca annually, including several million during the few days of the Hajj. As a result, Mecca has become one of the most cosmopolitan and diverse cities in the Muslim world, although non-Muslims remain prohibited from entering the city.
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Medina
Medina (/mɛˈdiːnə/; Arabic: اَلْمَدِينَة اَلْمَنَوَّرَة, al-Madīnah al-Munawwarah, “the radiant city” (officially), or اَلْمَدِينَة al-Madīnah; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. Medina is historically significant for being Muhammad's home after the Hijrah. Before the advent of Islam, the city was known as Yathrib, but was personally renamed by Muhammad.
Medina is home to the three oldest mosques in Islam, namely Al-Masjid an-Nabawi (The Prophet's Mosque), Quba Mosque (the first mosque in Islam's history), and Masjid al-Qiblatain (the mosque where the qibla was switched to Mecca).
Because of the Saudi government's religious policy and concern that historic sites could become the focus for idolatry, much of Medina's Islamic physical heritage has been destroyed since the beginning of Saudi rule.[citation needed]
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Mina, Saudi Arabia
Mina is a location situated some 5 kilometres to the east of the Islamic holy city of Mecca (Makkah) in Saudi Arabia. It stands on the road from Mecca's city centre to the Hill of Arafat.
Mina is best known for the role it plays during the annual Hajj pilgrimage, when its tent cities provide temporary accommodation to millions of visiting pilgrims. In the valley of Mina is the Jamarat Bridge, the location of the Stoning of the Devil ritual, performed between sunrise and sunset on the last day of the Hajj. Mina is where Pilgrims would go to stone where the devil was as this is where it is said that Ibrahim stoned the devil that came between him and the command that Allah set him. Most pilgrims at Hajj walk around the Ka'aba 7 times, then visit the Well of Zamzam. Usually they spend their first night in the Valley of Mina. This ritual occurs on the eighth to twelfth day of hajj. At mina men and women aren't allowed to sleep together.
Coordinates: 21°24′48″N 39°53′36″E / 21.41333°N 39.89333°E / 21.41333; 39.89333
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Misfalah
Misfalah is a neighborhood of Mecca in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Murshidiyah
Murshidiyah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Mushrif
Mushrif is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Nughayshiyah
Nughayshiyah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Nuzlat al Faqin
Nuzlat al Faqin is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Palmyra
Palmyra (Aramaic: ܬܕܡܘܪܬܐ;Hebrew: תדמור; tiḏmor, Greek: Παλμύρα, Arabic: تدمر; Tadmur, English pronunciation: /ˌpælˈmaɪrə/) was an ancient city in central Syria. In antiquity, it was an important city located in an oasis 215 km northeast of Damascus and 180 km southwest of the Euphrates at Deir ez-Zor. It had long been a vital caravan stop for travellers crossing the Syrian desert and was known as the Bride of the Desert. The earliest documented reference to the city by its Semitic name Tadmor, Tadmur or Tudmur (which means "the town that repels" in Amorite and "the indomitable town" in Aramaic) is recorded in Babylonian tablets found in Mari.
Though the ancient site fell into disuse after the 16th century, it is still known as Tadmor in Arabic (aka Tedmor), and there is a newer town of the same name next to the ruins. The Palmyrenes constructed a series of large-scale monuments containing funerary art such as limestone slabs with human busts representing the deceased.
Palmyrans bore Aramaic names, and worshipped a variety of deities from Mesopotamia (Marduk and Ruda), Syria (Hadad, Baʿal, Astarte), Arabia (Allāt) and Greece (Athena). Palmyrans were originally speakers of Aramaic but later shifted to the Greek language. At the time of the Islamic conquests Palmyra was inhabited by several Arab tribes, primarily the Qada'ah and Kalb.
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Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf is located in Western Asia between Iran (Persia) and the Arabian Peninsula. It is an extension of the Indian Ocean.
The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers. In 1991, the Persian Gulf again was the background for what was called the "Persian Gulf War" or the "Gulf War" when Iraq invaded Kuwait and was subsequently pushed back, despite the fact that this conflict was primarily a land conflict.
The Persian Gulf has many good fishing grounds, extensive coral reefs, and abundant pearl oysters, but its ecology has come under pressure from industrialization, and in particular, oil and petroleum spillages during wars in the region.
Historically and internationally known as the Persian Gulf, this body of water is sometimes controversially referred to as the Arabian Gulf or simply The Gulf by most Arab states, although neither of the latter two terms are recognized internationally. The name Gulf of Iran (Persian Gulf) is used by the International Hydrographic Organization.
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Qatif
Qatif or Al-Qatif (Arabic: القطيف Al-Qaṭīf) is a governorate and urban area located in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. It extends from Ras Tanura and Jubail in the north to Dammam in the south, and from the Persian Gulf in the east to King Fahd International Airport in the west. This region has its own municipality and includes the Qatif downtown and many other smaller cities and towns.
Qatif is one of the oldest settlements in the eastern side of the Arabian peninsula, its history going back to 3500 BC. Qatifi people used to work as merchants, farmers, and fishers. However, in recent years,[when?] after the discovery of oil and establishment of Jubail Industrial City, most of Qatifi's people are working in oil, industry, public services, education and health care sectors.
The historic oasis area shows its first archeological evidence of settlement beginning about 3500 BC. It was known by other names, such as Al-Khatt (Arabic: الخَطّ), immortalized in the poetry of `Antara ibn Shaddad, Tarafa ibn Al-`Abd, Bashar ibn Burd (in his famous Ba'yya), and others. The word "Khatty" became the preferred "kenning" for "spear" in traditional poetic writing until the dawn of the modern era, supposedly because the region was famous for spear making, just as "muhannad" ("of India") was the preferred kenning for "sword". The older name also survives as the eponym of several well-known local families ("Al-Khatti", spelled variously in English).[citation needed]
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Qiya
Qiya is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Quwayzah
Quwayzah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Rabigh
Rabigh (Arabic:رابغ) is an ancient town on the western coast of Saudi Arabia (Red Sea). It is in Makkah Province. It used to be named "Al-Johfa" until the early years of the 17th century. In some ancient stories the town had been completely destroyed through a sea water. When it was rebuilt it was renamed as "Rabigh".
The town of Rabigh on the east coast of the Red Sea between latitudes 22/23 north of the equator which it lies on the Tropic of Cancer. Thus, it is extreme heat on the summer and also the temperature rises somewhat in winter. The temperatures begin to rise in month of April depicted study recorded a maximum temperature in July and August and September is 36, 37.5 or 38 Celsius and often beyond the ends of the maximum temperature degree in 45 Celsius. The climate is characterized by high relative humidity, especially in the summer and also can not say that there is a special season for falling rains in Rabigh. Congratulated the rain phenomenal occur suddenly and stay for a short period.
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Raqiyah
Raqiyah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Ras Tanura
Ras Tanura (more accurately Ra's Tannūrah, Arabic: رأس تنورة meaning "cape oven, cape brazier" presumably due to the unusual heat prevalent at the cape that projects into the sea) is a city in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia located on a peninsula extending into the Persian Gulf. The name Ras Tanura applies both to a gated Saudi Aramco employee compound (also referred to as "Najmah") and to an industrial area further out on the peninsula that serves as a major oil port and oil operations center for Saudi Aramco, the largest oil company in the world. Today, the compound has about 3,200 residents, with a few Americans and British expats.
Geographically, the Ras Tanura complex is located a distance south of the modern industrial port city of Jubail (formerly a sleepy fishing village) and north across Tarut Bay from the old port city of (Al-)Dammam. Although Ras Tanura's port area is located on a small peninsula, due to modern oil tankers' need for deeper water, Saudi Aramco has built numerous artificial islands for easier docking. In addition, offshore oil rigs and production facilities have been constructed in the waters nearby, mostly by Saudi Aramco, Schlumberger, and Halliburton.
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Riyadh
Riyadh (/rɨˈjɑːd/; Arabic: الرياض transliterated Ar Riyāḍ pronounced [ʔɑrːiˈjɑːdˤ], English: The Gardens) is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of Riyadh Province, and belongs to the historical regions of Najd and Al-Yamama. It is situated in the center of the Arabian Peninsula on a large plateau, and is home to 5,254,560 people, and the urban center of a region with a population of close to 7 million people. The city is divided into 15 municipal districts, managed by Riyadh Municipality headed by the mayor of Riyadh, and the Riyadh Development Authority, chaired by the Governor of Riyadh Province, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz. The current mayor of Riyadh is Abdul Aziz ibn Ayyaf Al-Miqrin, appointed in 1998. Riyadh has the largest female university in the world, the Princess Nora bint Abdulrahman University.. It has been designated as Beta World City.
During the Pre-Islamic era, the settlement at the site was called Hajr (Arabic: حجر), and was reportedly founded by the tribe of Banu Hanifa. Hajr served as the capital of the province of Al Yamamah, whose governors were responsible for most of central and eastern Arabia during the Umayyad and Abbasid eras. Al-Yamamah broke away from the Abbasid Empire in 866 and the area fell under the rule of the Ukhaydhirites, who moved the capital from Hajr to nearby Al Kharj. The city then went into a long period of decline. In the 14th century North African traveller Ibn Battuta wrote of his visit to Hajr, describing it as "the main city of Al-Yamamah, and its name is Hajr". Ibn Battuta goes on to describe it as a city of canals and trees with most of its inhabitants belonging to Bani Hanifa, and reports that he continued on with their leader to Mecca to perform the Hajj.
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Sabuhah
Sabuhah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia (i/ˌsaʊdi əˈreɪbi.ə/ or i/ˌsɔːdiː əˈreɪbi.ə/; Arabic: السعودية as-Su‘ūdīyah[citation needed] or incorrectly as-Sa‘ūdīyah, officially known as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Arabic: المملكة العربية السعودية al-Mamlakah al-‘Arabīyah as-Su‘ūdīyah Arabic pronunciation (help·info)), is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab world, after Algeria. It is bordered by Jordan, and Iraq on the north and northeast, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates on the east, Oman on the southeast, and Yemen on the south. The Red Sea lies to its west, and the Persian Gulf lies to the east. Saudi Arabia has an area of approximately 2,250,000 km2 (870,000 sq mi), and it has an estimated population of 27 million, of which 9 million are registered foreign expatriates and an estimated 2 million are illegal immigrants. Saudi nationals comprise an estimated 16 million people.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded by Abdul-Aziz bin Saud (known for most of his career as Ibn Saud) in 1932, although the conquests which eventually led to the creation of the Kingdom began in 1902 when he captured Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family, the House of Saud, referred to in Arabic as the Al Saud. The Saudi Arabian government, which has been an absolute monarchy since its inception, refers to its system of government as being Islamic, though this is contested by many due to its strong basis in Salafism, a minority school of thought in Islam. The kingdom is sometimes called "The Land of the Two Holy Mosques" in reference to Al-Masjid al-Haram (in Mecca), and Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (in Medina), the two holiest places in Islam.
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Second Saudi State
The Emirate of Nejd was the second Saudi state that existed during the early to late 19th century. Saudi rule was restored to central and eastern Arabia after having previously been brought down by an Ottoman-Egyptian invasion in 1818. Compared to the First Saudi State, the second Saudi period was marked by less territorial expansion and less religious zeal, although the Saudi leaders continued to go by the title of Imam and still employed Wahhabist religious scholars.
It was also marked by severe internal conflicts within the Saudi family, eventually leading to the dynasty's downfall. Turki ibn Abdallah's reconquest of Riyadh from Egyptian forces in 1824 is generally regarded as the beginning of the Second Saudi State, while the end was marked by the Battle of Mulayda in 1891, between the forces loyal to the last Saudi imam, Abdul Rahman ibn Faisal ibn Turki, and the Al Rashid dynasty of Ha'il.
The rulers of the second state:
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Shar Mansur
Shar Mansur is a neighborhood of Mecca in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Shi`b `amir
Shi`b `amir is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Shira`ayn
Shira`ayn is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Skaka
Sakakah (Arabic: سكاكا, also known as Al-Jawf or Al-Jouf) (29°58′11″N 40°12′00″E / 29.96972°N 40.2°E / 29.96972; 40.2) is an oasis town in northwestern Saudi Arabia and is the capital of Al Jawf Province. It is located just to the north of the An Nafud desert. It has a population of approximately 114,000 people.
Al-Jawf is notable for its abundant agricultural water, making possible the cultivation of dates (200,000 Palms) and olives (12,000,000 trees), as well as other agricultural products. Farms number around 16,000, and agricultural projects around 1,500. It is the home of some agribusiness farms such as Watania Farms, the largest organic farm in the kingdom. The fertile agricultural land of Al-Jawf is due largely to underground water, which drew delegates of King Abdul Aziz. They were sent to the town of Sakaka and Dowmat Al-Jandal and Qurayat, requesting resident tribes there to join the nascent kingdom. Sakaka is home to many Saudi families that can proudly trace their lineage to a few large, old tribes that have dominated the area since time immemorial. The Khalili tribe, Surhani tribe & Al-Juraid family a part of the massive Al-Sharari tribe (among others), have large rows of houses and often own farms and businesses in town. The Al-Juraid family have a row of large homes located on Al-Sudairiyah Street, right across from the Baqalah.
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Spain
Spain (i/ˈspeɪn/ SPAYN; Spanish: España, pronounced: [esˈpaɲa] (
listen)), officially the Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España), is a sovereign state and a member of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Its mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar; to the north and north east by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the northwest and west by the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal.
Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the African coast, and two autonomous cities in North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla, that border Morocco. Furthermore, the town of Llívia is a Spanish exclave situated inside French territory. With an area of 504,030 square kilometres (194,610 sq mi), it is the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union after France, and the fourth largest country in Europe after Russia, Ukraine and France.
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Sulaym
Sulaym is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Sumaymah
Sumaymah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Suq Al Lail
Suq Al Lail is a neighborhood of Mecca in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Suways
Suways is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Syria
Syria (/ˈsɪriə/ ( listen) SIRR-ee-ə; Arabic: سورية Sūriyya or سوريا Sūryā; Syriac: ܣܘܪܝܐ; Kurdish: Sûrî), officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية العربية السورية al-Jumhūriyyah al-‘Arabīyah as-Sūriyyah Arabic pronunciation (help·info)), is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest.
In English, the name Syria was formerly synonymous with the Levant, known in Arabic as Sham, while the modern state encompasses the sites of several ancient kingdoms and empires, including the Eblan civilization of the third millennium BC. In the Islamic era, its capital city, Damascus, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate, and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt.
The population of Syria is 74% Sunni, 12% Alawi, 10% Christian, and 3% Druze. Combined, 87% of the Syrian population is Muslim, while the other 10% is Christian, which includes mainly Arab Christians but also Assyrians and Armenians. Major ethnic minorities in Syria include Kurds (9%), Assyrians, Armenians, Turkmens and Circassians. The majority of the population is Arab (90%).
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Tabuk, Saudi Arabia
Tabuk (Arabic: تبوك Tabūk), also spelled Tabouk, is the capital city of the Tabuk province in north western Saudi Arabia. It has a population of 441,351 (2004 census).
Around 500 BC, Tabuk town (then known as Taboo) was, together with Al Ola, the capital of the prosperous Al Ayaneyean.[citation needed]
Around Tabuk, the Battle of Tabouk took place in the time of Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Monuments include the historic mosque, the Tabuk fortress and a railway station of the Hejaz Railway dating back to the Ottoman empire. In the Tabuk region, a number of important archeological sites can be found, including Al Bidaa.
Desertous continental weather with hot summers and mild winters. Temperature in the summers are between 26-46°C while in winter they're between 4-18°C, with wide spread frosts. Freezes are common with temperatures reaching low -6°C in some winters. Rainfall in Tabuk Area falls in the winter months from November to March and precipitation ranges between 50 – 150 mm with some not uncommon snow every 3-4 years.
