Mecca

Mecca (Ar)
The mosque Masjid al-Haram , the center of Mecca
Administration
Country	Saudi Arabia
Province	Mecca
Geography
Contact	21 25 '21 "North 39 49 '34 "East / 21.42263, 39.826212
Altitude	300 m
Demography
Population	1,484,858 inhab. (2010)
Location
Mecca

Mecca or Mecca (in Arabic .

Geography

The city of Mecca is located in western Saudi Arabia , on the slopes of the chain of Al-Sarawat , between the mountains of Hijaz and the Asir , specifically in the valley of the Oued Ibrahim hills in the distance of 60 m over 500 m high. The port of Jeddah is distant only 80 kilometers. The eastern part of the city is between 194 and 310 m above sea level The western 400 m, is characterized by the presence of some mountains that can reach up to 900 m above sea level as Mount Jabal Tarki (which is the highest mountain in Mecca) and Jabal Khandama which culminates at 914 m. The central portion has an average elevation of 294 m and the Kaaba is 300 m. This part is characterized by Mount Jabal Thor (759 m) which played an important role in the life of the Prophet of Islam Muhammad (also known as Muhammad or Mohammed).

The temperature in Mecca peaked at 48 degrees the summer and a minimum of 18 degrees the winter , averaging between 29.9 and 31 degrees, making it one of the hottest regions of the world.

Its population is estimated at 1,484,858 inhabitants (estimated 2010). The thriving city of Mecca especially thanks to the millions of pilgrims who visit each year. The sanctuary of Mecca reached its full capacity of two and a half million people during the nights of Ramadan (for night prayers Taraweeh ) during the pilgrimage or hajj.

The antipode of Mecca is located in the Pacific Ocean , French Polynesia, 55 miles east-northeast of the atoll Tematangi (Archipel des Tuamotu , common Tureia ).

Climate

Mecca keeps temperatures warm in winter, which will average 17 C overnight at 25 C in the afternoon. Summer temperatures are very high and generally exceed the 40 C during the day, falling to about 30 C in the evening. Rainfall concern Mecca in small amounts, mostly between November and January.

Access

Road sign indicating in Arabic and English Author Jeddah required to take for non-Muslims (non muslims).

Access to Mecca is forbidden to non-Muslims ( al-Balad Al-Haram : that is to say, "sacred territory") . Violate this rule may incur, according to Saudi law, imprisonment or the death penalty . To ensure this, checkpoints on roads monitor access to the city. In addition, Saudi authorities now require the submission of a "certificate of conversion to Islam" for anyone wishing converted into the "sacred perimeter. This document is normally issued in any mosque , after maintenance and control of knowledge , but is not necessary when you have a Muslim name and a surname.

Mecca is served by the King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah , which is located 75 km northwest of the city. A high-speed line is being built to link the airport to the holy city.

History

Pre-Islamic Period

The city of Makkah is mentioned for the first time by the Greek geographer Ptolemy , who calls him "Makoraba" in ^the second century. According to Christoph Luxenberg name of the city come from root Aramaic Makk designating a topographic depression, including a "valley" , because the city lies in the valley of the Wadi Ibrahim.
Before Islam, Mecca was already a center of worship. According to Muslim tradition, the cult around the Ka'ba goes back to Adam who had built, before it was swept away by flood in the days of Noah. God would have commanded Abraham ( Ibrahim ) to rebuild with the help of his son Ishmael (the famous black stone embedded in one corner of the Kaaba is also a gift of the angel Gabriel to Ibrahim after this reconstruction).
However, even if the Meccan Ka'ba was built at an unspecified date, perhaps in late Roman times, it seems likely that it appears initially as a simple stone enclosure without a roof, built in close proximity a point of saving water at the bottom of a dry valley and not trees. Its construction in this unlikely place already clearly signaled an intention to worship and confirmed its character as a sacred space in which each nomadic tribes of Arabia depositing the statues (Asnam) of his gods. It is said that the advent of Islam, the Kaaba contained more than 360 idols, most important of these pre-Islamic deities remaining Hubbal , al-Lat , al-Uzza and Manat. The sanctuary, consisting also hosted: Jews , Christians , polytheists , Zoroastrians and many other beliefs.
Around the year 200 , the Hejaz is a region used by many campers. Tribal Bedouin advantage of the location of the region at the crossroads of routes to the Africa , to the Asia Minor , to the Persian world and from the prosperous coast of the Gulf of Aden (kingdoms of Saba , in the Hadramaut , etc ...) in order to control the spice trade.
For the ^sixth and ^seventh centuries , Mecca was a great crossroads of trade routes dominated by the tribe of Quraysh , which resulted in Muhammad , who called themselves descendants of Adnan and Ishmael to him. It concluded treaties with the Byzantines , the Ethiopians , the Sassanian , etc.. The notables of the city ran everything through a council (Majlis).

Islamic period

This city saw the birth of Mohammed in 570 in a merchant family caravan very influential. From the beginning of the revelations of Allah made by the angel Gabriel to Muhammad in the Cave of Hira in Jabal al-Nour (located 4 km northwest of the city), one finds little of the accession part of the majority of its citizens ( Jews , Christians and other Gentiles ), when he was considered one of the most noble and respected among them. They chased it with his first companions , who must flee to the oasis of Yathrib (Medina) on 9 September 622. This event called " AH "will be the starting point for a new way of dating: the Muslim calendar.

