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89-500: According to general consensus of Sunni Islamic scholars, Abu Talib never converted to Islam. Abu Talib was born in the city of Mecca in the Hijaz region in 535 CE . He was the son of the Hashimite chief, Abd al-Muttalib , and a brother of Muhammad 's father, Abdullah , who had died before Muhammad's birth. After the death of Muhammad's mother Aminah bint Wahab , Muhammad, a child still,

178-624: A city about 100 km southeast of Mecca. In Ta'if, he visited the three brothers who were leaders of Banu Thaqif , the tribe that inhabited the city. The three brothers granted him an audience, and he invited them to Islam and to help him against his enemies. They rejected his request, and after Muhammad had left, sent their slaves and servants to harass him. As he fled he took refuge in a private orchard. The orchard's owners, Meccan Quraishi brothers Utbah and Shaybah sympathized with their imperilled tribesman, and sent Addas , their Christian slave from Nineveh , to treat him with grapes. As Addas

267-500: A great degree of local autonomy. In 1803 the city was captured by the First Saudi State , which held Mecca until 1813, destroying some of the historic tombs and domes in and around the city. The Ottomans assigned the task of bringing Mecca back under Ottoman control to their powerful Khedive (viceroy) and Wali of Egypt, Muhammad Ali Pasha . Muhammad Ali Pasha successfully returned Mecca to Ottoman control in 1813 . In 1818,

356-543: A great quantity of alms for the support of those who were staying in Mecca and Medina". While in Mecca, prayers were made for (not to) the King of Iraq and also for Salaheddin al-Ayyubi , Sultan of Egypt and Syria at the Ka'bah. Battuta says the Ka'bah was large, but was destroyed and rebuilt smaller than the original. According to Ibn Battuta, the original Kaaba, prior to the conquest of Makkah by

445-605: A reference to Mecca, similar to the Quran at Surah 3:96 In the Sharḥ al-Asāṭīr , a commentary on the Samaritan midrashic chronology of the Patriarchs, of unknown date but probably composed in the 10th century CE, it is claimed that Mecca was built by the sons of Nebaioth , the eldest son of Ismāʿīl or Ishmael . Thamudic inscriptions Some Thamudic inscriptions which were discovered in

534-582: A rift between him and the Quraysh. In one account, the Quraysh even threatened to fight the Banu Hashim over this conflict. In a particular narration of one such confrontation, Abu Talib summoned Muhammad to speak with the Quraysh. Muhammad asked the Quraysh leaders to say the shahada and they were astounded. The Quraysh even tried to bribe Abu Talib. They told Abu Talib that if he let them get hold of Muhammad, then he could adopt 'Umarah ibn al Walid ibn al Mughirah,

623-570: A sheep's uterus mixed with blood and excrement when he was praying in his courtyard. Another assailant threw a handful of dirt on his face when he was coming from the Kaaba . When one of his daughters weepingly cleaned up the dirt at home, he consoled her that "God will protect your father", and remarked that the Quraish treated him much worse after Abu Talib's death. Because the situation in Mecca had become more difficult, Muhammad decided to leave for Ta'if,

712-613: A state like that of eaten straw. Economy 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 Shaam and Iraq . Historical accounts also provide some indication that goods from other continents may also have flowed through Mecca. Goods from Africa and

801-473: A threat to Mecca, as in 575 CE they protected it from a Yemeni invasion, led by its Christian leader Abraha . The tribes of southern Arabia asked the Persian king Khosrau I for aid, in response to which he came south to Arabia with foot-soldiers and a fleet of ships near Mecca. By the middle of the 6th century, there were three major settlements in northern Arabia , all along the south-western coast that borders

890-554: 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. Mecca was never the capital of any of the Islamic states . Muslim rulers did contribute to its upkeep, such as during

979-517: Is 70 km (43 mi) inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea , in a narrow valley 277 m (909 ft) above sea level. Its metropolitan population in 2022 was 2.4   million, making it the third-most populated city in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh and Jeddah. Around 44.5% of the population are Saudi citizens and around 55.5% are Muslim foreigners from other countries. Pilgrims more than triple