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Ta’if
Ta’if (Arabic الطائف aṭ-Ṭā’if) is a city in the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia at an elevation of 1,879 m (6,165 ft) on the slopes of the Sarawat Mountains (Al-Sarawat Mountains). It has a population of 521,273 (2004 census). Each summer the Saudi Government moves from the heat of Riyadh to Ta'if. The city is the centre of an agricultural area known for its grapes, roses and honey.
The inhabitants of Ta'if, are largely made up of the Hanbali and Maliki Sunnis Saudi Arabians. There are also significant foreign populations, primarily from Asia, Turkey, and other Arab countries.
In the 6th century the city of Tā'if was dominated by the Banu Thaqif tribe.
The town is about 100 km (62 mi) southeast of Mecca. The walled city was a religious centre as it housed the idol of the goddess Allāt, who was then known as "the lady of Tā'if." Its climate marked the city out from its dry and barren neighbours closer to the Red Sea. Wheat, vines, and fruit were grown around Tā'if and this is how the city earned its title "the Garden of the Hejaz."
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Tharwah
Tharwah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Tigris
The Tigris River (/ˈtaɪɡrɪs/; Arabic: دجله) is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.
The Tigris is 1,850 km long, rising in the Taurus Mountains of eastern Turkey about 25 km southeast of the city of Elazig and about 30 km from the headwaters of the Euphrates. The river then flows for 400 km through Turkish territory before becoming the border between Syria and Turkey. This stretch of 44 km is the only part of the river that is located in Syria. The remaining 1,418 km are entirely within the Iraqi borders.
The Tigris unites with the Euphrates near Basra, and from this junction to the Persian Gulf the mass of moving water is known as the Shatt-al-Arab. According to Pliny and other ancient historians, the Euphrates originally had its outlet into the sea separate from that of the Tigris.
Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, stands on the banks of the Tigris. The port city of Basra straddles the Shatt al-Arab. In ancient times, many of the great cities of Mesopotamia stood on or near the Tigris, drawing water from it to irrigate the civilization of the Sumerians. Notable Tigris-side cities included Nineveh, Ctesiphon, and Seleucia, while the city of Lagash was irrigated by the Tigris via a canal dug around 2400 BC.
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Turubah
Turabah (Arabic: تربة, pronounced truba) is a city in Makkah Province in western Saudi Arabia, located in the valley of the same name. Trubah is located south of the mountain of Hadhn ("Jebel Hadhn"), to the southeast of Mecca. It is therefore considered on the border between the topographic regions of Hejaz and Najd. The town's traditional inhabitants are the tribe of Al-Bugum (Ar. البقوم). It is also the seat of the Trubah Governorate. The population of Trubah proper was 31999 in 2004, while the population of Trubah Governorate was 42,810.
Ancient Ramadan (Ar. رمادان) was a marketplace of Tareba. Its area was a semicircle not more than 600 meters around. All the buildings were made from mud, but the foundations were of stone. Some of the buildings were composed of two floors. In the middle of the market was an area of 50 meters long, 30 meters wide, surrounded by shops and the rear of buildings and the mosque from the north. It could be reached from two entrances, one of them at the north, 2 meters wide, and a southern entrance divided into two passages inside the market, the building of which was penetrated by some vaults. Its commercial goods included butter, dates, rope, wooden household goods and textiles which were used in the wool houses such as Al-Tarige, Al-Felgan and Al-Ghadire. Inside it there were goods brought from Hijazi cities including clothes, coffee, seeds and so forth, also there were war necessities: guns, swords, spears, and gunpowder. Moreover, there were turbans, abbayas and furniture.
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Wadi al Jalil
Wadi al Jalil is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.
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Yemen
The Republic of Yemen (Arabic: الجمهورية اليمنية al-Jumhūrīyah al-Yamanīyah), commonly known as Yemeni/ˈjɛmən/ (Arabic: اليَمَن al-Yaman), is a country located in Western Asia, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east. Yemen is considered one of the poorest countries in the Arab world. Its capital and largest city is Sana'a. Yemen's territory includes over 200 islands, the largest of which is Socotra, about 415 km (258 mi) to the south of mainland Yemen, off the coast of Somalia. It is the only state in the Arabian Peninsula to have a purely republican form of government. Approximately 53% of Yemenis are Sunnis, while 45% are Zaydi Shias.
One etymology derives Yemen from yamin, meaning "on the right side", as the south is on the right when facing the sunrise. Another derives Yemen from yumn, meaning "felicity", as the region is fertile. The Romans called it Arabia Felix (Happy Arabia) as opposed to Arabia Deserta (Deserted Arabia), which was their term for northern Arabia.
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Abraha
Abraha (also spelled Abreha) (died after AD 553; r. 525—at least 553) also known as 'Abraha al-Ashram (in Arabic أبرهة الأشرم) or Abraha b. as-Saba'h, was an Ethiopian Christian viceroy in southern Arabia for the Kingdom of Aksum, and later became the King of Saba' (Yemen).
Procopius records that Abraha was once the slave of a Roman merchant at Adulis, while al-Tabari says that he was related to the Axumite royal family..
Dhu Nuwas, the Jewish Himyarite ruler of Yemen, in the period c. 523-525 or c. 518-20 launched military operations against the Aksumites Christians and their local Arab Christian allies. The Aksumites in Zafar were killed, their fortresses in the Yemeni highlands destroyed, and Najran (Saudi Arabia) sacked.
Najran fell in 518 or 523 and many members of the Himyarite Christian community were put to death evoking great sympathy throughout the Christian regions of the Orient and prompting an Aksumite military intervention aided by a Byzantine fleet first made in 518/523.
Abraha was either one of the commanders or a member of one of the armies led by King Kaleb of Axum against Dhu Nuwas. In al-Tabari's history, 'Abraha is said to have been the commander of the second army sent by Kaléb after the first failed, led by 'Ariat.
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Abraham
Abraham (Hebrew: אַבְרָהָם (help·info), Modern: Avraham, Tiberian: ʼAḇrāhām, Ashkenazi Avrohom or Avruhom, Arabic: إبراهيم Ibrāhīm, Ge'ez: አብርሃም ʼAbrəham, Greek: Aβραάμ, Russian: Авраам), whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam. According to both the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, through his sons Ishmael and Isaac, Abraham is the forefather of many tribes, namely the Ishmaelites, Israelites, Midianites and Edomites. Abraham was a descendant of Noah's son, Shem. Christians believe that Jesus was a descendant of Abraham through Isaac, and Muslims believe that Muhammad was a descendant of Abraham through Ishmael. Abraham is notable for his advocation and promotion of monotheism.
The Book of Genesis narrative that records the life of Abraham presents his role as one that could only be fulfilled through a monotheistic covenant established between him and God. The Qur'an has stories about Abraham and his offspring that are similar to the Bible's. In Islam, Abraham is recognised as a prophet, patriarch and messenger, archetype of the perfect Muslim, and reformer of the Kaaba.
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Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr (Abdullah ibn Abi Quhafa) (Arabic: عبد الله بن أبي قحافة, Transliteration: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Quḥāfah, c. 573 CE - 634 CE) also known as Abū Bakr as-Șiddīq (Arabic: أبو بكر الصديق) was a senior companion (Sahabi) and the father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He ruled over the Rashidun Caliphate from 632–634 CE when he became the first Muslim Caliph following Muhammad's death. As Caliph, Abu Bakr succeeded to the political and administrative functions previously exercised by Muhammad, since the religious function and authority of prophethood ended with Muhammad's death according to Islam. He was called Al-Siddiq (The Truthful) and was known by that title among later generations of Muslims.
As a young man, Abu Bakr became a cloth merchant and he traveled extensively in Arabia and neighboring lands in the Middle East, through which he gained both wealth and experience. He eventually came to be recognized as the chief of his clan. On his return from a business trip to Yemen, he was informed that in his absence Muhammad had openly declared his prophethood. Not long after, Abu Bakr accepted Islam and was the first person outside the family of Muhammad to openly become a Muslim. He was instrumental in the conversion of many people to the Islamic faith and early in 623, Abu Bakr's daughter Aisha was married to Muhammad, strengthening the ties between the two men.
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Abū-Tāhir Al-Jannābī
Abū-Tāhir Sulaymān Al-Jannābī (906–944) (Arabic: ابوطاهر سلیمان الجنّابی) was the ruler of the Qarmatian state in Bahrain and Eastern Arabia, who in 930 led the sacking of Mecca.
The son of ‘Abu Sa’id al-Jannabi, the founder of the Qarmatian state, Abu Tahir became leader of the state in 923. He immediately began an expansionist phase raiding Basra that year, followed by Kufa in 927, defeating an Abbasid army in the process, and then threatening Baghdad in 928 before pillaging much of Iraq when he could not gain entry to the city.
In 930, he led the Qarmatians’ most notorious attack when he pillaged Mecca and desecrated Islam’s most sacred sites. Unable to gain entry to the city initially, Abu Tahir called upon the right of all Muslims to enter the city and gave his oath that he came in peace. Once inside the city walls the Qarmatian army set about massacring the pilgrims, taunting them with verses of the Koran as they did so. The bodies of the pilgrims were left to rot in the streets or thrown down the Well of Zamzam. The Kaaba was looted, with Abu Tahir taking personal possession of the Black Stone and bringing it back to Al-Hasa.
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Akib ibn Usaid
Akib ibn Usaid, a sahaba of Muhammad, was the first governor of Mecca. It was the first permanent civil appointment made in Islam. Akib took charge of his duties as governor of Mecca in January 630.
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Ali of Hejaz
Ali bin Hussein, (Arabic: علي بن الحسين) GBE (1879–1935) was King of Hejaz and Grand Sharif of Mecca from October 1924 until December 1925. He was the eldest son of Sharif Hussein bin Ali, the first modern King of Hejaz, and a scion of the Hashemite family. With the passing of the kingship from his father he also became the heir to the title of Caliph, but he did not adopt the khalifal office and style.
The eldest son of Hussein, Ali bin Hussein was born in Mecca and was educated at Ghalata Serai College (Galatasaray High School) in Istanbul (Constantinople). His father was appointed Grand Sharif of Mecca by the Ottoman Empire in 1908. However, his relationship with the Young Turks in control of the Empire increasingly became strained, and, in 1916, he became one of the leaders of the Arab Revolt against Turkish rule. Following the Revolt's success, Hussein made himself the first King of Hejaz with British support. While his sons Abdullah and Faisal were made kings of Jordan and Iraq, respectively, Ali remained the heir to his father's lands in Arabia.
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Amalek
Amalek (Hebrew: עֲמָלֵק, Modern Amalek Tiberian ʻĂmālēq) is a figure in the Hebrew Bible. According to the Book of Genesis and 1 Chronicles, Amalek was the son of Eliphaz and of the concubine Timna. Timna was a Horite and sister of Lotan. Amalek was the grandson of Esau (Gen. 36:12; 1 Chr. 1:36) who was the chief of an Edomite tribe (Gen. 36:16).
At Genesis 36:16, Amalek is described as the "chief of Amalek", and thus his name can be construed to refer to a clan or a territory over which he ruled. Josephus calls him a 'bastard' (νόθος), though in a derogative sense.A late extra-Biblical tradition, recorded by Nachmanides, maintains that the Amalekites were not descended from the grandson of Esau but from a man named Amalek, from whom the grandson took his name. An eponymous ancestor of the Amalekites is also mentioned in Old Arabian poetry.[citation needed]
The Amalekites were a people mentioned a number of times in the book of Genesis, and considered to be Amalek's descendents. In the chant of Balaam at Numbers,24:20, Amalek was called the 'first of the nations', attesting to high antiquity.
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Diodorus Siculus
Diodorus Siculus ([pronunciation?]; Greek: Διόδωρος Σικελιώτης, Diodoros Sikeliotes) was a Greek historian who flourished between 60 and 30 BC. According to Diodorus' own work, he was born at Agyrium in Sicily (now called Agira). With one exception, antiquity affords no further information about Diodorus' life and doings beyond what is to be found in his own work, Bibliotheca historica. Only Jerome, in his Chronicon under the "year of Abraham 1968" (i.e., 49 BC), writes, "Diodorus of Sicily, a writer of Greek history, became illustrious". His English translator, Charles Henry Oldfather, remarks on the "striking coincidence" that one of only two known Greek inscriptions from Agyrium (I.G. XIV, 588) is the tombstone of one "Diodorus, the son of Apollonius".
Diodorus' universal history, which he named Bibliotheca historica ("Historical Library"), consisted of 40 books, of which 1–5 and 11–20 survive, and were divided into three sections. The first six books treat the mythic history of the non-Hellenic and Hellenic tribes to the destruction of Troy and are geographical in theme, and describe the history and culture of Ancient Egypt (book I), of Mesopotamia, India, Scythia, and Arabia (II), of North Africa (III), and of Greece and Europe (IV–VI).
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Guru Nanak
Guru Nanak (Punjabi: ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ; Hindi: गुरु नानक, Urdu: گرونانک [ˈɡʊɾu ˈnɑnək] Gurū Nānak) (15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539 at Talwandi (present-day Pakistan)) was the founder of the religion of Sikhism and the first of the ten Sikh Gurus.
The Sikhs believe that all subsequent Gurus possessed Guru Nanak’s divinity and religious authority, and were named "Nanak" in the line of succession.
Guru Nanak was born on 15 April 1469, now celebrated as Prakash Divas of Guru Nanak Dev, into a Hindu Khatri family in the village of Rāi Bhōi dī Talwandī, now called Nankana Sahib, near Lahore, Pakistan. Today, his birthplace is marked by Gurdwara Janam Asthan. Some are of the opinion that 20 October is his enlightenment day rather than his birthday. His father, Kalyan Chand Das Bedi, popularly shortened to Kalu Mehta, was the patwari (accountant) of crop revenue for the village of Talwandi in the employment of a Muslim landlord of that area, Rai Bular Bhatti. Guru Nanak’s mother was Tripta Devi and he had one elder sister, Bibi Nanaki who became a spiritual figure in her own right.
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Ibn Khaldun
Ibn Khaldūn or Ibn Khaldoun (full name, Arabic: أبو زيد عبد الرحمن بن محمد بن خلدون الحضرمي , Abū Zayd ‘Abdu r-Raḥmān bin Muḥammad bin Khaldūn Al-Ḥaḍrami, May 27, 1332 AD/732 AH – March 19, 1406 AD/808 AH) was a Muslim historiographer and historian who is often viewed as one of the forerunners of modern historiography,sociology and economics.
He is best known for his Muqaddimah (known as Prolegomenon in English), which was discovered, evaluated and fully appreciated first by 19th century European scholarship, although it has also had considerable influence on 17th-century Ottoman historians like Ḥajjī Khalīfa and Mustafa Naima who relied on his theories to analyze the growth and decline of the Ottoman empire. Later in the 19th century, Western scholars recognized him as one of the greatest philosophers to come out of the Muslim world.
Ibn Khaldun's life is relatively well-documented, as he wrote an autobiography (التعريف بابن خلدون ورحلته غربا وشرقا; Al-Taʻrīf bi Ibn-Khaldūn wa Riħlatuhu Gharbān wa Sharqān) in which numerous documents regarding his life are quoted word-for-word. However, the autobiography has little to say about his private life, so little is known about his family background. Generally known as "Ibn Khaldūn" after a remote ancestor, he was born in Tunis in AD 1332 (732 A.H.) into an upper-class Andalusian family, the Banū Khaldūn. His family, which held many high offices in Andalusia, had emigrated to Tunisia after the fall of Seville to Reconquista forces around the middle of the 13th century. Under the Tunisian Hafsid dynasty some of his family held political office; Ibn Khaldūn's father and grandfather however withdrew from political life and joined a mystical order. His brother, Yahya Ibn Khaldun, was also a historian who wrote a book on the Abdalwadid dynasty, and who was assassinated by a rival for being the official historiographer of the court.
