Mecca

Province

Mecca (Arabic: مكة, Makkah DMG ) is a city of 1,484,858 inhabitants ( 2010) in western Saudi Arabia and to the shrine of the Kaaba at the same time, the central place of pilgrimage of Islam. Each year, around 2.5 million Muslims make a pilgrimage to the Hajj to Mecca, while non-Muslims to enter the city is prohibited. Mecca is the capital of the province of Mecca in the Hijaz region. Because of the great religious significance, the city has in Islam, it is in Arabic usually provided with an honorable epithet and referred to as مكة المكرمة Makka al - Mukarrama, Mecca, the Venerable '.

Islamic significance

Mecca is the birthplace of Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam. The most important place of pilgrimage is the Kaaba, a windowless cube-shaped building in the courtyard of the main mosque, which was first built in the Islamic concept of Prophet Adam and then rebuilt by the Prophet Abraham. What is historically certain that the Kaaba was a central sanctuary of the Arab tribes of the surrounding area already in pre-Islamic times. In its southeast corner is a black stone - possibly a Hajar ( meteorite ) - that, according to tradition, the Prophet Abraham by the angel Gabriel received.

Non- Muslims in Mecca

To the city of Mecca, a sacred area, which may not be entered by non-Muslims extends. Roadblocks protect the city from before the visit of non-Muslims.

In past centuries, however, managed a number of European travelers, usually disguised as Muslims to come to Mecca. These included the enslaved Landsknecht Hans Wild ( 1607-1609 ), the German explorer Ulrich Jasper SEETZEN (1809 ), the Basel Jean Louis Burckhardt ( 1814), who was known among other things, by the discovery of ancient Nabatäerhauptstadt Petra, as well as the German orientalist and explorer Heinrich von Maltzan, who in 1860 disguised as a Muslim with an obtained through bribery of an Arab passport visited Mecca, which he reported in a 1865 first published and to date several times reissued book. 1853 gave the English the adventurous traveler Richard Francis Burton, a detailed description of Mecca, after he attended there disguised as a dervish in all the major religious ceremonies. The Dutch scientist Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje Islam held in the late 19th century also under a false identity in Mecca. Result of his study trip was a two-volume work ( Mecca, published 1889), which consists of a text and a photo book with photographs.

1979 were involved with an exemption of the Saudi military in the crackdown on the composition of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, members of the French Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale.

Geography, urban development, transport

Mecca is located about 90 km from the Red Sea between the coastal plain and the highlands in a desert-like basins, enclosed between two mountain ranges. The lower part of the town around the Kaaba is the older settlement area; the upper town lies in the north. Because of the numerous projecting into the urban area mountains and hills, it was necessary to build several road tunnels.

Significant growth of Mecca in recent years was observed by almost 200,000 inhabitants per year, this is accompanied by an urban redevelopment, which makes up around the holy sites around particularly noticeable for example. The Greater Mecca is today dominated by the infrastructural facilities, accommodate, entertain you and transport the pilgrims. Whole previously low -density development and hill settlements were removed and straightened the surfaces to make room for large buildings, especially pilgrims hotels. South of the Grand Holy Mosque was built by the end of 2012, a massive hotel complex, which focuses on the highest of the Abraj Al Bait Towers, with over 600 meters, the new city crown to form.

Mecca has only a small airport with no scheduled flights. The Jeddah King Abdulaziz International Airport and the Port of Jeddah are therefore important infrastructure for the pilgrims. In the future, a railway from Jeddah to Mecca is to be built by a Spanish consortium. Several metro lines are planned.

Climate

One constant in the history of Mecca are caused by rainfall deluges that haunt the city at regular intervals. The modern scholars Rushdi as- Saalih Malhas has a total of 85 large floods that have inundated from the beginnings of Islam to the 1931 Mecca. The water flowed here mostly by Mina forth by the Wādī Ibrāhīm in the lower area of ​​the city down. To protect the city from flooding these various dams in Mecca were created in the course of history, time and again, the past should lead to the Holy Places of the water, but never offered complete protection.

History

The early history of the city after the Islamic tradition

The early history of Mecca is in the dark. It is certain that even in pre-Islamic times here a sanctuary existed, was the goal of a pilgrimage. According to Islamic tradition, the settlement of Mecca began when the founding father Abraham brought his wife Hagar and their son Ishmael to this place. He asked God to provide for his family and to give them the hearts of people will be inclined to. Then the Quran word is related in Sura 14:37: "Our Lord, I have (some ) of my offspring to be in a valley without plantations live in your house protected, our Lord, that they establish the prayer. So let the hearts of some of the people incline toward them and provide them with fruits, so that they may be thankful "Next tells the tale: ". When the water supplies were exhausted, Hagar ran seven times between the hills of Safa and Marwah forth to look for water or caravans. After she returned to her tent, she found next to her son Ishmael before a bubbling spring, which still exists today and is known as Zamzam.