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1068-579: Is just a few kilometers outside the main sites of the Hajj, Mina, Muzdalifah and Arafat. Mecca is not served by any airport, due to concerns about the city's safety. It is instead served by the King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah (approx. 70 km away) internationally and the Ta'if Regional Airport (approx. 120 km away) for domestic flights. The city today is at the junction of

1157-590: Is quoted as exclaiming, "By God, Quraysh never harmed me so much as after the death of Abu Talib." The early Muslims relocated to Abyssinia and then to Medina in order to escape persecution by the Quraysh. The memory of Abu Talib is influenced by political aims of the Sunni and Shia Muslims. It is reported in Sunni Islam that the Quranic verse 28:56 ("O Prophet! Verily, you guide not whom you like, but Allah guides whom He will")

1246-553: Is the official transliteration used by the Saudi government and is closer to the Arabic pronunciation. The government adopted Makkah as the official spelling in the 1980s, but it is not universally known or used worldwide. The full official name is Makkah al-Mukarramah ( Arabic : مكة المكرمة , lit.   'Makkah the Honored';). Makkah is used to refer to the city in

1335-582: The Jabal al-Nur ("Mountain of Light"), just outside the city, is where Muslims believe the Quran was first revealed to Muhammad. Visiting Mecca for the Ḥajj is an obligation upon all able Muslims. The Great Mosque of Mecca , known as the Masjid al-Haram , is home to the Ka'bah , believed by Muslims to have been built by Abraham and Ishmael . It is Islam's holiest site and

1424-617: The Abraj Al Bait , the world's fourth-tallest building and third-largest by floor area , towering over the Great Mosque. The Saudi government has also carried out the destruction of several historical structures and archaeological sites , such as the Ajyad Fortress . However, many of the demolitions have officially been part of the continued expansion of the Masjid al-Haram at Mecca and

1513-618: The Banu Nawfal clan, acceded to his request, escorted Muhammad into the city and announced the clan's protection of Muhammad . Khadija , Muhammad's first and only wife for the 25 years up to her death, died in 619 CE when she was about 65 years old. Muhammad was almost 50 at this time, and the death happened not long after the end of the boycott against Muhammad's clan. The boycott prohibited, among other things, trade with Muhammad's family. The food shortage that it caused probably contributed towards Khadija's death. Muhammad's uncle Abu Talib

1602-666: The Banu Tamim . Other regional powers such as the Abyssinians , Ghassanids, and Lakhmids were in decline leaving Meccan trade to be the primary binding force in Arabia in the late 6th century. Muhammad was born in Mecca in 570 CE, and thus Islam has been inextricably linked with it ever since. He was born into the faction of Banu Hashim in the ruling tribe of Quraysh . It was in the nearby mountain cave of Hira on Jabal al-Nour that Muhammad began receiving divine revelations from God through

1691-567: The Battle of the Trench in 627 CE, the combined armies of Arabia were unable to defeat Muhammad's forces (as the trench surrounding Muhammad's forces protected them from harm and a storm was sent to breach the Quraysh tribe). In 628 CE, Muhammad and his followers wanted to enter Mecca for pilgrimage, but were blocked by the Quraysh. Subsequently, Muslims and Meccans entered into the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah , whereby

1780-468: The First World War . This plan was later carried out by the Saudi government, which connected the two holy cities of Medina and Mecca with the modern Haramain high-speed railway system which runs at 300 km/h (190 mph) and connects the two cities via Jeddah, King Abdulaziz International Airport and King Abdullah Economic City near Rabigh within two hours. The haram area of Mecca, in which

1869-804: The Ghassanids and the Himyarites of the south supports the Arabic sources tradition that associates Quraysh as a branch of the Ma'add and Muhammad as a direct descendant of Ma'add ibn Adnan. Historian Patricia Crone has cast doubt on the claim that Mecca was a major historical trading outpost. However, other scholars such as Glen W. Bowersock disagree and assert that Mecca was a major trading outpost. Crone later on disregarded some of her theories. She argues that Meccan trade relied on skins, hides, manufactured leather goods, clarified butter, Hijazi woollens, and camels. She suggests that most of these goods were destined for

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1958-478: The Ka'bah . The Quran refers to the city as Bakkah in Surah Al Imran (3), verse 96: "Indeed the first House [of worship] , established for mankind was that at Bakkah". This is said to have been the name of the city at the time of Ibrahim and it is also transliterated as Baca, Baka, Bakah, Bakka, Becca and Bekka , among others. It was a name for the city in the ancient world. Makkah

