Mecca مكة
| |
|---|---|
City | |
| Makkah al-Mukarramah (مكة المكرمة) | |
  Mecca | |
| Coordinates: 21°25′21″N 39°49′24″E | |
| Country | Saudi Arabia |
| Province | Mecca Province |
| Governorate | Holy Capital Governorate |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Saleh Al-Turki |
| • Provincial Governor | Khalid bin Faisal Al Saud |
| Area | |
| • Total | 1,200 km2 (500 sq mi) |
| • Land | 760 km2 (290 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 277 m (909 ft) |
| Population (2015) | |
| • Total | 1,578,722 |
| • Estimate (2020) | 2,042,000 |
| • Rank | 3rd in Saudi Arabia |
| Demonym | Makki (مكي) |
| Time zone | UTC+3 (AST) |
| Area code | +966-12 |
| Website | hmm |
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Mecca (/ˈmɛkə/; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah,[a] commonly shortened to Makkah[b]) is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia and the holiest city in Islam.[2] It is 70 km (43 mi) inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley 277 m (909 ft) above sea level. Its last recorded population was 1,578,722 in 2015.[3] Its estimated metropolitan population in 2020 is 2.042 million, making it the third-most populated city in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh and Jeddah.[citation needed] Pilgrims more than triple this number every year during the Ḥajj pilgrimage, observed in the twelfth Hijri month of Dhūl-Ḥijjah.[citation needed]
Mecca is generally considered "the fountainhead and cradle of Islam".[4][5] Mecca is revered in Islam as the birthplace of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The Hira cave atop the Jabal al-Nur ("Mountain of Light"), just outside the city, is where Muslims believe the Quran was first revealed to Muhammad.[6] 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 the direction of prayer (qibla) for all Muslims worldwide.[7]
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 the Abraj Al Bait, the world's fourth-tallest building and third-largest by floor area,[citation needed] towering over the Great Mosque. The Saudi government has also carried out the destruction of several historical structures and archaeological sites,[8] such as the Ajyad Fortress.[9][10][11] Non-Muslims are strictly prohibited from entering the city.[12][13]
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 the Saudi government. In 2015, the mayor of the city was Osama bin Fadhel Al-Barr;[14][15] as of January 2022, the mayor is Saleh Al-Turki.[16] 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 compared to Mecca. The Provincial Governor of the province from 16 May 2007 was Prince Khalid bin Faisal Al Saud.[17]
Etymology
Mecca has been referred to by many names. As with many Arabic words, its etymology is obscure.[18] 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 the Ka'bah.[19][20]
Bakkah
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 Abraham (Ibrahim in Islamic tradition) and it is also transliterated as Baca, Baka, Bakah, Bakka, Becca and Bekka, among others.[21][22][23] It was a name for the city in the ancient world.[24]
Makkah, Makkah al-Mukarramah and Mecca
Makkah is the official transliteration used by the Saudi government and is closer to the Arabic pronunciation.[25][26] The government adopted Makkah as the official spelling in the 1980s, but it is not universally known or used worldwide.[25] The full official name is Makkah al-Mukarramah (Arabic: مكة المكرمة, lit. 'Makkah the Honored').[25] Makkah is used to refer to the city in the Quran in Surah Al-Fath (48), verse 24.[18][27]
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.[25] Nonetheless, Mecca is the familiar form of the English transliteration for the Arabic name of the city.
The consensus in academic scholarship has been that "Macoraba", the place mentioned in Arabia Felix by Claudius Ptolemy, is Mecca.[28] Some studies have questioned this association.[29] 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".[29]
Other names
Another name used for Mecca in the Quran is at 6:92 where it is called Umm al-Qurā[30] (أُمّ ٱلْقُرَى, meaning "Mother of all Settlements").[27] The city has been called several other names in both the Quran and ahadith. Another name used historically for Mecca is Tihāmah.[31] According to Arab and Islamic tradition, another name for Mecca, Fārān, is synonymous with the Desert of Paran mentioned in the Old Testament at Genesis 21:21.[32] Arab and Islamic tradition holds that the wilderness of Paran, broadly speaking, is the Tihamah coastal plain and the site where Ishmael settled was Mecca.[32] 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."[33]
Another ancient name for the city was Macoraba.[24]
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