Facts about Mecca
The holiness of Mecca was established before the days of Muhammad, traceable to Ka'bah and the Spring of Zamzam.
Mecca is in the Sirat Mountains, about 50 miles from the port city of Jidda (Jeddah).
The most famous account of a foreigner's journey to Makkah is A Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Mecca and al-Madina, written by Sir Richard Francis Burton.
Prior to the age of the European world explorations, the pilgrimage to Mecca was the single largest expression of human mobility.
Both Mecca and Medina are cities of great importance to the Islamic religion.
In 1926, the Sharifs of Makkah were overthrown by the Saudis, and Mecca was incorporated into Saudi Arabia.
Academic historians state with certainty only that Mecca was a shrine and trading center for a number of generations before the Prophet Muhammad.
Mecca and Medina (the second holiest city after Mecca) are located in an area known as the Hijaz, (meaning "barrier") in the western region of the Arabian peninsula.
The few industries operating in Mecca include textiles, furniture, and utensils.
Due to the difficulty and expense of the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage was small compared to the millions that swell Mecca today.
According to Islamic legend, Abraham had left Mecca on God’s command, leaving Hagar and Ishmael with only some water and dates.
Paved roads and modern expressways link Mecca with other cities in Saudi Arabia.
Mecca (Makkah al-Mukarramah, Arabic: ??? ???????) is a holy Islamic city in Saudi Arabia's Makkah province, in the historic Hejaz region.
Mecca was never the capital of the Islamic empire; the first capital was Medina, some 250 miles (400 km) away.
Pilgrims make every effort to drink of this water during their pilgrimage to Mecca.
The spelling Makkah or Meccah is not new and has always been a common alternative.
Before the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Mecca was under the control of the tribe known as ].
After the Hijra, upon Muhammed's victorious return to Mecca, the people of Mecca themselves removed all the idols in and around the Ka'aba and cleansed it.
Ancient Mecca was an oasis on the caravan route linking the Mediterranean world with South Arabia, East Africa, and South Asia.
A number of them disguised themselves as Muslims and entered the city of Mecca and then the Kaaba to experience the Hajj for themselves.
Mecca is also the capital of Makkah province, which also includes neighboring Jeddah.
Patricia Crone, in her book Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam, argues that the Meccans were small merchants dealing in hides, camel butter, and the like.
Mecca re-entered Islamic political history briefly when it was held by Abd-Allah ibn al-Zubayr, an early Muslim who opposed the Umayyad caliphs.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is closed to tourists and Mecca itself is off limits to all non-Muslims.
The English word mecca, meaning "a place to which many people are attracted" is derived from Makkah.
The Meccan economy is almost entirely dependent on money spent by people attending the hajj.
The city of Mecca in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the Islamic religion’s holiest city.
Most of the physical and mental development of a person takes place in childhood.
Some historians believe that Mecca was a waypoint on a land route from southern Arabia north to the Roman and Byzantine empires, and that Arabian and Indian Ocean spices were funneled through Mecca.
All had the same objective to worship together at the most sacred shrine of Islam, the Kaaba in Mecca. One such traveler was Mansa Musa, Sultan of Mali in Western Africa. ... Musa was a devout Muslim, and his pilgrimage to Mecca made him well-known across northern Africa and the Middle East.