2047-575: The Negus of Axum . It gained widespread fame, even gaining attention from the Byzantine Empire . Abraha attempted to divert the pilgrimage of the Arabs from the Ka'bah to al-Qullays, effectively converting them to Christianity. According to Islamic tradition, this was the year of Muhammad 's birth. Abraha allegedly sent a messenger named Muhammad ibn Khuza'i to Mecca and Tihamah with a message that al-Qullays

2136-641: The Prophet's Mosque in Medina and their auxiliary service facilities in order to accommodate the ever-increasing number of Muslims performing the pilgrimage ( hajj ). Non-Muslims are prohibited from entering the city . Under the Saudi government, Mecca is governed by the Mecca Regional Municipality, a municipal council of 14 locally elected members headed by the mayor (called Amin in Arabic) appointed by

2225-714: The Red Sea , but piracy had been increasing. 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 , and was 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 . The Sassanids however did not always pose

2314-654: The Saudi government . In 2015, the mayor of the city was Osama bin Fadhel Al-Barr; as of January 2022 , the mayor is Saleh Al-Turki. The City of Mecca amanah , which constitutes Mecca and the surrounding region, is the capital of the Mecca Province, which includes the neighbouring cities of Jeddah and Ta'if , even though Jeddah is considerably larger in population than Mecca. Prince Khalid bin Faisal Al Saud has been

2403-701: The Siege of Kut . The British intelligence agent T.E. Lawrence conspired with the Ottoman governor, Hussain bin Ali , the Sharif of Mecca to revolt against the Ottoman Empire and it was the first city captured by his forces in the 1916 Battle of Mecca . Sharif's revolt proved a turning point of the war on the eastern front. Hussein declared a new state, the Kingdom of Hejaz , declaring himself

2492-616: The archangel Jibreel in 610 CE, according to Islamic tradition. Advocating his form of Abrahamic monotheism against Meccan paganism, and after enduring persecution from the pagan tribes for 13 years, Muhammad emigrated ( hijrah ) in 622 CE with his companions, the Muhajirun , to Yathrib (later renamed Medina ). The conflict between the Quraysh and the Muslims is accepted to have begun at this point. Overall, Meccan efforts to annihilate Islam failed and proved to be costly and unsuccessful. During

2581-421: 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 Zamzam . However, it was also the time each year that disputes would be arbitrated, debts would be resolved, and trading would occur at Meccan fairs. These annual events gave

2670-416: The 1st century BCE in his work Bibliotheca historica , describing a holy shrine: "And a temple has been set up there, which is very holy and exceedingly revered by all Arabians". Claims have been made this could be a reference to the Ka'bah in Mecca. However, the geographic location Diodorus describes is located in northwest Arabia, around the area of Leuke Kome , within the former Nabataean Kingdom and

2759-561: The Arab tribes of Quraysh, Kinanah, Khuza'a and Hudhayl united in the defense of the Ka'bah and the city. A man from the Himyarite Kingdom was sent by Abraha to advise them that Abraha only wished to demolish the Ka'bah and if they resisted, they would be crushed. Abdul Muttalib told the Meccans to seek refuge in the hills while he and some members of the Quraysh remained within the precincts of

Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib - Misplaced Pages Continue

2848-470: The Banu Hashim moved near to Abu Talib, and the place became like a ghetto . This didn't cause undue hardship because many had family members in other tribes that would smuggle goods to them. Abu Talib's brother, Abu Lahab , sided with the Quraysh on this issue; he moved to a house in the district of Abd Shams to demonstrate support for the Quraysh. He thought Muhammad was either mad or an impostor. Protecting Muhammad put considerable pressure on Abu Talib and

2937-609: The Banu Hashim. In one instance Abu Talib exclaimed to Muhammad, "Save me and yourself, and do not put a greater burden on me than I cannot bear." Muhammad responded, "Oh uncle! By God Almighty I swear, even if they should put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left that I abjure this cause, I shall not do so until God has vindicated it or caused me to perish in the process." Seeing his nephew's emotion, Abu Talib responded, "Go, nephew, and say what you like. By God, I will never hand you over for any reason." Abū Ṭālib died around 619 AD, at more than 80 years of age, about 10 years after