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Ishmael
Ishmael (Hebrew: יִשְׁמָעֵאל, Modern Yishma'el Tiberian Yišmāʻēl ISO 259-3 Yišmaˁel; Greek: Ισμαήλ Ismaēl; Latin: Ismael; Arabic: إسماعيل ʾIsmāʿīl) is a figure in the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, and was Abraham's first son according to Jews, Christians and Muslims. Ishmael was born of Abraham's marriage to Sarah's handmaiden Hagar (Genesis 16:3). According to the Genesis account, he died at the age of 137 (Genesis 25:17).
Cognates of Hebrew Yishma'el existed in various ancient Semitic cultures, including early Babylonian and Minæan. It is translated literally as "God has hearkened", suggesting that "a child so named was regarded as the fulfillment of a divine promise".
This is the account of Ishmael from Genesis Chapters 16, 17, 21, 25
In Genesis 16, the birth of Ishmael was planned by the Patriarch Abraham’s first wife, who at that time was known as Sarai. She and her husband Abram (Abraham), sought a way to have children in order to fulfill the Abrahamic covenant that was established in Genesis 15. Since Sarai had yet to bear Abram a child, her idea was to offer her Egyptian handmaiden Hagar to Abram, so that they could have a child by her. Abram consented to a marital arrangement taking Hagar as his second wife when he was in his late 85th year of age. Customs of that time dictated that, although Hagar was the birth mother, any child conceived would belong to Sarai and Abram (Sarah and Abraham).
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John Esposito
John Louis Esposito (born 19 May 1940, Brooklyn, New York City) is a professor of International Affairs and Islamic Studies at Georgetown University. He is also the director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University.
Esposito was raised a Roman Catholic in an Italian neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York City, and spent a decade in a Catholic monastery. After taking his first degree he worked as a management consultant and high-school teacher.[citation needed] He then studied and received a masters in theology at St. John's University. He earned a PhD at Temple University, Pennsylvania in 1974, studying Islam and held postdoctoral appointments at Harvard and Oxford. He is well known as a promoter of strong ties between Muslims and Christians and has challenged the Vatican to make greater efforts to encourage such ties [citation needed]
For nearly twenty years after completing his PhD, Esposito had taught religious studies (including Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam) at the College of the Holy Cross, a Jesuit college in Massachusetts. At Holy Cross, Esposito held the Loyola Professor of Middle East Studies position, was the chair of the Department of Religious Studies, and the director of college's Center for International Studies. At Georgetown University, Esposito holds the position of University Professor and teaches as both Professor of Religion and International Affairs and Professor of Islamic Studies. Esposito also works as a Senior Scientist at the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, where he co-authored Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think, which was published in March 2008.
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Juhayman al-Otaibi
Juhayman ibn Muhammad ibn Sayf al-Otaybi (Arabic: جهيمان بن محمد بن سيف العتيبي) (16 September 1936 – 9 January 1980) was a religious activist and militant who led the takeover of the Grand Mosque in Makkah, Islam's holiest site, in the last months of 1979.
Otaybi was born in al-Sajir, Al-Qassim Province, one of the settlements established by King Abd al-Aziz to house Ikhwan bedouin tribesmen who had fought for him. The al-Sajir settlement (known as a hijra) was populated by members of Otaybi's tribe, the 'Utaybah tribe, one of the most pre-eminent tribes of the Najd region,. Many of Otaibi's tribesmen participated in the Battle of Sabilla during the Ikhwan uprising against Abd al-Aziz, including his father and grandfather (who was killed). Otaybi therefore grew up listening to stories of the battle and of how the Saudi monarchs had betrayed the original religious principles of the Saudi state. He served in the Saudi Arabian National Guard from 1955 to c. 1973., he was a thin and stands (187 cm) according to his friends in the Saudi Arabian National Guard.
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Khadijah
Khadīja bint Khuwaylid (Arabic: خديجة بنت خويلد) or Khadīja al-Kubra (Khadija the great) (circa 555–619 CE) was the first wife of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. She was the daughter of Khuwaylid ibn Asad and Fatimah bint Za'idah and belonged to the clan of Banu Asad. She is important in Islam as Muhammad's first wife, and "and the mother of Islam". Three of her daughters would go on to marry Caliphs: Ruqayyah and Umm Kulthum married Uthman, and Fatimah married Ali.
Khadija's father, Khuwaylid ibn Asad, who died around 585, was a merchant, a successful businessman whose vast wealth and business talents were inherited by Khadija, who successfully managed her father's business interests and preserved the family's fortune. It is said that when the Quraysh's trade caravans gathered to embark upon their lengthy and arduous journey either to Syria during the summer or to Yemen during the winter, Khadija's caravan equalled the caravans of all other traders of the Quraish put together. Fatimah bint Za'idah – Khadija's mother – died around 575, a member of the Banu `Amir ibn Luayy ibn Ghalib tribe and a distant relative of Muhammad.
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Khalid al Faisal
Khalid al Faisal (Arabic: خالد الفيصل بن عبد العزيز آل سعود) is the current governor of the Makkah Province and a member of the House of Saud
Prince Khalid was born in Mecca in 1940. He is a son of King Faisal. His mother is Haya bint Turki bin Abdulaziz al Turki. He is half-brother of Saudi Foreign Minister Saud and former Saudi Ambassador to the United Kingdom Turki.
Like Faisal's other children, Prince Khalid was educated abroad. He attended the Hun School of Princeton, New Jersey and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy from the University of Oxford in 1966.
After returning to Saudi Arabia, Prince Khalid served as director general of the Presidency of Youth Welfare in the ministry of Labor and Social Affairs in 1967.
Khalid al Faisal was governor of the Asir Province in southwestern Saudi Arabia from 1971 to 2007.
He was credited with bringing the province a measure of modernity and prosperity. At the end of 1990s and beginning of 2000s, he sought to use its natural beauty and cool climate to attract Arab tourists. But many inhabitants were resentful that the oil-based welfare state has not provided for them.
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Khosrau I
Khosrau I (also called Chosroes I in classical sources, most commonly known in Persian as Anushirvan or Anushirwan, Persian: انوشيروان meaning the immortal soul), also known as Anushiravan the Just or Anushirawan the Just (انوشیروان عادل, Anushiravān-e-ādel or انوشيروان دادگر, Anushiravān-e-dādgar) (r. 531–579), was the favourite son and successor of Kavadh I (488–531), twentieth Sassanid Emperor (Persian: Shahanshah, Great King) of Persia, and the most famous and celebrated of the Sassanid Emperors.
He laid the foundations of many cities and opulent palaces, and oversaw the repair of trade roads as well as the building of numerous bridges and dams. During Khosrau I's ambitious reign, art and science flourished in Persia and the Sassanid Empire reached its peak of glory and prosperity. His rule was preceded by his father's and succeeded by Hormizd IV. "Khosrau of the immortal soul" is one of the most popular emperors in Iranian culture and literature and, outside of Iran, his name became, like that of Caesar in the history of Rome, a designation of the Sasanian kings.
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King Fahd
Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, (Arabic: فهد بن عبد العزيز آل سعود Fahd ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Su‘ūd) (16 March 1920 – 1 August 2005) was King of Saudi Arabia from 1982 to 2005.
King Fahd is the eighth son of Ibn Saud and is the fifth king of Saudi Arabia. Fahd ascended to the throne on the death of his half-brother, King Khalid, on 13 June 1982. He was a member of Sudairi Seven. In fact, he was the eldest of Sudairi Brothers.
Fahd was appointed Crown Prince when Khalid succeeded their half-brother King Faisal, who was assassinated in 1975. Fahd was viewed as the de facto prime minister during King Khalid's reign in part due to the latter's ill health.
Fahd suffered a debilitating stroke on 29 November 1995, after which he was unable to continue performing his full official duties. His half-brother, Abdullah, then-Crown Prince, served as de facto regent of the kingdom and succeeded Fahd as monarch upon his death on 1 August 2005.
King Fahd is credited for having introduced the Basic Law of Saudi Arabia in 1992.
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Kingdom of Hejaz
The Kingdom of Hejaz was a state in the Hejaz region, ruled by the Hashemite family. It became independent from the collapsing Ottoman Empire as a result of World War I when the Sharif of Mecca made a deal with the British that the Arab population would be instigated to revolt against the Turks in exchange for a unified Arab country. In 1916, the Sharif of Mecca declared himself King of Hejaz as his Sharifian Army participated with other Arab forces and the British Empire in expelling the Turks from the Arabian peninsula.
The Hejaz region had some strategic infrastructure, particularly the Hejaz railway, which was put out of operation in the war as it was used to reinforce Turkish forces in the region.
The kingdom was annexed in 1925 by the neighbouring Sultanate of Nejd under a resurgent House of Saud, and merged into the Kingdom of Nejd and Hejaz, which would eventually be known as Saudi Arabia in 1932.
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Lakhmids
The Lakhmids (Arabic: اللخميون), Banu Lakhm (Arabic: بنو لخم), Muntherids (Arabic: المناذرة), were a group of Arab Christians who lived in Southern Iraq, and made al-Hirah their capital in 266. Poets described it as a Paradise on earth, an Arab Poet described the city's pleasant climate and beauty "One day in al-Hirah is better than a year of treatment". The al-Hirah ruins are located 3 kilometers south of Kufa, on the west bank of the Euphrates. Their descendants today are the Mandharis, who are a prominent tribe who are considered Sheikhs in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, and the Sultanate of Oman. The Abbabids, another prominent tribe in Yemen and the southern part of The Sultanate of Oman. And the Na'amanis, another Arab tribe in Oman. All of the tribes mentioned before belong to either Ibadhi or Sunni Islam. Some other famous descendants include the powerful Druze Arslan princely family.
The Lakhmid Kingdom was founded by the Lakhum tribe that emigrated from Yemen in the 2nd century and ruled by the Banu Lakhm, hence the name given it. The founder of the dynasty was 'Amr, whose son Imru' al-Qais (not to be confused with the famous poet Imru' al-Qais who lived in the 6th century) converted to Christianity. Gradually the whole city converted to that faith.
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Ludovico di Varthema
Ludovico di Varthema, also known as Barthema and Vertomannus (c. 1470-1517) was an Italian traveller, diarist and aristocrat known for being the first non-Muslim European to enter Mecca as a pilgrim. Nearly everything that is known about his life comes from his own account of his travels, Itinerario de Ludouico de Varthema Bolognese, published in Rome in 1510.
Varthema was born in Bologna.
He was perhaps a soldier before beginning his distant journeys, which he undertook apparently from a passion for adventure, novelty and the fame which (then especially) attended successful exploration.
He left Europe near the end of 1502. Early in 1503 he reached Alexandria and ascended the Nile to Cairo. From Egypt he sailed to Beirut and thence travelled to Tripoli, Aleppo and Damascus, where he managed to get himself enrolled, under the name of Yunas (Jonah), in the Mamluk garrison. From Damascus he made the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina as one of the Mamluk escort of the Hajj caravan (April-June 1503). He describes the sacred cities of Islam and the chief pilgrim sites and ceremonies with remarkable accuracy, almost all his details being confirmed by later writers.
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Muhammad
Muhammad (c. 26 April 570 – 8 June 632; also transliterated as Mohammad, Mohammed, or Muhammed; Arabic: محمد), full name: Muhammad Ibn `Abd Allāh Ibn `Abd al-Muttalib (Arabic: محمد بن عبدالله بن عبد المطلب ) was a leader from Mecca who unified the tribes of Arabia into a single religious polity under Islam. He is believed by Muslims and Bahá'ís to be a messenger and prophet of God. Muslims believe that Islam was not his own invention but was revealed by God, and most consider him to be the last prophet of God Muslims thus consider him the restorer of an uncorrupted original monotheistic faith (islām) of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and other prophets.
Born in 570 CE in the Arabian city of Mecca, he was orphaned at an early age and brought up under the care of his uncle Abu Talib. He later worked mostly as a merchant, as well as a shepherd, and was first married by age 25. Being in the habit of periodically retreating to a cave in the surrounding mountains for several nights of meditation and prayer, he later reported that it was there, at age 40, that he received his first revelation from God. Three years after this event Muhammad started preaching these revelations publicly, proclaiming that "God is One", that complete "surrender" to Him (lit. islām) is the only way (dīn) acceptable to God, and that he himself was a prophet and messenger of God, in the same vein as other Islamic prophets.
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Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire or Turkish Empire or Sublime Ottoman State or sometimes also referred to as Turkey (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِيّهٔ عُثمَانِیّه Devlet-i ʿAliyye-yi ʿOsmâniyye (also عثمانلى دولتى Osmanlı Devleti),Modern Turkish: Osmanlı Devleti or Osmanlı İmparatorluğu) was a Turkish empire which lasted from 27 July 1299 to 1 November 1922, when the Sultanate was abolished.
The Ottoman Empire was one of the largest and longest lasting empires in history; such that the Ottoman State, its politics, conflicts, and cultural heritage in a vast geography provide one of the longest continuous narratives. During the 16th and 17th centuries, in particular at the height of its power under the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the empire was one of the most powerful states in the world – a multinational, multilingual empire that stretched from the southern borders of the Holy Roman Empire to the outskirts of Vienna, Royal Hungary (modern Slovakia) and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the north to Yemen and Eritrea in the south; from Algeria in the west to Azerbaijan in the east; controlling much of southeast Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. At the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states, some of which were later absorbed into the empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries.
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Pilgrim
A pilgrim (from the Latin peregrinus) is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) who is on a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journeying (often on foot) to some place of special significance to the adherent of a particular religious belief system. In the spiritual literature of Christianity, the concept of pilgrim and pilgrimage may refer to the experience of life in the world (considered as a period of exile) or to the inner path of the spiritual aspirant from a state of wretchedness to a state of beatitude.
Pilgrims and the making of pilgrimages are common in many religions, including the faiths in ancient Egypt, Persia in the Mithraic period, India, China, and Japan. The Greek and Roman customs of consulting the gods at local oracles, such as those at Dodona or Delphi, both in Greece, are widely known. In Greece, pilgrimages could either be personal or state-sponsored.
In the early period of Hebrew history, pilgrims traveled to Shiloh, Dan, Bethel, and eventually Jerusalem, see also Three Pilgrimage Festivals, a practice followed by other Abrahamic religions. While many religious pilgrims travel toward a specific destination, a physical location is not a necessity. One group of pilgrims in early Celtic Christianity were the Peregrinari Pro Christ, (Pilgrims for Christ), or "white martyrs". They left their homes to wander in the world. This sort of pilgrimage was an ascetic religious practice, as the pilgrim left the security of home and the clan for an unknown destination, in complete trust of Divine Providence. These travels often resulted in the founding of new abbeys and spreading Christianity among the pagan population in Britain as well as in continental Europe.
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Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy ( /ˈtɒləmi/; Greek: Κλαύδιος Πτολεμαῖος, Klaudios Ptolemaios; Latin: Claudius Ptolemaeus; c. AD 90 – c. AD 168), was a Greek-Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the Thebaid. This theory, proposed by Theodore Meliteniotes, could be correct, but it is late (ca. 1360) and unsupported. There is no reason to suppose that he ever lived anywhere else than Alexandria, where he died around AD 168.
Ptolemy was the author of several scientific treatises, at least three of which were of continuing importance to later Islamic and European science. The first is the astronomical treatise now known as the Almagest (in Greek, Ἡ Μεγάλη Σύνταξις, "The Great Treatise", originally Μαθηματικὴ Σύνταξις, "Mathematical Treatise"). The second is the Geography, which is a thorough discussion of the geographic knowledge of the Greco-Roman world. The third is the astrological treatise known sometimes in Greek as the Apotelesmatika (Ἀποτελεσματικά), more commonly in Greek as the Tetrabiblos (Τετράβιβλος "Four books"), and in Latin as the Quadripartitum (or four books) in which he attempted to adapt horoscopic astrology to the Aristotelian natural philosophy of his day.
