Mecca, the Holiest City in Islam

Kaaba in Mecca
Pilgrims circumambulating the Kaaba during the Hajj in Mecca
Photo by: Muhammad Mahdi Karim, Creative Commons

Mecca, also called Makkah, is a city in Saudi Arabia. It is the holiest city in Islam and is considered to be very sacred to Muslims. Muslims believe that it is very important to visit Mecca at least once in their lives. It is very interesting to note that almost three million Muslims pay visit to this city every year. Today Mecca is dealing with both positive and negative issues. It is still very popular for tourism, but it is having hard times dealing with infrastructure problems.

Mecca is the home of Masjid Al Haram. This is the world’s largest mosque. Initially, it was a place for trading during the 7th century. Also, till 1924, it was governed by the local sheriffs. After that, it saw a lot of modernization and growth in its size and structure. Today, it is ruled by the local municipality of Mecca by a Mayor who is directly appointed by the Government of Saudi Arabia.

The history of Mecca dates back to 2000 BC. Some people believe that Abraham built the Kaaba with his son, Ishmael. Over the years, this place had almost 360 idols. Mecca today has the biggest Mosque in the world. Every day, daily prayers are offered in it and another step is being taken by the government to renovate the entire place so that it can accommodate 900,000 people at a time. By Saudi law, non-Muslims are forbidden to enter Mecca, which is strictly enforced by the government.

18 responses to “Mecca, the Holiest City in Islam”

  1. wadi says:

    sounds interesting! 🙂

  2. lenny says:

    “By Saudi law, non-Muslims are forbidden to enter Mecca, which is strictly enforced by the government.”

    how does they know who is muslim?????????????????????????

  3. freezy says:

    nice………i love it….:)

  4. poop says:

    love it

  5. trevorw says:

    god its asum

  6. may Allah Almighty provide us a chance to visit da most beautiful place in the universe.

  7. Muhammad Tariq says:

    May Allah give me a chance to visit this noble place again.

  8. nozzo says:

    YOUR RIGHT IT IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE IN THE WORLD ITS HEAVEN ON EARTH, MASHALLAH…….

  9. farhat rani says:

    may ALLAH provides me resources to send my parents to makkah

  10. Patio says:

    Like that temple

  11. christian says:

    This place is really a holy one. Though I’m not a Muslim, how I wish that I can go there.

  12. Farzana says:

    This place is holy…nd the kaaba sharif is the holiest …may Allah give me chance to go there..

  13. Shareef says:

    I Love Makkah Masjid Al-Haram
    Because there is a none worthy of worship but Allah
    Allah help me to Bring my Mother , Father and other relatives to Al-Haram

  14. Mariya says:

    In’shaa’Allah I visit Makkah, the most alluring and enchantingly beautiful destination of the Dunya.

  15. S.f.farsana says:

    I love islam then i like evry body says islam

  16. Moslem Ali says:

    may ALLAH provides me resources to send my parents to makkah…. Insha’allah

  17. Christos says:

    The Yemeni tribe of Khuzaa’h built the city of Mecca in the 4th century A.D. Yemeni pagan religious worship has left its fingerprints all over the temple, showing that Abraham and Ishmael could not have built it.
    Mecca did not exist before the Khuzaa’h built the city, otherwise we would find many tribes locating in Mecca, because it is closer to Yemen than Yathrib is to Yemen. But, because the area where Mecca was eventually built was desolate and had no cities, it induced the tribes of Ozd and Khuzaa’h to live there.
    Mohammed is a false prophet. He didn’t even call himself a prophet but a messenger.
    He did not receive messages from Gabriel but a demon who has deceived him and the entire muslim world.
    Building faith on the sand is unwise. I pray that our Muslim friends will return to true faith as found in history and announced in the Bible. In the Bible they can find a solid foundation, documented in the writings of the prophetic books, and considered by historians to be the accurate resource for ancient history.

  18. Muhammad says:

    Dear Christos, rather than wasting your time on Islamic history, you should work harder to prove the legitimacy of Bible as the word God and try and find out how your Bible it’s current forms came into being. Bible has been writtenn re-wrritten countless times and even today there are thousands of different versions each one contradicting the other. Try and find a source of your Bible and then maybe you can preach to your Muslim brother about a book that was written and agreed on by the council of nicaea by a bunch of men appointed by the emperor Constantine with his own interests in mind and the fact that he burnt any legitimate sources he could find of the Bible. Everything I have written is not from me but agreed upon by almost all Christian scholars. It’s pointless engaging in a conversation about a religion without a source and a point of reference. For your information the first copy of the quran still exists and there is nothing demonic in our practices. If worshipping God five times a day (rather than once week) and following a religion the curses the demon far more than any other religion is demonic deception, then it must be one hell of a stupid demon. Besides the Quran has everything good the Bible does, with the exception of asking for help from someone whohimself was in need of help and would pray countless times for help from God. We Muslims worship the God Jesus used to worship and put our Trust in the God that saved his beloved prophet from the humiliating ordeal of being tortured to death in the most gruesome manner while according to Christians, he was begging to be saved and crying for mercy repeatedly asking why Father had forsaken him. If any Christian had any respect for Jesus, they would at the very least read the Islamic literature on the degree of respect afforded to Prophet Jesus(pbuh). While Christians thinks he was humiliated to death, Muslims believe he was raised to the heavens before anyone could lay a hand on him. I too hope and pray that my Christians friends try understanding our noble religion rather than calling it satanic or demonic.

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