3026-611: The Far East passed through en 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

3115-424: The Kaaba. Abraha sent a dispatch inviting Abdul-Muttalib to meet with Abraha and discuss matters. When Abdul-Muttalib left the meeting he was heard saying: "The Owner of this House is its Defender, and I am sure he will save it from the attack of the adversaries and will not dishonor the servants of His House." Abraha eventually attacked Mecca. However, the lead elephant, known as Mahmud, is said to have stopped at

3204-519: The Kinana tribe and destroy the Ka'bah. Ibn Ishaq further states that one of the men of the Quraysh tribe was angered by this, and going to Sana'a, entering the church at night and defiling it; widely assumed to have done so by defecating in it. Abraha marched upon the Ka'bah with a large army, which included one or more war elephants , intending to demolish it. When news of the advance of his army came,

3293-501: The Prophet, contained images of angels and prophets including Jesus (Isa in Islamic tradition), his mother Mary (Maryam in Islamic tradition), and many others - Ibn Battuta however states these were all destroyed by the Prophet in the year of victory. Battuta describes the Ka'bah in his time as an important part of Mecca due to the fact that many people make the pilgrimage to it. Battuta describes

3382-556: The Quran and ahadith . Another name used historically for Mecca is Tihāmah . According to an Islamic suggestion, another name for Mecca, Fārān , is synonymous with the Desert of Paran mentioned in the Old Testament at Genesis 21 :21. Arab and Islamic tradition holds that the wilderness of Paran, broadly speaking, is the Tihamah coastal plain and the site where Ishmael settled

3471-583: The Quran in Surah Al-Fath (48), verse 24. The word Mecca in English has come to be used to refer to any place that draws large numbers of people, and because of this some English-speaking Muslims have come to regard the use of this spelling for the city as offensive. Nonetheless, Mecca is the familiar form of the English transliteration for the Arabic name of the city. Macoraba, another ancient city name mentioned by Claudius Ptolemy Felix' Arabia Felix ,

3560-572: The Quraysh and their allies promised to cease fighting Muslims and their allies and promised that Muslims would be allowed into the city to perform the pilgrimage the following year. It was meant to be a ceasefire for 10 years; however, just two years later, the Banu Bakr , allies of the Quraish, violated the truce by slaughtering a group of the Banu Khuza'ah, allies of the Muslims. Muhammad and his companions, now 10,000 strong, marched into Mecca and conquered

3649-557: The Red Sea, in a habitable region between the sea and the Hejaz mountains to the east. Although the area around Mecca was completely barren, it was the wealthiest of the three settlements with abundant water from the renowned Zamzam Well and a position at the crossroads of major caravan routes. The harsh conditions and terrain of the Arabian peninsula meant a near-constant state of conflict between

Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib - Misplaced Pages Continue

3738-574: The Roman army, which is known to have required colossal quantities of leather and hides for its equipment. Mecca is mentioned in the following early Quranic manuscripts: The earliest Muslim inscriptions are from the Mecca- Ta'if area. Islamic narrative In the Islamic view, the beginnings of Mecca are attributed to the Biblical figures , Adam , Abraham , Hagar and Ishmael . It was Adam himself who built

3827-409: The Roman province of Arabia Petraea . Ptolemy lists the names of 50 cities in Arabia, one going by the name of Macoraba. There has been speculation since 1646 that this could be a reference to Mecca. Historically, there has been a general consensus in scholarship that Macoraba mentioned by Ptolemy in the 2nd century CE is indeed Mecca, but more recently, this has been questioned. Bowersock favors

3916-624: The Saud were defeated again but survived and founded the Second Saudi State that lasted until 1891 and led on to the present country of Saudi Arabia. In 1853, Sir Richard Francis Burton undertook the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina disguised as a Muslim. Although Burton was certainly not the first non-Muslim European to make the Hajj ( Ludovico di Varthema did this in 1503), his pilgrimage remains one of

4005-409: The Sharif of Mecca was overthrown by the Saud family, and Mecca was incorporated into Saudi Arabia. Under Saudi rule, much of the historic city has been demolished as a result of the Saudi government fearing these sites might become sites of association in worship besides Allah ( shirk ). The city has been expanded to include several towns previously considered to be separate from the holy city and now