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Rashidun
The Rightly Guided Caliphs or The Righteous Caliphs (الخلفاء الراشدون al-Khulafā’u r-Rāshidūn) is a term used in Sunni Islam to refer to the first four Caliphs who established the Rashidun Caliphate. The concept of "Rightly Guided Caliphs" originated with the Abbasid Dynasty. It is a reference to the Sunni tradition, "Hold firmly to my example (sunnah) and that of the Rightly Guided Caliphs" (Ibn Majah, Abu Dawood).
The first four Caliphs who ruled after the death of Muhammad are often quoted as the Khulafah Rashidun.
The Rashidun were either elected by a council (see The election of Uthman and Islamic democracy) or chosen based on the wishes of their predecessor. In the order of succession, the rashidun were:
Hasan ibn Ali was appointed as Caliph in 661 following the death of Ali and is also regarded as a righteous ruler by Sunni Muslims, although he was recognized by only half of the Islamic state and his rule was challenged and eventually ended by the Governor of Syria, Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan.
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Rashidun Caliphate
The Rashidun Caliphate (Arabic: الخلافة الراشدية al-khilāfat ar-Rāshidīyah), (c. 632-661) comprising the first four caliphs in Islam's history, was founded after Muhammad's death in 632 (Year 10 A.H. in the Islamic calendar). At its height, the Caliphate extended from the Arabian Peninsula, to the Levant, Caucasus and North Africa in the west, to the Iranian highlands and Central Asia in the east. At its greatest extent it was one of the largest empires in history. It is also known as the Patriarchal Caliphate.
After Muhammad's death in 632, the Medinan Ansar debated which of them should succeed him in running the affairs of the Muslims while Muhammad's household was busy with his burial. Umar (a Quraish) and Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah pledged their loyalty to Abu Bakr, with the Ansar and the Quraish soon following suit. Abu Bakr thus became the first Khalifa Rasul Allah (Successor of the Messenger of God), and embarked on campaigns to propagate Islam. First, though, he would have to subdue the Arabian tribes which had gone back on their oaths of allegiance to Islam and the Islamic community. As a Khalifa or Caliph he was not a monarch and never claimed such a title nor did his three successors do so.
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Sharif
Sharīf (Arabic: شريف šarīf) or Chérif is a traditional Arab tribal title given to those who serve as the protector of the tribe and all tribal assets, such as property, wells, and land. In origin, the word is an adjective meaning "noble", "highborn". The feminine singular is sharifa(h) (Arabic: شريفة šarīfah). The masculine plural is Ashraf (Arabic: اشراف ʾašrāf).
Primarily Sunnis in the Arab world reserve the term sharif for descendants of Hasan ibn Ali, while sayyid is used for descendants of Husayn ibn Ali. Both Hasan and Husayn are grandchildren of Prophet Muhammad, through the marriage of his cousin Ali and his daughter Fatima. However ever since the post-Hashemite era began, the term sayyid has been used to denote descendants from both Hasan and Husayn. Arab Shiites use the terms sayyid and habib to denote descendants from both Hasan and Husayn; see also ashraf.
From 1201 until the Hejaz was conquered by Ibn Saud in 1925, this family held the office of the Sharīf of Mecca, often also carrying the title and office of King of Hejaz. Descendants now rule the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the name being taken from the Banu Hashim, the sub-tribe of Banu Quraish, to which Prophet Muhammad belonged.
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Sharif of Mecca
The Sharif of Mecca (Arabic: شريف مكة, Sharīf Makkah) or Hejaz (Arabic: شريف الحجاز, Sharīf al-Ḥiǧāz) was the title of the former governors of Hejaz and a traditional steward of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. The term sharif means "noble" in Arabic and is used to describe the descendants of Muhammad's grandson al-Hassan ibn Ali.
The Sharif was charged with protecting the cities and their environs and ensuring the safety of pilgrims performing the Hajj. The title is sometimes spelled Sheriff or Sherif, with the latter variant used, for example, by T. E. Lawrence in Seven Pillars of Wisdom. The common-law political and legal office of sheriff found in some anglophone countries is unrelated.
The office of the Sharifate of Mecca dates back to the late Abbasid era. Since 1201, the Sharifate was held by a member of the Hawashim clan, not to be confused with the larger clan of Banu Hashim to which all Sharifs claim descent. Descendants of this family continued to hold the position until the Twentieth Century on behalf of various Muslim powers including the Ayyubids and the Mamelukes. In 1517, the Sharif acknowledged the supremacy of the Ottoman Caliph, but maintained a great degree of local autonomy. During the Ottoman era, the Sharifate expanded its authority northwards to include Medina, and southwards to the frontiers of 'Asir, and regularly raided Nejd.
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T E Lawrence
Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence, CB, DSO (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935), known professionally as T. E. Lawrence, was a British Army officer renowned especially for his liaison role during the Arab Revolt against Ottoman Turkish rule of 1916–18. The extraordinary breadth and variety of his activities and associations, and his ability to describe them vividly in writing, earned him international fame as Lawrence of Arabia, a title which was used for the 1962 film based on his World War I activities.
Lawrence was born illegitimate in Tremadog, Wales, in August 1888 to Sir Thomas Chapman and Sarah Junner, a governess who was herself illegitimate. Chapman had left his wife and first family in Ireland to live with Sarah Junner, and they called themselves Mr and Mrs Lawrence. In the summer of 1896 the Lawrences moved to Oxford, where in 1907–10 young Lawrence studied history at Jesus College, graduating with First Class Honours. He became a practising archaeologist in the Middle East, working at various excavations with David George Hogarth and Leonard Woolley. In 1908 he joined the OUOTC (Oxford University Officer Training Corps), undergoing a two-year training course. In January 1914, before the outbreak of World War I, Lawrence was co-opted by the British Army to undertake a military survey of the Negev Desert while doing archaeological research.
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Umar
Umar (Arabic: عمر ابن الخطاب, Transliteration: `Umar ibn Al-Khattāb, Umar Son of Al-Khittab, c. 586–590 CE– 7 November 644), also known as Omar, Farooq the Great was the most powerful of the four Rashidun Caliphs and one of the most powerful and influential Muslim rulers in history. He was a sahabi (companion) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He succeeded Caliph Abu Bakr (632–634) as the second Caliph of Rashidun Caliphate on 23 August 634. He was an expert jurist and is best known for his justice, that earned him the title Al-Farooq (The one who distinguishes between right and wrong). Under Umar the Islamic empire expanded at an unprecedented rate ruling the whole Sassanid Persian Empire and more than two thirds of the Eastern Roman Empire. His brilliantly coordinated multi-prong attacks against the Sassanid Persian Empire resulted in the conquest of the Persian empire in less than two years. His legislative abilities and firm political and administrative control over a rapidly expanding empire marked his reputation as a great political and military leader. It was Umar, who for the first time in 500 years since their expulsion from the Holy Land, allowed Jews to practice their religion freely and live inside Jerusalem.[citation needed]
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Uthman ibn Affan
Uthman ibn Affan (Arabic: عثمان بن عفان, strict transliteration: ʻUthmān ibn ʻAffān) (c. 579 – 17 July 656) was one of the companions of Islamic prophet, Muhammad. He played a major role in early Islamic history as the third of the Sunni Rashidun or Rightly Guided Caliphs.
Uthman was born into the Umayyad clan of Mecca, a powerful family of the Quraish tribe. He was a companion of Muhammad who assumed the role of leader (caliph) of the Muslim Empire at the age of 65 following Umar ibn al-Khattab. Under his leadership, the empire expanded into Fars in 650 (present-day Iran), some areas of Khorasan (present-day Afghanistan) in 651 and the conquest of Armenia was begun in the 640s. Some of Uthman's notable achievements were the economic reforms he introduced, and the compilation of the Qur'an into the unified, authoritative text that is known today.
Uthman was born in Ta’if, which is situated on a hill, and the presumption is that he was born during the summer months, since wealthy Meccans usually spent the hot summers in the cooler climate of Ta’if. He was born into the wealthy Umayyad (Banu Umayya) clan of the Quraysh tribe of Mecca, seven years after Muhammad. Uthman's father, Affan, died young while travelling abroad but left a large inheritance to Uthman. Uthman followed the same profession as his father, and his business flourished, making him one of the richest men among the Qurayshi tribe.
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World War I
World War I (WWI), which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939 (World War II), and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. It involved all the world's great powers, which were assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies (based on the Triple Entente of the United Kingdom, France and Russia) and the Central Powers (originally centred around the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy; but, as Austria–Hungary had taken the offensive against the agreement, Italy did not enter into the war). These alliances both reorganised (Italy fought for the Allies), and expanded as more nations entered the war. Ultimately more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history. More than 9 million combatants were killed, largely because of enormous increases in lethality of weapons, thanks to new technology, without corresponding improvements in protection or mobility. It was the sixth-deadliest conflict in world history, subsequently paving the way for various political changes such as revolutions in the nations involved.
wn.com/World_War_I -
Yaqut al-Hamawi
Yāqūt ibn-'Abdullah al-Rūmī al-Hamawī) (1179–1229) (Arabic: ياقوت الحموي الرومي) was an Islamic biographer and geographer renowned for his encyclopedic writings on the Muslim world. "al-Rumi" ("from Rûm") refers to his Greek (Byzantine) descent; "al-Hamawi" is taken, as usual with slaves, from the family name of his master after Hama, Syria, and ibn-Abdullah is a reference to his father's name, Abdullah. This is common among slaves who don't know the name of their fathers, to call him Abdullah. The word yāqūt means ruby or hyacinth.
Yaqut was a Greek sold as a slave to trader, Askar ibn Abi Nasr al-Hamawi, who lived in Baghdad, Iraq. His master taught him accounting and trading and sent him to trade on his behalf. He later freed him and that enabled Yagut to dedicate himself to his scholarly tasks. He was one of the last scholars who accessed to the libraries east of the Caspian Sea before Mongol invasion of Central Asia. He travelled to the peaceful scholarly city of ancient Merv in present-day Turkmenistan. There Yaqut spent two years in libraries, learning much of the knowledge he would later use in his works. Yaqut spend the last few years of life in Aleppo and died there.
wn.com/Yaqut_al-Hamawi -
Yazid I
'Yazīd ibn Mu‘āwiya ibn Abī Sufyān, Arabic: يزيد بن معاوية بن أبي سفيان (born 645; died 683), commonly known as Yazid I, was the second Caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate (and the first one by birthright). He ruled for three years from 680 CE until his death in 683 CE. Some Muslims condemn Yazid's rule as contentious and unjust while others maintain that Yazid was a just, noble, religious and administratively efficient ruler and there was every reason available for his nomination by his father Muawiya as a Caliph of Muslims at the relevant time (pl. see page 111-112 of book titled “Hazrat Muawiya and Historical Facts” by Maulana Mufti Taqi Usmani, published by “Idara Al-Mu’arif Karachi, Pakistan”). Yazid was the Caliph as appointed by his father.
Muawiyah I was succeeded by his son Yazid I. Upon succession, Yazid asked Governors of all provinces to take an oath of allegiance to him. The necessary oath was secured from all parts of the country. Husayn ibn Ali and Abdullah ibn Zubayr refused to declare allegiance. Historians have recorded that the contents of a letter sent to Husayn were solely for the purposes of obtaining allegiance from him. Additionally, as Yazid knew that Walid would not be able to handle this task due to his cowardice, he sent Marwan, a soldier in his army, to assist in this task.
wn.com/Yazid_I
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[3D HD] EXCLUSIVE: The HAJJ (Makkah) as never seen before! 2012 ᴴᴰ - NL
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 24:46
- Updated: 05 Dec 2012
A video with EXCLUSIVE filming material of Makkah-Saudi Arabia and it's Hadj. Enjoy it! The Hadj filming dates from around 2007, while the Abraj Al Bait filming dates from 2011 propably. The last part was recorded this month! (Hajj 2012) SHARE! Ahlul Sunna is the Way Of Life! www.sunnah4holland.nl/english Fouten onder voorbehoud.
http://wn.com/_3D_HD_EXCLUSIVE_The_HAJJ_Makkah_as_never_seen_before!_2012_ᴴᴰ_NL
A video with EXCLUSIVE filming material of Makkah-Saudi Arabia and it's Hadj. Enjoy it! The Hadj filming dates from around 2007, while the Abraj Al Bait filming dates from 2011 propably. The last part was recorded this month! (Hajj 2012) SHARE! Ahlul Sunna is the Way Of Life! www.sunnah4holland.nl/english Fouten onder voorbehoud.
[EXTREMELY EMOTIONAL] HD Makkah Isha 2nd May 2011 by Sheikh Khalid Ghamdi
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:06
- Updated: 05 Dec 2012
[EXTREMELY EMOTIONAL] HD Makkah Isha 2nd May 2011 by Sheikh Khalid Ghamdi
http://wn.com/_EXTREMELY_EMOTIONAL_HD_Makkah_Isha_2nd_May_2011_by_Sheikh_Khalid_Ghamdi
[EXTREMELY EMOTIONAL] HD Makkah Isha 2nd May 2011 by Sheikh Khalid Ghamdi
- published: 02 May 2011
- views: 278720
- author: HARAMAINGALLERY
NEW DESIGN FOR 2020 MASJID AL HARAM, MAKKAH THE HOLIEST PLACE IN ISLAM -By Atkin.flv
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:01
- Updated: 05 Dec 2012
"Like" below and comment "SUBHAN ALLAH" ♥ Dont Forget Must Share www.facebook.com/Allah.Muhammad.Quran Sound / Background Nasheed and video Copyright @ Someone Else
http://wn.com/NEW_DESIGN_FOR_2020_MASJID_AL_HARAM,_MAKKAH_THE_HOLIEST_PLACE_IN_ISLAM_-By_Atkinflv
"Like" below and comment "SUBHAN ALLAH" ♥ Dont Forget Must Share www.facebook.com/Allah.Muhammad.Quran Sound / Background Nasheed and video Copyright @ Someone Else
- published: 10 Jan 2012
- views: 63763
- author: AllahMuhammadQuran
[HD] Makkah Maghrib 29th Jan 2012 by Sheikh Sudais
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:37
- Updated: 04 Dec 2012
[HD] Makkah Maghrib 29th Jan 2012 by Sheikh Sudais
http://wn.com/_HD_Makkah_Maghrib_29th_Jan_2012_by_Sheikh_Sudais
[HD] Makkah Maghrib 29th Jan 2012 by Sheikh Sudais
- published: 29 Jan 2012
- views: 37370
- author: HaramainHD
Hajj 2012: Changing Kabah Cover Makkah - 9 DzulHajjah, 1433 AH - Part 1
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 47:29
- Updated: 03 Dec 2012
Hajj: Changing Kabah Cover Makkah - 9 DzulHajjah, 1433 AH - Part 1
http://wn.com/Hajj_2012_Changing_Kabah_Cover_Makkah_9_DzulHajjah,_1433_AH_Part_1
Hajj: Changing Kabah Cover Makkah - 9 DzulHajjah, 1433 AH - Part 1
- published: 25 Oct 2012
- views: 25307
- author: IslamiCityTV
{HD} King Abdullah in Makkah Maghrib 17th June 2012
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:10
- Updated: 04 Dec 2012
{HD} King Abdullah in Makkah Maghrib 17th June 2012 ~ led by Sheikh Shuraim Awesome Recitation MashAllah
http://wn.com/_HD_King_Abdullah_in_Makkah_Maghrib_17th_June_2012
{HD} King Abdullah in Makkah Maghrib 17th June 2012 ~ led by Sheikh Shuraim Awesome Recitation MashAllah
- published: 17 Jun 2012
- views: 29051
- author: From the Haramain
Makkah Metro Train
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 12:52
- Updated: 03 Dec 2012
CRCC has built the Makkah Metro. Makkah Metro, will transport pilgrims between Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifa. Please see the video for more details and comments
http://wn.com/Makkah_Metro_Train
CRCC has built the Makkah Metro. Makkah Metro, will transport pilgrims between Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifa. Please see the video for more details and comments
- published: 23 Nov 2010
- views: 306819
- author: aunitali1
Rain in Makkah
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:28
- Updated: 01 Dec 2012
Rain in Masjid AL-Haram Makkah Saudia Arabia 13th january 2011
http://wn.com/Rain_in_Makkah
Rain in Masjid AL-Haram Makkah Saudia Arabia 13th january 2011
- published: 20 Jan 2011
- views: 458396
- author: rochdaledawahcentre
Extremely Emotional Makkah Isha 29-11-12 Sheikh Khalid Ghamdi
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 13:42
- Updated: 04 Dec 2012
HD| Emotional Makkah Isha 29-11-12 Sheikh Khalid Ghamdi
http://wn.com/Extremely_Emotional_Makkah_Isha_29-11-12_Sheikh_Khalid_Ghamdi
HD| Emotional Makkah Isha 29-11-12 Sheikh Khalid Ghamdi
- published: 29 Nov 2012
- views: 39645
- author: Tasjeelat Haramain
History Of Makkah Mukarma, Madina Munawara, Ancient And Modren Areas Of Aqsa Mosque
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 59:13
- Updated: 05 Dec 2012
http://wn.com/History_Of_Makkah_Mukarma,_Madina_Munawara,_Ancient_And_Modren_Areas_Of_Aqsa_Mosque
- published: 18 Jan 2012
- views: 416399
- author: Waseem Majeed
Inside khana kaba makkah خانہ کعبہ کا اندرونی منظر Best movi on youtube ever!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:59
- Updated: 02 Dec 2012
"Wu kaba ki Roniq Wu Kaba ka manzir Allah o Akbar Allah o Akbar "Inside of Kaba ( Makka ) Haram a place love to see every muslim in world. Allah o Akbar SubhanAllah
http://wn.com/Inside_khana_kaba_makkah_خانہ_کعبہ_کا_اندرونی_منظر_Best_movi_on_youtube_ever!