After victorious military campaigns and a large number of conversions, Muhammad returned to 630 in Mecca. Being at the head of an army of several thousand men after the start of the eighth year of the Hegira, Muhammad surrounds the city at night with lighted torches. The city taken, Muslims are converting the heathen, willingly or by force to Islam . The Meccans then convert the number to the new religion monotheistic , most without a fight . During a skirmish, a few men and a woman were killed. A Tribe rallied to Quraysh , that of Bakrites, however, had to suffer the vengeance of Khuz'ites, rallied to Muslims, who wanted to repair a treacherous attack committed during the truce Hudaibiyah, which had joined the two tribes. Seeing the excesses committed during the retaliation, Mohammed intervened and proclaimed a general peace .

It's going to attack Mecca that Muhammad allowed for the first time the momentary break fast during Ramadan. Seeing the extreme thirst of his army, he took a water bottle and drank it all before, expressing the possibility of an exception during Ramadan. During this trip, he posted a soldier near a bitch suckling her cubs to protect. Contrary to unfounded rumors, Muhammad met the animals . After taking the city, Muhammad spent the holy city. The Ka'ba is cleared of pagan idols in January 630 (except the Black Stone ). Mecca, as Medina , will be forbidden to non-Muslims from that time. Following a divine revelation to the Prophet made the pilgrimage to the Ka'ba became one of the five pillars of Islam.
After the death of Mohammed in 632 , Islam began its geographic expansion. Mecca then attracted more and more new converts who come on pilgrimage and will retain its religious capital and commercial city. However, the city will never be a political center or even the capital of any caliphate , including during the Ottoman period.

Briefly fell under the domination of a nephew of Mohammed, Abd Allah ibn az-Zubayr , who refused to swear allegiance to the Umayyads , it will eventually be defeated by them. In 930 , a sect Ismaili , the Qarmats will deliver the bag to the holy city.

From the ^twelfth century , the Hashemites become Sheriff of Mecca position that will keep the dynasty until its abolition in 1924.

In 1349 , the holy city is affected by the Black Death.

In 1517 , the Sharif of Mecca, Barakat bin Muhammed recognizes the supremacy of the Ottoman Caliph, but gets a high degree of local autonomy. However, the creation of the first Saudi state , but especially the taking of Mecca and Medina by the Wahhabis in 1802 dealt a severe blow to the prestige of the Turks. This, until Mehemet Ali , the viceroy of Egypt , to resume its control in 1813. A second Saudi state will soon set up in 1824 , six years after the disappearance of the former, but does not succeed, however, to take control of the two holy cities will collapse and turn into 1891.

Contemporary period

Panorama of Mecca today.

It is in favor of the First World War , the Arab Revolt against Turkish rule broke out in 1916. The Sharif of Mecca, Hussein ibn Ali proclaimed the independence of the Kingdom of Hijaz that year after a first battle of Mecca and made his capital.

But this independence will be short-lived as, following a second battle in October 1924 , Hussein ibn Ali is defeated by Abdul Aziz Al Saud , founder of the third Saudi state, the current Saudi Arabia. The new ruler then deletes the post of Sheriff of Mecca and proclaims himself Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.

On 20 November 1979 , 1 ^st day of the year 1400 of the Hegira , 200 militant Islamist armed opponents of the monarchist regime, took control of the holy mosque , taking tens of thousands of pilgrims hostage. They complained that the Al Saud dynasty of being too pro-Western and thus jeopardizing the "true faith". The siege lasted two weeks, and the Saudi regime will resolve itself eventually use force to regain control of the mosque, even asking the backing of foreign units. Thus, the Intervention Group of the National Gendarmerie French (GIGN) provides technical and logistical assistance during the operation, conducted primarily by forces yptiennes (or Pakistan according to some sources) will be about 250 dead and 600 wounded. ^{Place of Mecca in Islam}

The two main branches of Islam, Sunni and Shiite , consider this city as sacred, being the birthplace of the Prophet of Islam and refers to the period before the schism.

Mecca is a fundamental center of Muslim religious life. One of the five pillars of Islam stipulates that every believer must make a pilgrimage to Mecca, if he has the means. This pilgrimage is called Hajj (or hajj, according to the spelling). Each year, 2.5 million Muslims gather in Mecca to perform Hajj during the month of Dhu al-Hijjah. A much larger number makes the umrah (the umrah ), which can be executed at any time of year, but especially during Ramadan.

Mecca is the direction the Qibla towards which Muslims turn in prayer during their prayers.

Places

Stages of the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Al-Masjid Al-Haram

This is the Mosque Sacred, the first shrine of Islam, which has at its center the Kaaba. Masjid al Haram in el. A prayer is completed within one hundred thousand prayers performed in another mosque.

The Kaaba

In Arabic, Kaaba means "cube". However, this is a cuboid of 15 meters high and 12 meters by 12 meters on the ground. According to Muslim tradition, the Kaaba was built by Adam , first man and first prophet on earth, and was rebuilt by Ibrahim ( Abraham ) and his son Ismail.

This sanctuary is the largest in the world and was subsequently built around the Kaaba by Prophet Ibrahim. A black stone , hollow, is enclosed in a corner of the Kaaba.

Abraj Al Bait Towers

The holy city is currently building a complex comprising several towers, Abraj Al Bait Towers will be located near the Holy Mosque.
The highest of them, the Makkah Clock Royal Tower will be 601 meters high, the second tallest in the world after the Burj in Dubai. The building that houses a hotel will open its doors at the end of the month .

This hotel will be topped by a clock six times larger than Big Ben in London. In a forty meters in diameter, the clock will be visible up to 30km to the Night Watch and 11 to 12 km the day .

Transport

The holy city has an elevated train (also called Al Al Mashaaer Mugaddassah Metro). The 18.1 km line serving the main places of pilgrimage, it was inaugurated in November 2010 for Eid.

Personalities

• in 570 : Birth of Mohammed.
• to 573 : Birth of Abu Bakr , a close friend and father-Mohammed.

References

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