4094-415: The Sharif of the state and Mecca his capital. News reports in November 1916 via contact in Cairo with returning Hajj pilgrims, stated that with the Ottoman Turkish authorities gone, the Hajj of 1916 was free of the previous massive extortion and monetary demands made by the Turks who were agents of the Ottoman government. Saudi Arabian conquest and modern history Following the 1924 Battle of Mecca ,

4183-513: The benefit of his clan's protection. Abu Talib was succeeded as chief by his brother Abu Lahab whose protection of Muhammad was nominal at best, and Muhammad could not find any other chief who wanted to become his protector. Under the Meccan custom at the time, this meant that he was defenseless and could be killed with impunity. Muhammad's detractors in Mecca began to mistreat and physically attack him. One assailant passed by his house and threw spoiled offal into his cooking pot. Another threw

4272-438: The boundary around Mecca and refused to enter. It has been theorized that an epidemic such as by smallpox could have caused such a failed invasion of Mecca. The reference to the story in Quran is rather short. According to the 105th Surah of the Quran, Al-Fil , the next day, a dark cloud of small birds sent by Allah appeared. The birds carried small rocks in their beaks, and bombarded the Ethiopian forces, and smashed them to

4361-401: The capital to Damascus in Syria and the Abbasid Caliphate to Baghdad , in modern-day Iraq, which remained the center of the Islamic Empire for nearly 500 years. Mecca re-entered Islamic political history during the Second Fitna , when it was held by Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr and the Zubayrids. The city was twice besieged by the Umayyads in 683 CE and 692 CE, and for some time thereafter,

4450-405: The city figured little in politics, remaining a city of devotion and scholarship governed by various other factions. In 930 CE, Mecca was attacked and sacked by Qarmatians , a millenarian Shi'a Isma'ili Muslim sect led by Abū-Tāhir Al-Jannābī and centered in eastern Arabia. The Black Death pandemic hit Mecca in 1349 CE. One of the most famous travelers to Mecca in the 14th century

4539-424: The city. The pagan imagery was destroyed by Muhammad's followers and the location Islamized and rededicated to the worship of Allah alone. Mecca was declared the holiest site in Islam ordaining it as the center of Muslim pilgrimage ( Hajj ), one of the Islamic faith's Five Pillars . Muhammad then returned to Medina, after assigning ' Attab ibn Asid as governor of the city. His other activities in Arabia led to

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4628-413: 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 28 million and 29 million years ago. Paleontologists involved in the research hope to find further fossils in the area. The early history of Mecca is still largely shrouded by a lack of clear sources. The city lies in the hinterland of

4717-485: The direction of prayer ( qibla ) for all Muslims worldwide. Muslim rulers from in and around the region long tried to take the city and keep it in their control, and thus, much like most of the Hejaz region, the city has seen several regime changes . The city was most recently conquered in the Saudi conquest of Hejaz by Ibn Saud and his allies in 1925. Since then, Mecca has seen a tremendous expansion in size and infrastructure, with newer, modern buildings such as

4806-445: The entry of non-Muslims is forbidden, is much larger than that of Medina. 1979 Grand Mosque seizure Year of Sorrow In the Islamic tradition, the Year of Sorrow ( Arabic : عام الحزن , romanized :  ‘Ām al-Ḥuzn , also translated Year of Sadness ) is the 10th year of prophethood in which Muhammad 's wife Khadijah and his uncle and protector Abu Talib died. The year approximately coincided with 619 CE or

4895-420: The first God's house in Mecca according to a heavenly prototype but this building was destroyed in the Noahic Flood . The civilization of Mecca is believed to have started after Ibrāhīm (Abraham) left his son Ismāʿīl (Ishmael) and wife Hājar (Hagar) in the valley at Allah 's command. Some people from the Yemeni tribe of Jurhum settled with them, and Isma'il reportedly married two women, one after divorcing

4984-403: The first, on Ibrahim's advice. At least one man of the Jurhum helped Ismāʿīl and his father to construct or according to Islamic narratives, reconstruct, the Ka'bah ('Cube'), which would have social, religious, political and historical implications for the site and region. Muslims see the mention of a pilgrimage at the Valley of the Bakha in the Old Testament chapter Psalm 84 :3–6 as