"Wu kaba ki Roniq Wu Kaba ka manzir Allah o Akbar Allah o Akbar "Inside of Kaba ( Makka ) Haram a place love to see every muslim in world. Allah o Akbar SubhanAllah
- published: 18 Apr 2011
- views: 118784
- author: NaatAcademy
Makkah Hotels Demonstration ( B ) SHAHRAH-E-IBRAHIM KHALIL( Wali Travel & Tours)Jun2012
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:35
- Updated: 22 Jul 2012
This Video contain 3***Star Hotels of Makkah Shareef Specifically demonstrating SHAHRAH-E-IBRAHIM KHALI video starts from Kabootar Chowk.To Bridge
http://wn.com/Makkah_Hotels_Demonstration_B_SHAHRAH-E-IBRAHIM_KHALIL_Wali_Travel_ToursJun2012
This Video contain 3***Star Hotels of Makkah Shareef Specifically demonstrating SHAHRAH-E-IBRAHIM KHALI video starts from Kabootar Chowk.To Bridge
- published: 07 Jun 2012
- views: 4946
- author: walimuhammadrehan
HD| Night 1 Ramadan 2012 Makkah Witr by Sheikh Sudais
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 12:47
- Updated: 03 Dec 2012
HD| Night 1 Ramadan 2012 Makkah Witr by Sheikh Sudais
http://wn.com/HD|_Night_1_Ramadan_2012_Makkah_Witr_by_Sheikh_Sudais
HD| Night 1 Ramadan 2012 Makkah Witr by Sheikh Sudais
- published: 19 Jul 2012
- views: 75457
- author: From the Haramain
AMAZING VIDEO IN MAKKAH, SAUDI ARABIA
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:01
- Updated: 21 Nov 2012
In this video, the authorities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are demolishing some hotels and othe building close to the Holy Mosque of Haram (Ka'aba), as part of expansion work of the mosque, in order to enable millions of visitors have access to the mosque.
http://wn.com/AMAZING_VIDEO_IN_MAKKAH,_SAUDI_ARABIA
In this video, the authorities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are demolishing some hotels and othe building close to the Holy Mosque of Haram (Ka'aba), as part of expansion work of the mosque, in order to enable millions of visitors have access to the mosque.
- published: 04 Jul 2010
- views: 67636
- author: Alasan Muhd Dambatta
Dr. Zakir Naik What is Makkah and why God has the Created Universe.mp4
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 14:24
- Updated: 28 Nov 2012
http://wn.com/Dr_Zakir_Naik_What_is_Makkah_and_why_God_has_the_Created_Universemp4
- published: 30 Jun 2012
- views: 1060
- author: Abrar Shah
November 7, 2012 ~ Makkah Maghrib led by Sheikh Maahir
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:01
- Updated: 11 Nov 2012
http://wn.com/November_7,_2012_~_Makkah_Maghrib_led_by_Sheikh_Maahir
- published: 07 Nov 2012
- views: 749
- author: From the Haramain
![Makkah Taraweeh 2011 [Full] - Ramadan Night 1 ~ تراويح مكة 1432 - ليلة 1](http://web.archive.org./web/20121206012523im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/E60B9wTn2Dk/default.jpg "Makkah Taraweeh 2011 [Full] - Ramadan Night 1 ~ تراويح مكة 1432 - ليلة 1")
Makkah Taraweeh 2011 [Full] - Ramadan Night 1 ~ تراويح مكة 1432 - ليلة 1
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 96:10
- Updated: 02 Dec 2012
Night 2: www.youtube.com Makkah Taraweeh 2011 - Night 1 -1st Ten Rakaah led by Sheikh Abdullah Awad Al- Juhany -2nd Ten Rakaats led by Sheikh Abdur Rahman Al- Sudais - Witr and Dua led by Abdur Rahman Al- Sudais
http://wn.com/Makkah_Taraweeh_2011_Full_Ramadan_Night_1_~_تراويح_مكة_1432_ليلة_1
Night 2: www.youtube.com Makkah Taraweeh 2011 - Night 1 -1st Ten Rakaah led by Sheikh Abdullah Awad Al- Juhany -2nd Ten Rakaats led by Sheikh Abdur Rahman Al- Sudais - Witr and Dua led by Abdur Rahman Al- Sudais
- published: 31 Jul 2011
- views: 241463
- author: albadrproductions
Aamir Khan Spotted With His Mother In Makkah - Bollywood News
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:17
- Updated: 05 Dec 2012
Get a glimpse of Aamir Khan's Haj trip to Makkah with his mother. Watch the high resolution 1080p video to know more. Subscribe now and watch for more of Bollywood Entertainment Videos at www.youtube.com Regular Facebook Updates www.facebook.com Twitter Updates twitter.com Follow us on google plus plus.google.com Get some more dose from www.rajshri.com Watch more www.youtube.com for the latest bollywood film reviews, makings & trailers.
http://wn.com/Aamir_Khan_Spotted_With_His_Mother_In_Makkah_Bollywood_News
Get a glimpse of Aamir Khan's Haj trip to Makkah with his mother. Watch the high resolution 1080p video to know more. Subscribe now and watch for more of Bollywood Entertainment Videos at www.youtube.com Regular Facebook Updates www.facebook.com Twitter Updates twitter.com Follow us on google plus plus.google.com Get some more dose from www.rajshri.com Watch more www.youtube.com for the latest bollywood film reviews, makings & trailers.
- published: 29 Oct 2012
- views: 39667
- author: rajshri
Taraweeh 2012 & Qunoot Dua' - Makkah Day 1 July 19, 2012 - 1433 AH
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 20:40
- Updated: 25 Nov 2012
Taraweeh prayers and salatul Witr on day 1 of Ramadan 2012, 1433 AH from the Holy Kabah.
http://wn.com/Taraweeh_2012_Qunoot_Dua'_Makkah_Day_1_July_19,_2012_1433_AH
Taraweeh prayers and salatul Witr on day 1 of Ramadan 2012, 1433 AH from the Holy Kabah.
- published: 19 Jul 2012
- views: 44910
- author: SputnikProduction
HD| Makkah Isha Arafah Day 1433 by Sheikh Juhany
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:13
- Updated: 23 Nov 2012
HD| Makkah Isha Arafah Day 1433 by Sheikh Juhany 2012
http://wn.com/HD|_Makkah_Isha_Arafah_Day_1433_by_Sheikh_Juhany
HD| Makkah Isha Arafah Day 1433 by Sheikh Juhany 2012
- published: 24 Oct 2012
- views: 3877
- author: From the Haramain
HD| Makkah Fajr 1st November 2012 by Sheikh Juhany
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:35
- Updated: 21 Nov 2012
HD| Makkah Fajr 1st November 2012 by Sheikh Juhany
http://wn.com/HD|_Makkah_Fajr_1st_November_2012_by_Sheikh_Juhany
HD| Makkah Fajr 1st November 2012 by Sheikh Juhany
- published: 01 Nov 2012
- views: 1304
- author: From the Haramain
Rain in Makkah
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:42
- Updated: 05 Dec 2012
Rain in Masjid AL-Haram Makkah Saudia Arabia on 30-12-2010.
http://wn.com/Rain_in_Makkah
Rain in Masjid AL-Haram Makkah Saudia Arabia on 30-12-2010.
- published: 17 Jan 2012
- views: 445329
- author: islamnpeace
Why is Kaaba in Makkah
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:59
- Updated: 04 Dec 2012
http://wn.com/Why_is_Kaaba_in_Makkah
- published: 29 Aug 2009
- views: 299345
- author: PalestinianEnforcer
photo: AP / Karlos Manlupig
05 Dec 2012
The death toll from a powerful storm that hit the southern Philippines is continuing to rise, as rescue teams headed for affected areas. Typhoon Bopha struck Mindanao island on Tuesday, bringing rain and high winds. Tens of thousands were evacuated ahead of the storm, which is now passing over the western island of Palawan ... Water and mud rushed down mountainous slopes to engulf a school and a village hall serving as evacuation centres ... ....(size: 2.4Kb)
photo: AP / Bassem Tellawi
04 Dec 2012
WASHINGTON (AP) â President Barack Obama warned Syria on Monday that the use of chemical weapons would be "totally unacceptable" and that the country's leaders would be held accountable ... Obama stopped short of detailing those consequences....(size: 6.7Kb)
photo: AP / Nasser Nasser
05 Dec 2012
Police in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, have clashed with protesters angry at what they say is the rushed drafting of a new constitution and by President Morsi's recent extension of his powers. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the presidential palace. The police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd, some of whom managed to cut through barbed wire around the palace ... Press action ... ....(size: 2.6Kb)
photo: NATO
05 Dec 2012
BRUSSELS. NATO on Tuesday approved member state Turkey's request for Patriot missiles to defend its border against Syria following a series of blunt warnings to Damascus not to use chemical weapons ... "We say to anyone who would want to attack Turkey -- don't even think about it," he remarked, announcing the decision after the first day of a two-day meeting in Brussels ... ....(size: 4.9Kb)
photo: US Navy / Matthew Stroup
05 Dec 2012
ISAF today issued an operational update on combat operations in Afghanistan. It noted, among other things, that Afghan and coalition security forces conducted an operation in Watahpur district yesterday that resulted in the “death of insurgent leader Mohammad Yar Gul.” ... Mohammed Yar Gul coordinated the movement of insurgent fighters throughout Kunar province ... ....(size: 1.7Kb)
The Siasat Daily
05 Dec 2012
December 05. ... [Muslim] ... `Abdullah bin `Umar (RadiyAllahu anhu) met a bedouin on his way to Makkah, he greeted him, offered him to mount the donkey he was riding and gave him the turban he was wearing on his head. Ibn Dinar (r.a.) said to him ... When `Abdullah bin `Umar (RadiyAllahu anhu) set out to Makkah, he kept a donkey with him to ride when he would get tired from the riding of the camel, and had a turban which he tied round his head....(size: 3.5Kb)
The Siasat Daily
05 Dec 2012
Hyderabad, December 05.. Wherever bomb explosions take place, police becomes active and claims to arrest the culprits. Do you think that police arrests real miscreants? It is your misconception. It arrests innocent young Muslims and gives them harsh punishments ... Mr ... The tragedy is that the Muslim youths who have been arrested in Makkah Masjid Bomb Blast case have not yet been released, although Hindu terrorists have confessed their crime....(size: 5.9Kb)
The Siasat Daily
04 Dec 2012
December 04.. Majlis Bachao Tehreek(MBT) has declared to celebrate 6th December as the black day to commemorate the demolition of Babri Masjid. Mr. Adam Malik, President of MBT and Mr ... Mr ... There were more serious issues like Makkah Masjid bomb blast and after it, police firing, arrest of innocent Muslims, damage of thousands of Wakf land, attacks or Muslims by Hindu Vahini, and the inaction of the Govt. on communal incidents ... Mr....(size: 3.6Kb)
The Siasat Daily
02 Dec 2012
Makkah masjid is one of the most beautiful masajid of not only Hyderabad but the whole India. People residing around Charminar and also those who are from far off places prefer to perform Friday prayers at Makkah Masjid but thanks to the unnecessary police bandobast in the name of security, Makkah Masjid sees a drop in Musallis for the past few Fridays....(size: 2.9Kb)
noodls
01 Dec 2012
They were Prince Bandar bin Abdulaziz; Prince Mishaal bin Abdulaziz, President of the Allegiance-Pledge Commission; Prince Mohammed bin Abdullah bin Jalawi; Prince Fahd bin Mohammed bin Abdulaziz; Prince Abdlurhman bin Abdullah bin Abdlurhman; Prince Bandar bin Mohammed bin Abdlurhman; Prince Meteb bin Abdulaziz; the Crown Prince Salman bin ......(size: 2.2Kb)
The Siasat Daily
29 Nov 2012
Why was he silent on it? Why were the Muslim youths arrested and handed over to Gujarat police on the false allegations of killing Haren Pandya? When hundreds of Muslim youths were illegally detained, tortured and arrested on the name of investigation of Makkah Masjid blast in the year 2007, why did he refuse to raise voice against the atrocities towards Muslims in the Assembly? The Muslim leaders of his party are the witnesses ... KCR....(size: 12.6Kb)
The Examiner
28 Nov 2012
Jesus of Nazareth was one of the most important people (if not the most important) in world history ... He is not the first scholar to do so, but he is the most highly placed ... Jesus of Nazareth, and Jesus of Nazareth. Holy Week ... The Muslim religious calendar (some Muslims use the Gregorian Calendar for civil purposes) dates from the migration of the Prophet Mohammad from Makkah (Mecca) to Madinah (Medina) (approximately July 622 CE) ... ....(size: 6.2Kb)
The Siasat Daily
24 Nov 2012
Reacting strongly on creating obstructions here and there by the police, for the Musallis of historical Makkah Masjid at the time of Friday prayers, Corporator Amjadullah Khan Khalid told that police should make such arrangements only if they are terrified with the Musallis of Makkah Masjid....(size: 2.2Kb)
The Siasat Daily
23 Nov 2012
City Police Commissioner Anurag Sharma talked to media at Police Commissionerate on Friday thanked the people for their cooperation that ensured peaceful conduct of Friday prayers at Makkah Masjid and other mosques in the Old City ... Friday prayer passed off peacefully at Makkah Masjid. Muslims were struggled to reach the Makkah Masjid for Friday prayer under heavy police bandobast....(size: 4.1Kb)
The Siasat Daily
23 Nov 2012
Friday Prayer passed off peacefully at Makkah Masjid.Two stones were thrown at Dcp party ,Regular announcements were made from loudspeakers that no one will be allowed to go towards Gulzarhouz from Charminar side and those interested should come out of Mahjareen gate and go towards Gulzar houz from chowk area ... Friday prayer passed off peacefully at Makkah Masjid....(size: 3.8Kb)
The Siasat Daily
23 Nov 2012
1.50PM Updated. Friday Prayer passed off peacefully at Makkah Masjid ... Hundereds of Muslim came for Friday prayer in Makkah Masjid, Friday prayer at 1"o" Clock in Makkah Masjid ... Vehicles are not allowed, only pedestrian are allowed for prayer in Makkah Masjid.All Mosque situated in surrounding areas of charminar are blocked with barricades ... Last Friday, Violence broke out in Old City of Hyderabad after the Friday prayer at Makkah Masjid....(size: 3.0Kb)
The Siasat Daily
23 Nov 2012
Vehicles are not allowed, only pedestrian are allowed for prayer in Makkah Masjid.All Mosque situated in surrounding areas of charminar are blocked with barricades ... Last Friday, Violence broke out in Old City of Hyderabad after the Friday prayer at Makkah Masjid ... Vehicles are not allowed only pedestrian for prayer in makkah masjid, Mosque situated in surrounding areas of charminar are blocked with barrackets....(size: 3.4Kb)
For other uses, see Mecca (disambiguation).
