Encyclopedia of Islam

Mecca

 

(also Makkah)

A number of 

cities

 have been regarded as sacred 

centers in the history of religions. Varanasi 

(Banaras), Mathura, and Ayodhya in India are 

among those considered sacred by Hindus, Ise is 

sacred to the Japanese, and J

erUsalem

 is sacred to 

Jews, Christians, and Muslims. The most sacred 

city in Islam is Mecca, followed by m

edina

, Jeru-

salem, and, for the Shia, k

arbala

 and Najaf. Like 

these other cities, its special status as a holy city 

is based on events narrated in sacred history that 

are believed to have occurred there, its distinctive 

architectural landscape, and the complex of ritual 

practices that are performed there.

In Islamic sacred history, Mecca, which is 

known as “Ennobled Mecca” (Makka al-Mukar-

rama), is where Muslims believe that a

braham

and his son Ishmael built the k

aaba

 and where 

Ishmael and his mother h

agar

 are buried. It is 

the birthplace of m

Uhammad

 (ca. 570–632) and 

where he received the early revelations of the 

q

Uran

. Indeed, another epithet for the city is 

“Dwelling Place of Revelation.” Many of his wives 

and Companions were also born there, and it was 

the ancestral home of the Umayyad and Abbasid 

caliphs. According to accounts related by Muham-

mad ibn Abd Allah ibn Ahmad al-Azraqi (d. 837), 

who wrote a history of the city, it is called the 

“Mother of Towns” (umm al-qura) because it is 

where the 

creation

 of the earth began. His book 

also tells about how Adam traveled there from 

India, his home after being expelled from para-

dise, to be reunited with Eve and perform the first 

haJJ

 rites, setting a precedent for performing these 

rites that would be reconfirmed in later times by 

Abraham and Muhammad.

Mecca is situated in a valley amidst the Sirat 

Mountains in the western region of the Arabian 

Peninsula known as the Hijaz. It is about 45 miles 

inland from the city of Jedda, which is located 

on the Red Sea coast. Its distinctive architectural 

landscape is defined by ritual spaces in the city, 

in the adjacent valley of Mina, and in the plain of 

Arafat. The ceremonial center of the urban ritual 

complex is the Sacred Mosque, where the Kaaba 

and the well of z

amzam

 are situated, and the 

concourse between the hills of Safa and Marwa, 

which is located on the northeastern side of the 

mosque. The Valley of Mina contains the three 

satanic pillars that are stoned by pilgrims at the 

conclusion of the hajj. About seven miles past