5073-412: The identity of the former, with his theory being that "Macoraba" is the word " Makkah" followed by the aggrandizing Aramaic adjective rabb (great). The Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus also enumerated many cities of Western Arabia, most of which can be identified. According to Bowersock, he did mention Mecca as "Geapolis" or "Hierapolis", the latter one meaning "holy city" potentially referring to

5162-481: The middle part of western Arabia of which there are sparse textual or archaeological sources available. This lack of knowledge is in contrast to both the northern and southern areas of western Arabia, specifically the Syro-Palestinian frontier and Yemen, where historians have various sources available such as physical remains of shrines, inscriptions, observations by Greco-Roman authors, and information collected by church historians. The area of Hejaz that surrounds Mecca

5251-411: The most famous and documented of modern times. Mecca was regularly hit by cholera outbreaks . Between 1830 and 1930, cholera broke out among pilgrims at Mecca 27 times. Hashemite Revolt and subsequent control by the Sharifate of Mecca In World War I , the Ottoman Empire was at war with the Allies . It had successfully repulsed an attack on Istanbul in the Gallipoli campaign and on Baghdad in

5340-408: The most handsome youth in Quraysh. When this also failed, the Quraysh elicited the support of other tribes to boycott trading with or marrying members of the Banu Hashim lineage. This boycott started seven years after Muhammad first received revelation and lasted for three years. The goal was to put pressure on the Hashimites and even starve them into submission. For the sake of security, many members of

5429-437: The other Qurayshite clans increasingly came to feel threatened by Muḥammad. In attempts to quiet him, they pressured Abū Ṭālib to silence his nephew or control him. Despite these pressures, Abu Talib maintained his support of Muḥammad, defending him from the other leaders of the Quraysh. Leaders of the Quraysh directly confronted Abu Talib several times. Abu Talib brushed them off and continued to support Muhammad even when it put

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5518-403: The people of the city as being humble and kind, and also willing to give a part of everything they had to someone who had nothing. The inhabitants of Mecca and the village itself, he says, were very clean. There was also a sense of elegance to the village. Under the Ottomans In 1517, the then Sharif of Mecca, Barakat bin Muhammad, acknowledged the supremacy of the Ottoman Caliph but retained

5607-410: The pilgrims, he had to borrow money from his brother Abbas, which he failed to return, thus being forced to letting Abbas take over the duty. Nevertheless, his social position did not take any harm from this failure. Muhammad loved his uncle, and Abu Talib loved him in return. Abu Talib is remembered as a gifted poet, and many poetic verses in support of Muhammad are attributed to him. Once, as Abu Talib

5696-426: The population number every year during the Ḥajj pilgrimage , observed in the twelfth Hijri month of Dhūl-Ḥijjah . With over 10.8 million international visitors in 2023, Mecca was one of the ten most visited cities in the world. Mecca is generally considered "the fountainhead and cradle of Islam ". Mecca is revered in Islam as the birthplace of the Islamic prophet Muhammad . The Hira cave atop

5785-446: The population was closer to 10,000 individuals, a figure extrapolated from data taken from historical records about the Battle of Badr and other military expeditions , emigrants to both Abyssinia and Madinah , and Muhammad’s own household. Al-Ateeqi, a researcher from Kuwait who has written extensively about the early history of Mecca, also makes deductions about the numbers of women, children, servants, and slaves living in Mecca at

5874-409: The provincial governor of the province since 16 May 2007. Mecca has been referred to by many names. As with many Arabic words, its etymology is obscure. Widely believed to be a synonym for Makkah , 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

5963-468: The reason for this had nothing to do with their opposition to Islam, but was rather out of tribal principles. Akhnas, though well respected in Banu Zuhrah, was not technically its member and felt that he could not extend protection in the tribe's name, while Suhayl said that his clan came from a different branch of Quraish than the rest of Meccan Quraishis and would not be able to protect Muhammad against them. Subsequently, he sent word to Mut'im ibn 'Adi ,

6052-421: The recent centuries also support Shia arguments about Abu Talib. Abu Talib was married to Fatima bint Asad . They had four sons: and three daughters: Mecca Mecca ( / ˈ m ɛ k ə / ; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah , commonly shortened to Makkah ) is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia ; it is the holiest city according to Islam . It