Around the same time, settled two tribes from Yemen, Jurhum and Qatūrā, in Mecca. Ishmael later married a woman from the tribe of Jurhum. When Abraham later returned to Mecca, he built together with Ishmael, the Kaaba. Ishmael kept his life in control of the Kaaba and also on the trunk of the Jurhum. After his death, his father-in Mudād ibn ʿ Amr took over the supervision of the sanctuary and also the leadership of the tribe. The Jurhum settled in the area above the Kaaba, while the Qatūrā under their leader al- ʿ Sumaidi took the lower part of the city in possession.

After some time, the two tribes were displaced by the tribe of the chuza ʿ a. This strain is held responsible for the introduction of idolatry in Mecca in the Islamic tradition. The chuza ʿ a should also have also built the first dam to protect the city from flooding.

The power of the Quraish

During the early 6th century, the tribe of the Quraysh took control of the city of Mecca. The Quraysh were able to establish itself as a successful merchant and build with other Arab tribes, a system of alliances. Close relations existed mainly with the root of the Banū Sulaym, was the main residential area between Mecca and Medina. Inside the tribe of Quraysh, however, was dominated by clan rivalries.

The Kaaba was at this time already the target point of a pilgrimage and was worshiped by the Arab tribes as a sanctuary of the god Hubal. For pre-Islamic Ka'ba cult belongs next to the worship of Allah, the worship of the ancient Arabian deities al -Lat, Manat and Uzza. Political and social center of the city was the Dār at - Nadwa, a meeting house, where the council of Quraysh took place and the most important rites of passage were celebrated.

The pilgrims may have contributed to the fact that Mecca has developed into a commercial center, although it produced itself little and had little strategic value. However, some historians argue that Mecca mainly gained its importance because of its location. It was on the way the two-month journey from Byzantium and the Yemenite kingdoms of Saba, Ma'in, Qataban, Ausan and Hadramaut, who had close trade contacts with India and East Africa. To what extent Mecca benefited from the incense trade, is debatable. Together with Ta'if and Mecca, Yathrib was formed at this time one of the three great cities of the Hijaz. Since the city was in a dry and barren valley, she was completely out of the foods that were produced in Tā ʾ if, depending.

Confrontation with the Prophet Mohammed

To 610 the prophet Mohammed in Mecca, began to preach publicly and to call for his new monotheistic religion. Due to the stubborn resistance of the Quraish against his new doctrine, he emigrated in the summer of 622 with his followers to the city of Yathrib from where already many members of the tribe had joined Aus and Khazraj his religion. From Yathrib from Mohammed took up the fight against the pagan Meccans remaining. The military confrontation between him and the city of Mecca can be divided into four phases:

History in the Islamic Period

Islam has taken over the cult of the Black Stone of Kaaba from the ancient Arabian religion in Islam, as is the pilgrimage to Mecca. The costs associated with the pilgrimage rites, however, were now attributed to Abraham.

Once again in 638 by a heavy rain had flooded the city, Umar ibn al - Khattab had to create a new dam in the upper part of the city, which should protect the Holy Mosque from further flooding. From the late 10th century, the city was ruled by the Sheriff. They assumed successively different dynasties, first the Fatimids, then the Ayyubids, the Mamluks of Egypt and Rasulids. From the year 1517 stood Mecca under the suzerainty of the Ottomans. In this period the city was a particularly great importance for the Muslims of Southeast Asia. Several sultans of the Malay Archipelago could be setting up writing the Sherif of Mecca enter. In addition, here the motif of the Islamization of their own dynasty by envoys from Mecca was an important element in the legitimation of power. Muslims in Southeast Asia established in the 19th century, the largest contingent of pilgrims in Mecca.

The Sherif Hussein ibn Ali, the later King of Hejaz was cast in 1916 the Turkish rule over Mecca down. In October 1924, the Wahhabi Ikhwan of Sultan Abd al Aziz ibn Saud took Mecca, and King Husain was forced to flee. Shortly after this event invited ʿ Abd al - ʿ Azeez one to a congress to Mecca, which should reconcile the Muslims with the Saudi government. After ʿ Abd al - ʿ Azeez was filed in January 1926 King, the plans for this congress took on concrete form. ʿ Abd al - ʿ Azeez sent telegrams to various Muslim leaders and organizations and called on them to participate in the event in order to secure the future of the pilgrimage sites and to improve the comfort of the pilgrims. In June / July 1926, the Congress came at last.

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