| Mecca مكة المكرمة |
|
|---|---|
| City of Makkah Makkat Al Mukarramah |
|
 |
|
| Nickname(s): the house of God | |
| Motto: Holiest city in Islam | |
 Mecca
|
|
| Coordinates: 21°25′0″N 39°49′0″E / 21.416667°N 39.816667°E / 21.416667; 39.816667Coordinates: 21°25′0″N 39°49′0″E / 21.416667°N 39.816667°E / 21.416667; 39.816667 | |
| Country |  Saudi Arabia |
| Province | Makkah Province |
| Construction of Kaaba | +2000 BCE (Disputed see history section) |
| Established | Ibrahim (Disputed see history section) |
| Joined Saudi Arabia | 1924 |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Osama Al-Bar |
| • Provincial Governor | Khalid al Faisal |
| Area[1] | |
| • Urban | 850 km2 (330 sq mi) |
| • Metro | 1,200 km2 (500 sq mi) |
| Population (2012)[citation needed] | |
| • City | 2,000,000 |
| • Density | 4,200/km2 (2,625/sq mi) |
| • Urban | 2,353,912 |
| • Metro | 2,900,000 |
| Mecca Municipality estimate | |
| Time zone | AST (UTC+3) |
| • Summer (DST) | AST (UTC+3) |
| Postal Code | (5 digits) |
| Area code(s) | +966-2 |
| Website | Mecca Municipality |
 |
This article contains Arabic text, written from right to left in a cursive style with some letters joined. Without proper rendering support, you may see unjoined Arabic letters written left-to-right instead of right-to-left or other symbols instead of Arabic script. |
Mecca[2] ( /ˈmɛkə/; Arabic: مكة, Makkah, pronounced [ˈmækːɐ]) is a city in the Hejaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located 70 km (43 mi) inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of 277 m (909 ft) above sea level. Its resident population in 2012 was 2 million, although visitors more than triple this number every year during Hajj period held in the twelfth Muslim lunar month of Dhu al-Hijjah.
As the birthplace of Muhammad and a site of the composition of the Quran,[3][4] Mecca is regarded as the holiest city in the religion of Islam[5] and a pilgrimage to it known as the Hajj is obligatory upon all able Muslims. The Hijaz was long ruled by Muhammad's descendants, the sharifs, either as independent rulers or as vassals to larger empires. It was absorbed into Saudi Arabia in 1925. In its modern period, Mecca has seen tremendous expansion in size and infrastructure. Because of this Mecca has lost many thousand years old buildings and archaeological sites.[6] Today, more than 15 million Muslims visit Mecca annually, including several million during the few days of the Hajj.[7] As a result, Mecca has become one of the most cosmopolitan and diverse cities in the Muslim world,[8] although non-Muslims remain prohibited from entering the city.[9][10]
Contents |
Etymology and usage[link]
"Mecca" is the familiar form of the English transliteration for the Arabic name of the city, and the word has additionally come to be used to refer to any place that draws large numbers of people.[11][12][13] The strictly correct English transliteration is "Makkah".[11] The spelling of the name in English was officially changed to this form by the Saudi government in the 1980s, but is not universally known or used worldwide.[12] The full official name is Makkat al-Mukarramah (مكة المكرمة, pronounced [makka lmukarrama] or [makkat almukarrama]), which means "Mecca the Honored", but is also loosely translated as "The Holy City of Mecca".[12]
The ancient or early name for the site of Mecca is Bakkah (also transliterated Baca, Baka, Bakah, Bakka, Becca, Bekka, etc.).[14][15][16] An Arabic language word, its etymology, like that of Mecca, is obscure.[17] Widely believed to be a synonym for Mecca, it is said to be more specifically the early name for the valley located therein, while Muslim scholars generally use it to refer to the sacred area of the city that immediately surrounds and includes the Kaaba.[18][19]
The form Bakkah is used for the name Mecca in the Quran in 3:96, while the form Mecca is used in 48:24.[17][20] In South Arabic, the language in use in the southern portion of the Arabian Peninsula at the time of Muhammad, the b and m were interchangeable.[20] Other references to Mecca in the Quran (6:92, 42:5) call it Umm al-Qura, meaning "mother of all settlements."[20]
Another name for Mecca, or the wilderness and mountains surrounding it, according to Arab and Islamic tradition, is Faran or Pharan, referring to the Desert of Paran mentioned in the Old Testament.[21] Arab and Islamic tradition holds that the wilderness of Paran, broadly speaking, is the Hijaz and the site where Ishmael settled was Mecca.[21] Yaqut al-Hamawi, the 12th century Syrian geographer, writes that Faran is "an arabized Hebrew word. One of the names of Mecca mentioned in the Torah."[22] There is a Tal Faran ("Hill of Faran") on the outskirts of Mecca.[22]
Government[link]
Mecca is governed by the Municipality of Mecca, a municipal council of fourteen locally elected members headed by a mayor (called an Amin) appointed by the Saudi Government. The current mayor of the city is Osama Al-Barr.[citation needed]
Mecca is the capital of Makkah Province, which includes neighboring Jeddah. The provincial governor was Prince Abdul Majeed bin Abdul Aziz from 2000 until his death in 2007.[23] On May 16, 2007, Prince Khalid al Faisal was appointed as the new governor.[24]
History[link]
Early history[link]
Islamic tradition attributes the beginning of Mecca to Ishmael's descendants. Many Muslims point to the Old Testament chapter Psalm 84:3-6 and a mention of a pilgrimage at the "Valley of Baca" that Muslims see as referring to the mentioning of Mecca as Bakkah in Qur'an Surah 3:96. Also the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus who flourished between 60 BCE and 30 BCE writes about the isolated region of Arabia in his work Bibliotheca historica describing a holy shrine that Muslims see as referring to the Kaaba at Mecca "And a temple has been set-up there, which is very holy and exceedingly revered by all Arabians".[25] The Ptolemy may have called the city "Macoraba", though this identification is controversial.[26]
Some time in the 5th century CE, the Kaaba was a place of worship for the deities of Arabia's pagan tribes. Mecca's most important pagan deity was Hubal, which had been placed there by the ruling Quraysh tribe[27][28] and remained until the 7th century CE.
In the 5th century, the Quraysh took control of Mecca, 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 more secure overland routes. The Byzantine Empire had previously controlled the Red Sea, but piracy had been on the increase. Another previous route that ran through the Persian Gulf via the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, was also being threatened by exploitations 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 also surpassed the cities of Petra and Palmyra.[29][30] The Sassanids however did not always pose a threat to Mecca as in 575 CE they actually protected the Arabian city from invasion of the Kingdom of Axum, led by its Christian leader Abraha. The tribes of the southern Arabia, asked the Persian king Khosrau I for aid, in response to which he came south to Arabia with both foot-soldiers and a fleet of ships into Mecca. The Persian intervention prevented Christianity from spreading easterward into Arabia, and Mecca and the Islamic prophet Muhammad who was at the time a six year boy in the Quraysh tribe "would not grow up under the cross."[31]
By the middle of the 6th century, there were three major settlements in northern Arabia, all along the south-western 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 grown around oases, where water was available. In the center of the Hijaz was Yathrib, later renamed Medina, from "Madinatun Nabi", or "City of the Prophet." 250 mi (400 km) south of Yathrib was the mountain city Ta’if, north-west of which lay Mecca. Although the area around Mecca was completely barren, it was the wealthiest of the three settlements with abundant water via the renowned Zamzam Well and a position at the crossroads of major caravan routes.[32]
The harsh conditions and terrain of the Arabian peninsula meant a near-constant state of conflict between the local tribes, but once a year they would declare a truce and converge upon Mecca in an annual pilgrimage. Up to the 7th century, this journey was intended for religious reasons by the pagan Arabs to pay homage to their shrine, and to drink from the Zamzam Well. 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 an important focus for the peninsula.[33]
Camel caravans, said to have first been used by Muhammad's great-grandfather, were a major part of Mecca's bustling economy. Alliances were struck between the merchants in Mecca and the local nomadic tribes, who would bring goods – leather, livestock, and metals mined in the local mountains – to Mecca to be loaded on the caravans and carried to cities in Syria and Iraq.[34] Historical accounts also provide some indication that goods from other continents may also have flowed through Mecca. Goods from Africa and the Far East passed through on route to Syria including spices, leather, medicine, cloth, and slaves; in return Mecca received money, weapons, cereals and wine, which in turn were distributed throughout Arabia. The Meccans signed treaties with both the Byzantines and the Bedouins, and negotiated safe passages for caravans, giving them water and pasture rights. Mecca became the center of a loose confederation of client tribes, which included those of the Banu Tamim. Other regional powers such as the Abyssinian, Ghassan, and Lakhm were in decline leaving Meccan trade to be the primary binding force in Arabia in the late 6th century.[33]
Tradition[link]
According to Islamic tradition, the history of Mecca goes back to Abraham (Ibrahim) who built the Kaaba with the help of his elder son Ishmael in around 2000 BCE when the inhabitants of what was then known as Bakkah had fallen away from the original monotheism of Abraham through the influence of the Amelkites.[35]
Muhammad and conquest of Mecca[link]
Muhammad was born in Mecca in 570, and thus Islam has been inextricably linked with the city ever since. He was born in a minor faction, the Hashemites, of the ruling Quraysh tribe. It was in Mecca, in the nearby mountain cave of Hira on Jabal al-Nour, that, according to Islamic tradition, Muhammad is said to have begun receiving divine revelations from God through the Archangel Gabriel in 610 AD, and began to preach his form of Abrahamic monotheism against Meccan paganism. After enduring persecution from the pagan tribes for 13 years, Muhammad emigrated (see Hijra) in 622 with his companions, the Muhajirun, to Yathrib (later called Medina). The conflict between the Quraysh and the Muslims, however, continued: the two fought in the Battle of Badr, where the Muslims defeated the Quraysh army outside Medina; while the Battle of Uhud ended indecisively. Overall, however, Meccan efforts to annihilate Islam failed and proved to be very costly and ultimately unsuccessful. During the Battle of the Trench in 627, the combined armies of Arabia were unable to defeat Muhammad's forces .[36]
In 628, Muhammad and his followers marched to Mecca, attempting to enter the city for pilgrimage. Instead, however, they were blocked by the Quraysh, after which both Muslims and Meccans entered into the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, whereby the Quraysh promised to cease fighting Muslims and promised that Muslims would be allowed into the city to perform the pilgrimage the following year. Two years later, the Quraysh violated the truce by slaughtering a group of Muslims and their allies. Muhammad and his companions, now 10,000 strong, decided to march into Mecca. However, instead of continuing their fight, the city of Mecca surrendered to Muhammad and his followers who declared peace and amnesty for the inhabitants. The native pagan imagery was destroyed by Muhammad and his followers and the location Islamized and rededicated to the worship of God. Muhammad declared Mecca as the holiest site in Islam ordaining it as the center of Muslim pilgrimage, one of the faith's Five Pillars. He also declared that no non-Muslim would be allowed inside the city so as to protect it from the influence of polytheism and similar practices. Then, Muhammad returned to Medina, after assigning Akib ibn Usaid as governor of the city. His other activities in Arabia led to the unification of the peninsula.[29][36]
Muhammad died in 632, but with the sense of unity that he had passed on to his Ummah (Islamic nation), Islam began a rapid expansion, and within the next few hundred years stretched from North Africa well into Asia and parts of Europe. As the Islamic Empire grew, Mecca continued to attract pilgrims not just from Arabia, but now from all across the Muslim world and beyond, as Muslims came to perform the annual Hajj pilgrimage.
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.
Medieval and pre-modern times[link]
Mecca was never capital of any of the Islamic states but Muslim rulers did contribute to its upkeep. During the reigns of Umar (634-44 CE) and Uthman ibn Affan (644–56) concerns of flooding caused the caliphs to bring in Christian engineers to build barrages in the low-lying quarters and construct dykes and embankments to protect the area round the Kaaba.[29]
Muhammad's migration to Medina shifted the focus away from Mecca, this focus moved still more when Ali, the fourth caliph took power choosing Kufa as his capital. The Abbasid Caliphate moved the capital to Baghdad, in modern-day Iraq, which remained the center of the Islamic Empire for nearly 500 years. 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 and again when the caliph Yazid I besieged Mecca in 683.[37] For some time thereafter the city figured little in politics remaining a city of devotion and scholarship governed by the Hashemite Sharifs.
In 930, Mecca was attacked and sacked by Qarmatians, a millenarian Ismaili Muslim sect led by Abū-Tāhir Al-Jannābī and centered in eastern Arabia.[38] The Black Death pandemic hit Mecca in 1349.[39]
In 1517, the Sharif, Barakat bin Muhammed, acknowledged the supremacy of the Ottoman Caliph but retained a great degree of local autonomy.[40]
In 1803 the city was captured by the First Saudi State,[41] which held Mecca until 1813. This was a massive blow to the prestige of the (Turkish) Ottoman Empire, which had exercised sovereignty over the holy city since 1517. The Ottomans assigned the task of bringing Mecca back under Ottoman control to their powerful Khedive (viceroy) of Egypt, Muhammad Ali Pasha. Muhammad Ali Pasha successfully returned Mecca to Ottoman control in 1813.
In 1818, followers of the Salafi juristic school were again defeated, but some of the Al Saud clan survived and founded the Second Saudi State that lasted until 1891 and lead on to the present country of Saudi Arabia.
Mecca was regularly afflicted with cholera epidemics.[42] 27 epidemics were recorded during pilgrimages from the 1831 to 1930. More than 20,000 pilgrims died of cholera during the 1907–08 hajj.[43]
Revolt of Sharif of Mecca[link]
In World War I, the Ottoman Empire was at war with Britain and its allies, having sided with Germany. It had successfully repulsed an attack on Istanbul in the Gallipoli Campaign and on Baghdad in the Siege of Kut. The British agent T E Lawrence conspired with the Ottoman governor Syed Hussain bin Ali, the Sharif of Mecca. Hussein bin Ali revolted against the Ottoman Empire from Mecca, and it was the first city captured by his forces in the Battle of Mecca (1916). Sharif's revolt proved a turning point of the war on the eastern front. Sharif Hussein declared a new state, the Kingdom of Hejaz, and declared Mecca as the capital of the new kingdom.
Saudi Arabia[link]
Following the Battle of Mecca (1924), the Sharif of Mecca was overthrown by the Saud family, and Mecca was incorporated into Saudi Arabia.[44]
Under Saudi rule, much of the historic city has been demolished as a result of construction programs - see below.