6141-471: The reigns of ' Umar (r. 634–644 CE) and ' Uthman ibn Affan (r. 644–656 CE) when 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 around the Kaaba. Muhammad's return to Medina shifted the focus away from Mecca and later even further away when ' Ali , the fourth caliph, took power and chose Kufa as his capital. The Umayyad Caliphate moved

6230-402: The same. They discussed this matter with Abū Ṭālib, who asked that his favorite child 'Aqīl be left with him. Al-'Abbās chose Ja'far , and Muhammad chose 'Alī. In tribal society, a tribal affiliation is important, otherwise a man can be killed with impunity. As leader of the Banu Hashim, Abu Talib acted as a protector to Muhammad. After Muhammad began preaching the message of Islam , members of

6319-403: The sanctuary of the Kaaba . Patricia Crone , from the Revisionist school of Islamic studies on the other hand, writes that "the plain truth is that the name Macoraba has nothing to do with that of Mecca [...] if Ptolemy mentions Mecca at all, he calls it Moka, a town in Arabia Petraea ". Procopius ' 6th century statement that the Ma'add tribe possessed the coast of western Arabia between

6408-461: The south Jordan contained names of some individuals such as ʿAbd Mekkat ( عَبْد مَكَّة ‎ , "Servant of Mecca"). There were also some other inscriptions which contained personal names such as Makki ( مَكِّي , "Makkan, of Makkah"), but Jawwad Ali from the University of Baghdad suggested that there's also a probability of a tribe named "Makkah". Sometime in the 5th century, the Ka'bah

6497-566: The start of Muhammad's mission. This year is known as the Year of Sorrow for Muhammad, because not only did his uncle Abu Talib die, but also his wife Khadijah bint Khuwaylid , within a month of Abu Talib. After Abu Talib's death, Muhammad was left unprotected. Abu Talib's brother and successor as the Chief of the family, that is Abu Lahab , did not protect him, as he was an enemy of Muhammad, so Muhammad and his followers faced incredible persecution. Muhammad

6586-488: The tenth year after Muhammad's first revelation . After the death of Abu Talib, Muhammad became vulnerable due to the loss of clan protection given by Abu Talib (who was also the chief of Banu Hashim ). He began to be the target of physical attacks by his Meccan opponents. He visited Ta'if to look for help and invite the inhabitants to Islam, but was rejected. On the way back to Mecca, he petitioned several prominent Meccans to ask for protection. Chief Mut'im ibn 'Adi , from

6675-573: The time, pointing out that some wealthy individuals, such as Abdullah ibn Jud’an , had as many as 100 slaves. The first clear reference to Mecca in non-Islamic literature appears in 741 CE, long after the death of Muhammad, in the Byzantine-Arab Chronicle, though here the author places the region in Mesopotamia rather than the Hejaz. Possible earlier mentions are not unambiguous. The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus writes about Arabia in

6764-493: The tribes a sense of common identity and made Mecca an important focus for the peninsula. The Year of the Elephant (570 CE) The " Year of the Elephant " is the name in Islamic history for the year approximately equating to 570–572 CE , when, according to Islamic sources such as Ibn Ishaq , Abraha descended upon Mecca, riding an elephant, with a large army after building a cathedral at San'aa , named al-Qullays in honor of

6853-504: The two most important highways in all of the Saudi Arabian highway system, Highway 40, which connects the city to Jeddah in the west and the capital, Riyadh and Dammam in the east and Highway 15, which connects it to Medina , Tabuk and onward to Jordan in the north and Abha and Jizan in the south. The Ottomans had planned to extend their railway network to the holy city, but were forced to abandon this plan due to their entry into

6942-519: The unification of the Arabian Peninsula under the banner of Islam. Muhammad died in 632 CE. Within the next few hundred years, the area under the banner of Islam stretched from North Africa into Asia and parts of Europe. As the Islamic realm grew, Mecca continued to attract pilgrims from all across the Muslim world and beyond, as Muslims came to perform the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Mecca also attracted

7031-449: Was Mecca. Yaqut al-Hamawi , the 12th-century Syrian geographer, wrote that Fārān was "an arabized Hebrew word, one of the names of Mecca mentioned in the Torah." In 2010, Mecca and the surrounding 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

