Mecca summary

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Below is the article summary. For the full article, see Mecca.

Mecca, Arabic Al-Makkah, City (pop., 2004: 1,294,106), western Saudi Arabia. The holiest city of Islam, it was the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad. It was his home until 622 ce, when he was forced to flee to Medina (see Hijrah); he returned and captured the city in 630. It came under the control of the Egyptian Mamlūk dynasty in 1269 and of the Ottoman Empire in 1517. King Ibn Saʿūd occupied it in 1925, and it became part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is a religious centre to which Muslims must attempt a pilgrimage (see hajj) once during a lifetime; only Muslims may enter Mecca, and services related to pilgrimages are the main economic activity. The Great Mosque contains the Kaʿbah.

pilgrimage Summary

Pilgrimage, a journey undertaken for a religious motive. Although some pilgrims have wandered continuously with no fixed destination, pilgrims more commonly seek a specific place that has been sanctified by association with a divinity or other holy personage. The institution of pilgrimage is

Islam Summary

Islam, major world religion promulgated by the Prophet Muhammad in Arabia in the 7th century ce. The Arabic term islām, literally “surrender,” illuminates the fundamental religious idea of Islam—that the believer (called a Muslim, from the active particle of islām) accepts surrender to the will of

Saudi Arabia Summary

Saudi Arabia, arid, sparsely populated kingdom of the Middle East that in the 20th century became one of the world’s largest oil-producing countries in terms of output. It is ruled by the Saud family, which in the 18th century entered an alliance with the austere and conservative Wahhābī Islamic

Muhammad Summary

Muhammad was the founder of Islam and the proclaimer of the Qurʾān. He is traditionally said to have been born in 570 in Mecca and to have died in 632 in Medina, where he had been forced to emigrate to with his adherents in 622. The Qurʾān yields little concrete biographical information about the