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 Masjid al-Haram (The Sacred Mosque) and the Kaaba, must be held by those of 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. Pakistani forces carried out the final assault; they were assisted with weapons, logistics and planning by an elite team of French commandos from The French GIGN commando unit.[45]
Destruction of historic buildings[link]
The officially-approved form of Islam in Saudi Arabia, Wahhabism, is hostile to any reverence given to historical or religious places of significance for fear that it may give rise to idolatry. As a consequence, under Saudi rule, it has been estimated that since 1985 about 95% of Mecca's historic buildings, most over a thousand years old, have been demolished.[46]
Historic sites of religious importance which have been destroyed by the Saudis include five of the renowned "Seven Mosques" initially built by Muhammad's daughter and four of his "greatest Companions": Masjid Abu Bakr, Masjid Salman al-Farsi, Masjid Umar ibn al-Khattab, Masjid Sayyida Fatima bint Rasulullah and Masjid Ali ibn Abu Talib.[47]
It has been reported that there now are fewer than 20 structures remaining in Mecca that date back to the time of Muhammad. Other buildings that have been destroyed include the house of Khadijah, the wife of Muhammad, demolished to make way for public lavatories; the house of Abu Bakr, Muhammad's companion, now the site of the local Hilton hotel; the house of Ali-Oraid, the grandson of Muhammad, and the Mosque of abu-Qubais, now the location of the King's palace in Mecca.[48]
The ostensible reason for much of the destruction of historic buildings has been for the construction of hotels, apartments, parking lots and other infrastructure facilities for Hajj pilgrims. However, many have been destroyed without any such reason. For example, when the house of Ali-Oraid, the grandson of Muhammed was discovered and excavated, King Fahd himself ordered that it be bulldozed in case it should become a pilgrimage site.[46]
Several notable archaeological sites have been destroyed:[6] Muhammad's birthplace was demolished to make way for a library, the house Khadijah was replaced by a public toilet, and the Abraj Al Bait Towers were built after demolishing the Ottoman era Ajyad fortress.
Pilgrimage[link]
The pilgrimage to Mecca attracts millions of Muslims from all over the world. There are two pilgrimages: the Hajj, and the Umrah.
The Hajj, the 'greater' pilgrimage is performed annually. Once a year, the Hajj, the greater pilgrimage, takes place in Mecca and nearby sites. During the Hajj, several million people of varying nationalities worship in unison. Every adult, healthy, sane Muslim who has the financial and physical capacity to travel to Mecca and can make arrangements for the care of his/her dependants during the trip, must perform the Hajj once in a lifetime.
Umrah, the lesser pilgrimage, is not obligatory, but is recommended in the Qur'an.[49] Often, they perform the Umrah, the lesser pilgrimage, while visiting the Masjid al-Haram.
On 2 July 1990, a pilgrimage to Mecca ended in tragedy when the ventilation system failed in a crowded pedestrian tunnel and 1,426 people were either suffocated or trampled to death.[50]
Geography[link]
Mecca is at an elevation of 280 m (920 ft) above sea level, and approximately 80 km (50 mi) inland from the Red Sea.[32] Central Mecca lies in a corridor between mountains, which is often called the "Hollow of Mecca." The area contains the valley of Al Taneem, the Valley of Bakkah and the valley of Abqar.[29][51] This mountainous location has defined the contemporary expansion of the city. The city centers on the Masjid al-Haram area, whose elevation is lower than most of the city. 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 today stands over 1,200 km2 (460 sq mi).[52]
In pre-modern Mecca, the city exploited a few chief sources of water. The first were local wells, such as the Zamzam Well, that produced generally brackish water. The second source was the spring of Ayn Zubayda. The sources of this spring are the mountains of J̲abal Saʿd (Jabal Sa'd) and Jabal Kabkāb, which lie a few kilometers east of Jabal Arafa or about 20 km (12 mi) southeast of Mecca. Water was transported from it using underground channels. A very sporadic third source was rainfall which was stored by the people in small reservoirs or cisterns. The rainfall, as scant as it is, also presents the threat of flooding and has been a danger since earliest times. According to Al-Kurdī, there had been 89 historic floods by 1965, including several in the Saudi period. In the last century the most severe one occurred in 1942. Since then, dams have been constructed to ameliorate the problem.[51]
Neighborhoods[link]
Climate[link]
Main article: Climate of Mecca
Mecca features an extremely arid climate. Unlike other Saudi Arabian cities, Mecca retains its warm temperature in winter, which can range from 20 °C (68 °F) at midnight to 40 °C (104 °F) in the afternoon. Summer temperatures are considered extremely hot and break the 50 °C (122 °F) mark in the afternoon dropping to 30 °C (86 °F) in the evening. Rain usually falls in Mecca in small amounts between November and January.
| Climate data for Mecca | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 37.0 (98.6) |
38.3 (100.9) |
42.0 (107.6) |
44.7 (112.5) |
49.4 (120.9) |
49.8 (121.6) |
50.1 (122.2) |
49.6 (121.3) |
49.4 (120.9) |
46.8 (116.2) |
40.8 (105.4) |
37.8 (100.0) |
50.1 (122.2) |
| Average high °C (°F) | 30.2 (86.4) |
31.4 (88.5) |
34.6 (94.3) |
38.5 (101.3) |
41.9 (107.4) |
43.7 (110.7) |
42.8 (109.0) |
42.7 (108.9) |
42.7 (108.9) |
39.9 (103.8) |
35.0 (95.0) |
31.8 (89.2) |
37.93 (100.28) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 23.9 (75.0) |
24.5 (76.1) |
27.2 (81.0) |
30.8 (87.4) |
34.3 (93.7) |
35.7 (96.3) |
35.8 (96.4) |
35.6 (96.1) |
35.0 (95.0) |
32.1 (89.8) |
28.3 (82.9) |
25.5 (77.9) |
30.73 (87.31) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 18.6 (65.5) |
18.9 (66.0) |
21.0 (69.8) |
24.3 (75.7) |
27.5 (81.5) |
28.3 (82.9) |
29.0 (84.2) |
29.3 (84.7) |
28.8 (83.8) |
25.8 (78.4) |
22.9 (73.2) |
20.2 (68.4) |
24.55 (76.19) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 11.0 (51.8) |
12.0 (53.6) |
13.0 (55.4) |
15.6 (60.1) |
20.3 (68.5) |
22.0 (71.6) |
23.4 (74.1) |
24.0 (75.2) |
22.0 (71.6) |
18.0 (64.4) |
16.4 (61.5) |
12.4 (54.3) |
11 (51.8) |
| Rainfall mm (inches) | 20.6 (0.811) |
1.4 (0.055) |
6.2 (0.244) |
11.6 (0.457) |
0.6 (0.024) |
0.0 (0) |
1.5 (0.059) |
5.6 (0.22) |
5.3 (0.209) |
14.2 (0.559) |
21.7 (0.854) |
21.4 (0.843) |
110.1 (4.335) |
| % humidity | 58 | 54 | 48 | 43 | 36 | 33 | 34 | 39 | 45 | 50 | 58 | 59 | 46.4 |
| Avg. precipitation days | 4.1 | 0.9 | 2.0 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 2.3 | 1.9 | 3.9 | 3.6 | 23.1 |
| Source: [56] | |||||||||||||
Landmarks[link]
Masjid al-Haram panorama.
Mecca houses the Masjid al-Haram, the largest mosque in the world. The mosque surrounds the Kaaba, which Muslims turn towards while offering daily prayer. This mosque is also commonly known as the Haram or Grand Mosque.[57] At ramazan 3 million people go there and at hajj 20 million go there.
As mentioned above, because of the Wahhabist hostility to reverence being paid to historic and religious buildings, Mecca has lost most of its heritage in recent years and few buildings from the last 1500 years have survived Saudi rule.[46]
Expansion of the city is ongoing and includes the construction of 601 m (1,972 ft) tall Abraj Al Bait Towers across the street from the Masjid al-Haram.[58] The towers are set to be completed in 2012 when they will become the 2nd tallest building in the world. The construction of the towers involved the demolition of the Ajyad Fortress, which in turn sparked a dispute between Turkey and Saudi Arabia.[59]
The Zamzam Well is home to a celebrated water spring. The Qishla of Mecca was an Ottoman castle facing the Grand Mosque and defending the city from attack. However, the Saudi government removed the structure to give space for hotels and business buildings near to the Grand Mosque.[60] Hira is a cave near Mecca, on the mountain named Jabal Al-Nūr in the Hejaz region of present day Saudi Arabia. It is notable for being the location where Muhammad received his first revelations from God through the angel Jibreel, also known as Gabriel to Christians.[61]
Economy[link]
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The Meccan economy has been heavily dependent on the annual pilgrimage. As one academic put it, "[Meccans] have no means of earning a living but by serving the hajjis." Income generated from the Hajj, in fact, not only powers the Meccan economy but has historically had far reaching effects on the economy of the entire Hijaz and Najd regions. The income was generated in a number of ways. One method was taxing the pilgrims. Taxes especially increased during the Great Depression, and many of these taxes existed as late as 1972. Another way the Hajj generates income is through services to pilgrims. For example, the Saudi national airline, Saudi Arabian Airlines, generates 12% of its income from the pilgrimage. Fares paid by pilgrims to reach Mecca by land also generate income; as do the hotels and lodging companies that house them.[51]
The city takes in more than $100 million, while 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.[62] The few industries operating in Mecca include textiles, furniture, and utensils. The majority of the economy is service oriented.
Nevertheless, many industries have been set up in Mecca. Various types of enterprises that have existed since 1970: corrugated iron manufacturing, copper smithies, carpentry shops, upholstering establishments, vegetable oil extraction plants, sweets manufacturies, flour mills, bakeries, poultry farms, frozen food importing, photography processing, secretarial establishments, ice factories, bottling plants for soft drinks, barber shops, book shops, travel agencies and banks.[51]
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.[63]
Health care[link]
Health care is provided by the Saudi government free of charge to all pilgrims. There are five major hospitals in Mecca:
- Ajyad Hospital (Arabic: مستشفى أجياد)
- King Abdul Aziz Hospital ( Arabic: مستشفى الملك عبدالعزيز)
- Al Noor Hospital ( Arabic: مستشفى النور )
- Sheesha Hospital ( Arabic: مستشفى الششة )
- Hira Hospital ( Arabic: مستشفى حراء )
There are also many walk-in clinics available for both residents and pilgrims.
Culture[link]
Mecca's culture has been affected by the large number of pilgrims that arrive annually, and thus boasts a rich cultural heritage. The locals speak Hejazi Arabic, but languages from all over the Muslim world can be found amongst the pilgrims.
As a result of the vast numbers of pilgims coming to the city each year (many of whom remain permanently), Mecca has become by far the most diverse city in the Muslim world. In contrast to the rest of Saudi Arabia, and particularly Nejd, Mecca has, according to the New York Times, become "a striking oasis" of free thought and discussion and, also, of "unlikely liberalism" as "Meccans see themselves as a bulwark against the creeping extremism that has overtaken much Islamic debate".[8]
The first press was brought to Mecca in 1885 by Osman Nuri Paşa, an Ottoman Wāli. During the Hashemite period, it was used to print the city's official gazette, al-Qibla. The Saudi regime expanded this press into a larger operation, introducing the new Saudi official gazette Umm al-Qurā. Henceforth presses and printing techniques were introduced in the city from around the Middle East, mostly via Jeddah.[51]
Mecca owns its hometown paper, Al Nadwa. However, other Saudi and international newspapers are also provided in Mecca such as the Saudi Gazette, Al Madinah, Okaz and Al Bilad. The first three are Mecca's (and other Saudi cities') primary newspapers focusing mainly on issues that affect the city, with over a million readers.
Many television stations serving the city area include Saudi TV1, Saudi TV2, Saudi TV Sports, Al-Ekhbariya, Arab Radio and Television Network and hundreds of cable, satellite and other speciality television providers.
In pre-modern Mecca the most common sports were impromptu wrestling and foot races.[51] Football is the most popular sport in Mecca, the city hosting some of the oldest sport clubs in Saudi Arabia such as, Al-Wahda FC (established in 1945). King Abdulaziz Stadium is the largest stadium in Mecca with capacity of 38,000.[64]
Cuisine[link]
As in other Saudi cities Kabsa (a spiced dish of rice and meat) is the most traditional lunch but the Yemeni mandi (a dish of rice and tandoori cooked meat) is also popular. Grilled meat dishes such as shawarma (flat-bread meat sandwich), kofta (meatballs) and kebab are widely sold in Mecca. During Ramadan, fava beans in olive oil and samosas are the most popular dishes and are eaten at dusk. These dishes are almost always found in Lebanese, Syrian, and Turkish restaurants.[citation needed]
The mixture of different ethnicities and nationalities amongst Meccan residents has significantly impacted Mecca's traditional cuisine.[citation needed] The city has been described as one of the most cosmopolitan Islamic cities, with an international cuisine.[65]
Traditionally during the month of Ramadan, men (known as Saggas) provided mineral water and fruit juice for Muslims breaking their fast at dusk. Today, Saggas make money providing sweets such as baklava and basbosa along with fruit juice drinks.[citation needed]
In the 20th century, many fast-food chains have opened franchises in Mecca, catering to locals and pilgrims alike.[66] Exotic foods, such as fruits from India and Japan, are often brought by the pilgrims.[67]
Demographics[link]
Population density in Mecca is very high. Most long-term residents of Mecca live in the Old City, and many work in the industry known locally as the Hajj Industry. Iyad Madani, Saudi Arabia's minister for Hajj, was quoted as saying, "We never stop preparing for the Hajj."[68] Year-round, pilgrims stream into the city to perform the rites of Umrah, and during the last weeks of Dhu al-Qi'dah, on average 4 million Muslims arrive in the city to take part in the rites known as Hajj.[69]
Pilgrims are from varying ethnicities and backgrounds, mainly Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Many of these pilgrims have remained and become residents of the city. Adding to the Hajj-related diversity, the oil-boom of the past 50 years has brought hundreds of thousands of working immigrants.
Non-Muslims are not permitted to enter Mecca under Saudi law,[9] and using fraudulent documents to do so may result in arrest and prosecution.[70] Nevertheless, many non-Muslims have visited the city. The first such recorded example is that of Ludovico di Varthema of Bologna in 1503.[71] Guru Nanak Sahib, the founder of Sikhism, visited Mecca in December 1518.[72] One of the most famous was Richard Francis Burton,[73] who traveled as a Qadiriyyah Sufi from Afghanistan in 1853. The Saudi government supports their position using[citation needed] Sura 9:28 from the Qur'an: O ye who believe! Truly the Pagans are unclean; so let them not, after this year of theirs, approach the Sacred Mosque.
Education[link]
Formal education started to be developed in late Ottoman period continuing slowly into and Hashimite times. The first major attempt to improve the situation was made by a Jeddah merchant, Muhammad ʿAlī Zaynal Riḍā, who founded the Madrasat al-Falāḥ in Mecca in 1911–12 that cost £400,000.[51]
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.[74] The medium of instruction in both public and private schools is Arabic with emphasis on English as a second language, but some private schools founded 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 university, Umm al-Qura University, which was established in 1949 as a college and became a public university in 1979.