7120-429: Was a Moroccan scholar and traveler, Ibn Battuta . In his rihla (account), he provides a vast description of the city. Around the year 1327 CE or 729 AH, Ibn Battuta arrived at the holy city. Immediately, he says, it felt like a holy sanctuary, and thus he started the rites of the pilgrimage. He remained in Mecca for three years and left in 1330 CE. During his second year in the holy city, he says his caravan arrived "with

7209-607: 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 Quraish tribe. and remained until the Conquest of Mecca by Muhammad . In the 5th century, the Quraish took control of Mecca, and became skilled merchants and traders. In the 6th century, they joined the lucrative spice trade , since battles elsewhere were diverting trade routes from dangerous sea routes to more secure overland routes. The Byzantine Empire had previously controlled

7298-414: Was about to leave for a trading expedition, Muhammad wept and could not bear being separated from him. To this Abu Talib responded, "By God I will take him with me, and we shall never part from each other." Later in life, as an adult, Muhammad saw that Abu Talib was struggling financially after a severe drought. Muhammad decided to take charge of one of Abu Talib's children and he convinced Al-'Abbas to do

7387-493: Was also claimed to be Mecca. Some studies have questioned this association. Many etymologies have been proposed: the traditional one is that it is derived from the Old South Arabian root M-K-R-B which means "temple". Another name used for Mecca in the Quran is at 6:92 where it is called Umm al-Qurā ( أُمّ ٱلْقُرَى ‎ , meaning "Mother of all Settlements"). The city has been called several other names in both

7476-506: Was both much better than other houses of worship and purer, having not been defiled by the housing of idols. When Muhammad ibn Khuza'i got as far as the land of Kinana , the people of the lowland, knowing what he had come for, sent a man of Hudhayl called ʿUrwa bin Hayyad al-Milasi, who shot him with an arrow, killing him. His brother Qays who was with him, fled to Abraha and told him the news, which increased his rage and fury and he swore to raid

7565-450: Was characterized by its remote, rocky, and inhospitable nature, supporting only meagre settled populations in scattered oases and occasional stretches of fertile land. The Red Sea coast offered no easily accessible ports and the oasis dwellers and bedouins in the region were illiterate. While one individual has suggested that Mecca’s population at the time of Muhammad was around 550, research published by Binimad Al-Ateeqi in 2020 shows that

7654-586: Was offering the grapes to Muhammad, they talked and he was impressed by Muhammad's knowledge of the Ninevite prophet Jonah As a result, it is stated that he accepted Islam. Rejected by the people of Ta'if, Muhammad wished to return to Mecca, but did not want to risk going there without tribal protection. On the way to Mecca he sent word to several prominent Meccans to request protection. The first two, Akhnas ibn Shariq of Banu Zuhrah and Suhayl ibn Amr of Banu Amir , rejected his request. Both leaders' stated that

7743-455: Was revealed concerning Abu Talib's embrace of Islam at the hands of his nephew. Shia believe that Abu Talib was an upright supporter of Muhammad. In addition, when Muhammad married Khadija, Abu Talib recited the sermon of the marriage. This fact has also been used to prove Abu Talib's monotheism. Abu Talib, according to the Shia, was a Muslim and died a Muslim. Shia claim that the Sunni scholars in

7832-566: Was taken into the care of his grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib. When Muhammad reached eight years of age, Abd al-Muttalib died. One of Muhammad's uncles was to take him in. The oldest, Al-Harith was not wealthy enough to accept guardianship for his nephew. Abu Talib, despite his poverty, took in Muhammad in an act of selfless generosity. Although Abu Talib was responsible for providing Siqaya and Rifada (Food and Beverages) of Hajj pilgrims, he lived in poverty. In order to fulfill his obligations towards

7921-612: Was the chief of Muhammad's clan, Banu Hashim , in whose household Muhammad (who was an orphan) had lived since the death of his grandfather Abd al-Muttalib . As the clan chief, he granted protection to Muhammad, even as Muhammad gained enmity from some in the Quraish tribe due to his call to Islam. Per the Meccan customs at the time, such protection was considered inviolate, and therefore Muhammad's enemies were unable to attack him. Abu Talib fell gravely ill shortly after Khadija's death. The death of Abu Talib meant that Muhammad no longer had

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