Archaeology[link]
In 2010, the Mecca area became an important site for paleontology with respect to primate evolution, with the discovery of a Saadanius fossil. Saadanius is considered to be a primate closely related to the common ancestor of the Old World monkeys and apes. The fossil habitat, near what is now the Red Sea in western Saudi Arabia, was a damp forest area between 28m and 29m years ago.[75]
Paleontologists involved in the research hope to find further fossils in the area.[76]
Communications[link]
Telecommunications in the city were emphasized early under the Saudi reign. King Abdul Aziz Al-Saud (Ibn Saud) pressed them forward as he saw them as a means of convenience and better governance. While in King Husayn's time there were about 20 telephones in the entire city; in 1936 the number jumped to 450, totalling about half the telephones in the country. During that time telephone lines were extended to Jeddah and Ta’if, but not to the capital Riyadh. By 1985, Mecca, like other Saudi cities, possessed the most modern telephone, telex, radio and TV communications.[51]
Limited radio communication was established within the Hejaz region under the Hashimites. In 1929, wireless stations were set up in various towns of the region, creating a network that would become fully functional by 1932. Soon after World War II, the existing network was greatly expanded and improved. Since then, radio communication has been used extensively in directing the pilgrimage and addressing the pilgrims. This practice started in 1950, with the initiation of broadcasts the Day of Arafa, and increased until 1957, at which time Radio Makka became the most powerful station in the Middle East at 50 kW. Later, power was increased to 450 kW. Music was not immediately broadcast, but gradually introduced.[51]
Transportation[link]
Transportation facilities related to the Hajj or Umrah are the main services available. Mecca has only the small Mecca East Airport with no airline service, so most pilgrims access the city through the Hajj terminal of King Abdulaziz International Airport or the Jeddah Seaport, both of which are in Jeddah.
A high speed inter-city rail line (Haramain High Speed Rail Project also known as the "Western Railway"), is under construction in Saudi Arabia. It will link along 444 kilometres (276 mi), the Muslim holy cities of Medina and Mecca via King Abdullah Economic City, Rabigh, Jeddah and King Abdulaziz International Airport. It will be built by a business consortium from Spain.[77]
The city lacks any public transportation options for residents and visitors alike, both during and outside of the pilgrimage season. The main transportation options available for travel within and around the city are either personal vehicles or private taxis.
The 18 km (11 mi) Al Mashaaer Al Mugaddassah Metro opened in November 2010.[78] A total of 5 metro lines are planned to carry pilgrims to the religious sites.[79]
See also[link]
Notes[link]
- ^ Mecca Municipality
- ^ Rarely, Makkah or Bakkah.
- ^ Historical value of the Qur'ân and the Ḥadith A.M. Khan
- ^ What Everyone Should Know About the Qur'an Ahmed Al-Laithy
- ^ Nasr, Seyyed. Mecca, The Blessed, Medina, The Radiant: The Holiest Cities of Islam. Aperture. 2005
- ^ a b Taylor, Jerome (2011-09-24). The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/mecca-for-the-rich-islams-holiest-site-turning-into-vegas-2360114.html.
- ^ A Saudi tower: Mecca versus Las Vegas: Taller, holier and even more popular than (almost) anywhere else, The Economist, dated Jun 24th 2010, Cairo.
- ^ a b Fattah, Hassan M.Islamic Pilgrims Bring Cosmopolitan Air to Unlikely City, New York Times. January 20, 2005.
- ^ a b Peters, Francis E. (1994). The Hajj: The Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca and the Holy Places. Princeton University Press. p. 206. ISBN 0-691-02619-X.
- ^ Esposito, John L. (2011). What everyone needs to know about Islam. Oxford University Press. p. 25. http://books.google.com/books?id=2wSVQI3Ya2EC&pg=PA25&dq=non-muslims+in+mecca&hl=en&sa=X&ei=fgNZT5LBC-mqiQK3iLiaCw&ved=0CEcQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=non-muslims%20in%20mecca&f=false. "Mecca, like Medina, is closed to non-Muslims"
- ^ a b Michael Naylor Pearson (1996). Pilgrimage to Mecca: the In[dian experience, 1500-1800] (illustrated ed.). Markus Wiener Publishers. ISBN 1-55876-090-3, 9781558760905. http://books.google.ca/books?id=N5ocA0RDYxMC&pg=PA28&dq=makkah+official+name+spelling&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mqMZT-SqNdK6hAfu9vS9DA&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=makkah%20official%20name%20spelling&f=false.
- ^ a b c Anthony Ham, Martha Brekhus Shams, Andrew Madden (2004). Saudi Arabia (illustrated ed.). Lonely Planet. ISBN 1-74059-667-6, 9781740596671. http://books.google.ca/books?id=PddTr1X7hEgC&pg=PA76&dq=makkah+official+name+spelling&hl=en&sa=X&ei=1qMZT47IJoa5hAfpkJTiDA&ved=0CDMQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=makkah%20official%20name%20spelling&f=false.
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary (retrieved on 2009-09-24) indicates Mecca is the proper English language form and demonstrates the generic use of Mecca as in, for example, "a Mecca for holidaymakers"; there is no entry for Makkah as of 2009-09-24.
- ^ Barbara Ann Kipfer (2000). Encyclopedic dictionary of archaeology (Illustrated ed.). Springer. p. 342. ISBN 0-306-46158-7, 9780306461583. http://books.google.ca/books?id=XneTstDbcC0C&pg=PA342&dq=mecca+bakkah#v=onepage&q=mecca%20bakkah&f=false.
- ^ Cyril Glassé and Huston Smith (2003). The new encyclopedia of Islam (Revised, illustrated ed.). Rowman Altamira. p. 302. ISBN 0-7591-0190-6, 9780759101906. http://books.google.ca/books?id=focLrox-frUC&pg=PA302&dq=mecca+bakkah#v=onepage&q=mecca%20bakkah&f=false.
- ^ William E. Phipps (1999). Muhammad and Jesus: a comparison of the prophets and their teachings (Illustrated ed.). Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 85. ISBN 0-8264-1207-6, 9780826412072. http://books.google.ca/books?id=uRGoSE8AFAAC&pg=PA85&dq=mecca+becca#v=onepage&q=mecca%20becca&f=false.
- ^ a b Kees Versteegh (2008). C. H. M. Versteegh and Kees Versteegh. ed. Encyclopedia of Arabic language and linguistics, Volume 4 (Illustrated ed.). Brill. p. 513. ISBN 90-04-14476-5, 9789004144767. http://books.google.ca/books?id=OWQOAQAAMAAJ&q=bakka+%22etymologically+obscure%22&dq=bakka+%22etymologically+obscure%22.
- ^ Daniel C. Peterson (2007). Muhammad, prophet of God. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. pp. 22–25. ISBN 0-8028-0754-2, 9780802807540. http://books.google.ca/books?id=9zpbEj0xA_sC&pg=PA47&dq=mecca+becca#v=onepage&q=becca&f=false.
- ^ Sher Ali Maulawi, Mirza Tahir, Ahmad Hadhrat (2004). The Holy Quran with English Translation. Islam International. p. 753. ISBN 1-85372-779-2, 9781853727795. http://books.google.ca/books?id=8hCktJb64WIC&pg=PA753&dq=mecca+becca#v=onepage&q=mecca%20becca&f=false.
- ^ a b c Philip Khûri Hitti (1973). Capital cities of Arab Islam (Illustrated ed.). University of Minnesota Press. p. 6. ISBN 0-8166-0663-3, 9780816606634. http://books.google.ca/books?id=9niSNOCIoL8C&pg=PA25&dq=mecca+bakkah#v=onepage&q=bakkah&f=false.
- ^ a b Sir Sayyid Aḥmad Khān (1870). A series of essays on the life of Mohammad: and subjects subsidiary thereto. London: Trübner & co.. pp. 74–76. http://books.google.com/books?id=NeoOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA75&dq=arabic+pharan#v=onepage&q=arabic%20pharan&f=false.
- ^ a b Reuven Firestone (1990). Title Journeys in holy lands: the evolution of the Abraham-Ishmael legends in Islamic exegesis. SUNY Press. pp. 65, 205. ISBN 0-7914-0331-9, 9780791403310. http://books.google.com/books?id=O69zjVnjL10C&pg=PA205&dq=paran+etymology#v=onepage&q=faran&f=false.
- ^ "Prince Abdul-Majid, Governor of Mecca, Dies at 65". The New York Times. Associated Press. May 7, 2007. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/07/world/middleeast/07abdul.html. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
- ^ "PRINCE KHALID ALFAISAL APPOINTED AS GOVERNOR OF MAKKAH REGION". Saudi Press Agency. May 16, 2007. http://www.spa.gov.sa/English/details.php?id=450421. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
- ^ Translated by C H Oldfather, Diodorus Of Sicily, Volume II, William Heinemann Ltd., London & Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, MCMXXXV, p. 217.
- ^ P. Crone, Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam, p134-135.
- ^ Hawting, p. 44
- ^ Islamic World, p. 20
- ^ a b c d "Makka – The pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods", Encyclopaedia of Islam
- ^ Ira Marvin Lapidus (2002). History of Islamic Socieities. Cambridge University Press. pp. 14. ISBN 978-0-521-77933-3. http://books.google.com/?id=I3mVUEzm8xMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=History+of+Islamic+Societies#v=onepage&q&f=false.
- ^ S. Wise Bauer (2010). The history of the medieval world: from the conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 243. ISBN 978-0-393-05975-5. http://books.google.com/books?id=1u2oP2RihIgC&pg=PA243&dq=Khosru+conquered+mecca#v=onepage&q=Khosru%20conquered%20mecca&f=false.
- ^ a b Islamic World, p. 13
- ^ a b Lapidus, Ira. History of Islamic Societies, pp. 16–17
- ^ Islamic World, pp. 17–18
- ^
"Mecca". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. - ^ a b Lapidus, p. 32
- ^ Ummayads: The First Muslim Dynasty. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
- ^ "Mecca". Infoplease.com. http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/world/A0832430.html. Retrieved 2010-04-06.
- ^ "The Islamic World to 1600: The Mongol Invasions (The Black Death)". Ucalgary.ca. http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/islam/mongols/blackDeath.html. Retrieved 2010-04-06.
- ^ "Mecca – LoveToKnow 1911". 1911encyclopedia.org. 2007-04-12. http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Mecca. Retrieved 2010-04-06.
- ^ "The Saud Family and Wahhabi Islam". Library of Congress Country Studies.
- ^ Asiatic Cholera Pandemic of 1826–37 . UCLA School of Public Health.
- ^ Cholera (pathology). Britannica Online Encyclopedia.
- ^ "Mecca" at Encarta. (Archived) 2009-11-01.
- ^ "The Siege of Mecca". Doubleday(US). 2007-08-28. http://www.siegeofmecca.com. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
- ^ a b c 'The destruction of Mecca: Saudi hardliners are wiping out their own heritage', The Independent, 6 August 2005, retrieved 17 Jan. 2011
- ^ Destruction of Islamic Architectural Heritage in Saudi Arabia: A Wake-up Call, The American Muslim, retrieved 17 Jan. 2011
- ^ ‘Shame of the House of Saud: Shadows over Mecca’, The Independent, 19 April 2006
- ^ "What is Umrah?". http://islamonline.com/news/articles/21/What_is_Umrah_.html.
- ^ http://www.expressandstar.com/days/1976-2000/1990.html
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Makka – The Modern City", Encyclopaedia of Islam
- ^ "Mecca Municipality". Holymakkah.gov.sa. http://www.holymakkah.gov.sa/. Retrieved 2010-04-06.
- ^ a b c d e f ArabNews: "Makkah districts to have a bigger slice of the pie this time"
- ^ [Associated Press: "Fire Breaks Out In Mecca Neighborhood Near Hajj Pilgrims"]
- ^ a b NigeriaNews: "Kano rents 15 houses in Saudi for pilgrims"
- ^ "Weather averages for Mecca". PME. http://www.pme.gov.sa/Makkah.htm. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
- ^ "Orientation". Cgijeddah.com. http://www.cgijeddah.com/cgijed/haj/orient/visitharam.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-06.
- ^ Kee Hua Chee (2010-12-04). "Going mega in Mecca". The Star (Malaysia). http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2010/12/4/lifetravel/7478279&sec=lifetravel. Retrieved 2010-12-27.
- ^ Saudi government demolishes historic Ottoman castle
- ^ WikiMapia – About the Qishla and its location
- ^ http://www.witness-pioneer.org/vil/Books/SM_tsn/ch1s7.html
- ^ Mecca. World Book Encyclopedia. 2003 edition. Volume M. P.353
- ^ Howden, Daniel (2006-04-19). "Shame of the House of Saud: Shadows over Mecca". London: The Independent (UK). http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article358577.ece. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
- ^ Asian Football Stadiums - Stadium King Abdul Aziz
- ^ Michael Naylor Pearson. Pilgrimage to Mecca: the Ind[i]an experience, 1500-1800. Markus Wiener Publisher. p. 62.
- ^ "Gorani: Masks and business at Hajj". CNN. 2006-12-30. http://articles.cnn.com/2006-01-07/world/hajj.gorani_1_hajj-grand-mosque-pilgrims?_s=PM:WORLD.
- ^ Wolfe, p. 475
- ^ "A new National Geographic Special on PBS "Inside Mecca"". Anisamehdi.com. http://www.anisamehdi.com/projects/insidemecca/pressrelease.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-06.
- ^ "Makkah al-Mukarramah and Medina". Encyclopædia Britannica. Fifteenth edition. 23. 2007. pp. 698–699.
- ^ "Saudi embassy warns against entry of non-Muslims in Mecca". ABS-CBN News. March 14, 2006. Archived from the original on April 26, 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20060426192447/http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=32627. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
- ^ "The Lure Of Mecca". Saudi Aramco World. http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/197406/the.lure.of.mecca.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-06.
- ^ (Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer says that Mecca was not banned to non-Muslim till nineteenth century; Sikh History in 10 volumes, Sikh University Press, (2010-2012), vol. 1, pp. 181-82)
- ^ "Sir Richard Francis Burton: A Pilgrimage to Mecca, 1853". Fordham.edu. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1853Burton.html. Retrieved 2010-04-06.
- ^ Statistical information department of the ministry of education:Statistical summary for education in Saudi Arabia (AR)
- ^ Sample, Ian (2010-07-14). "Ape ancestors brought to life by fossil skull of 'Saadanius' primate". London: Guardian (UK). http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/jul/14/ape-ancestors-fossil-skull-saadanius.
- ^ Laursen, Lucas. "Fossil skull fingered as ape–monkey ancestor". Nature. http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100714/full/news.2010.354.html.
- ^ http://www.elpais.com/articulo/economia/consorcio/espanol/firma/contrato/Ave/Meca/enero/elpepueco/20120109elpepueco_7/Tes
- ^ "Hajj pilgrims take the metro to Makkah". Railway Gazette International. 15 November 2010. http://www.railwaygazette.com/nc/news/single-view/view/hajj-pilgrims-take-the-metro-to-makkah.html.
- ^ "Mecca metro contracts signed". Railway Gazette International. June 24, 2009. http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/single-view/view//makkah-metro-contracts-signed.html. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
References[link]
- the editors of Time-Life Books. (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". Encyclopædia Britannica. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia (online). 2007. http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9062323/Quraysh. Retrieved 2007-02-19.
- Lapidus, Ira M. (1988). A History of Islamic Societies. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-22552-3.
- 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. JSTOR 616125.
- "Gaganpreet". Encyclopædia Britannica. UKEN (online). 2010. http://www.google.com. Retrieved 1996-69-50.
- Wolfe, Michael (1998). One thousand roads to Mecca: ten centuries of travelers writing about the Muslim pilgrimage. Grove Press.
Encyclopedia[link]
- Watt, W. Montgomery. "Makka – The pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods." Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2008. Brill Online. June 6, 2008
- Winder, R.B. "Makka – The Modern City." Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2008. Brill Online. June 6, 2008
Further reading[link]
- 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.
- Burton, Richard Francis (1855) (Text file). Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah — Volume 1. 2. 1 (Memorial ed.). Tylston and Edwards. http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/4657. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
- Burton, Richard Francis (1855) (Text file). Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah — Volume 2. 2. 2 (Memorial ed.). Tylston and Edwards. http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/4658. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
External links[link]
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- Mecca travel guide from Wikitravel
- Holy Mecca Municipality Official website (in Arabic)
- Makkah Live 24/7 Makkah Live
- Saudi Information Resource – Holy Mecca
- Mecca Then and Now - slideshow by Life magazine
- Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al Madinah and Meccah, by Richard Burton
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