Trifter

Location

Mecca is located in the country of Saudi Arabia in the region known as the Hejaz. Mecca is the capital of the Hejaz region but not of Saudi Arabia. The capital of Saudi Arabia is Riyadh. Mecca is located 21 degrees 25 minutes 24 seconds north and 39 degrees 49 minutes 24 seconds east. Mecca is about 50 miles east of the Red Sea. It is located around a natural well which is the one of the largest water sources in the Southern part of Saudi Arabia. Mecca is also 45 miles from Jeddah and is 910 feet above sea level. The city is in the valley of Abraham which is a desert like area covered in sand. There are four mountain passes that lead to Yemen, Medina, the Red Sea and the outskirts of the mountains. It is also located in the Sirat Mountains. The city is in-between many mountains in a valley known as the “hollow of Mecca”. .

Saudi Arabia’s government is known as an Islamic Monarchy. The bases for its laws are beliefs based on the Qur’an. The leader of the country has the title of king. He controls the government and is the chief of the army. The second in command and back up leader is called the Crown Prince and is chosen by the king. There are ministers that advise the king and they are known as the cabinet. The cabinet is made up of twenty-two ministers. Each minister is in charge of his own ministry which deals with different activities like finance, foreign affairs, and domestic affairs. There is also a consultative council which helps advise the king. The council is in charge of the laws by proposing new ones and changing current ones. This legislative body is made up of 150 members picked by the king. Each member is in the council for four years before they must be picked or reinstated again.

Saudi Arabia is divided into 13 provinces (states). Each province has a governor and a vice-governor. The governors are in charge of the development, tax payments, and order in the province. The legal system in Saudi Arabia is completely based on Islamic beliefs. There are many courts that hear a majority of the cases. The king acts as the final court which can be compared to our Supreme Court. His decisions are final but he may pardon a person from a crime.

Saudi Arabia became a constitutional monarchy because King Abdulaziz bin Abdelrahman Al-Saud believed that it was the only way for Saudi Arabia to accept modernization and be a global power. Also to keep the public approval up the early leaders adopted a habit of having weekly meetings that allow anyone to bring up problems they are facing to any leader including the king. The current mayor of Mecca is Osama Al-Bar. He appoints fourteen members of a council that are in charge of all the affairs of Mecca. Most of these affairs have to do with the pilgrims coming into Mecca. The governor of the province that Mecca is in is Prince Khalid al Faisal. Before 1924 the city and country had been ruled by descendants of Muhammad until Saudis rebelled.

Religion

Mecca has been a source of great religions from the start. Some religions believe it was the first place created on earth. In its very early years it was a major religion city with statues of around 360 deities that the people in the region worshipped. Also it held a stone that supposedly the angel “Gabriel” gave to Abraham and his younger son Ishmael. They built a shrine to hold the stone. The shrine was originally the site of Abraham’s slave and Ishmael’s mother Hagar. They were given specific instructions by God and Gabriel as to how to build the shrine. Today the stone is known as the Ka’ba. They built the structure out of stones from the holy mountains of Mt. Sinai, the Mount of Olives, Mt. Lebanon, Al-Judi, and Mt. Hira. Today people speculate that the stone was really a meteorite.

Mecca however gave birth to one of the largest religions today, the religion of Islam. The Islamic people call themselves “Muslims” and say they are descendants of Ishmael. The religion was founded by the prophet Muhammad who was born in Mecca. He was born around 570 A.D (scholars argue if it was a few years earlier or later). His father was a merchant and had died so he and his mother lived with his grandfather who was the leader of a very important clan in Mecca. As part of tradition he was sent to live with a nomadic tribe around the age of two. Much of his earlier years are unknown but there are stories saying that he caused miracles like old and sick animals to give off milk. When he returned to Mecca his grandfather and mother died so he became a young orphan. He fortunately met an uncle who took him in around the age of seven. The clan that his uncle now lead had been losing its money and Muhammad could not be given an education and instead worked with the animals his uncle owned.

As he grew he gained a reputation for being trustworthy and allied the clans in Mecca to keep the peace, help the needy, and protect trade. He also made fair practices with the current religion so that the clans would not quarrel. He later married Khadijah who was a woman that owned the trading business he worked for. They had six children but only four daughters survived and their marriage lasted for about twenty-five years. Now that they were married Muhammad controlled the trade business and he became prosperous but gave most of his income to the needy. When he was around forty he was praying in a cave and he received a vision of bright light and was commanded “recite”. He did not understand and talked to a relative who was Christian and was told that he must be the next prophet. He continuously returned to the cave and was given “revelations”. After a few years of these experiences he was told to renew the belief in one god. He did not want new gods so he adopted the name “Allah” for the one god. “Allah” was originally one of the heads of the 360 deities. As he preached about humbleness, charity, understanding, and other virtuous attributes his listeners memorized his teachings and eventually wrote them down and called it the “Qur’an”.

Many people opposed this radical change and Muhammad and his followers were eventually run out of Mecca. They fled to Medina where they were safe. Muhammad rallied support there and went on a military campaign where he conquered the region and lastly conquered Mecca. To conquer Mecca he had a battle against the tribes there. The tribes were over confident and they ended up losing most of their possessions. They then adopted Islam. When he controlled the city he destroyed every statue but the ones of Jesus, and Mary. He continued preaching his revelations to the people of Arabia and his teachings spread to the larger world. He died at the age of sixty-two.

Mecca now is the most important city in Islam. Every Muslim is commanded that if they are able the must make a pilgrimage also known as the “hajj”. Today about 2 million Muslims make the hajj each year and there is a number of pilgrims each country is allowed to send. Muhammad preached of five fundamentals in Islam known as “the five pillars” and making the hajj is the fifth one. Muslims can only make the hajj between the 8th and 12th day in the 12th month of the Islamic calendar. Also they must have paid off all debts and made preparations for their family before they can go.

First the pilgrims journey to Mecca. When they are about 10 kilometers for the city they put on two white garments that mark them as pilgrims and are entered into a state of holiness. In the city they visit the great mosque which was made around the Ka’ba. The Ka’ba is the center of Islam and whenever they pray, no matter where they are, they must face it. In the great mosque they circle the Ka’ba seven times counterclockwise while facing it and praying. After the end of the final circle they kiss the Ka’ba. Whenever Muslims pray they must face the direction of the Ka’ba.

Islam is based on five things also known as “The Five Pillars of Islam”. They are faith the one god and the and the prophet Muhammad, daily prayer, concern and charity to the people in need, purifying yourself through fasting, and making a pilgrimage to Mecca. These five guidelines are the basis for a Muslim life. Muslims strongly believe in family, conservative dress, and strong faith.

Geographic Features

Mecca has many characteristics as other cities in the Middle East. It is in the Southern part of the Arabian Peninsula of Saudi Arabia. Mecca is a very flat city. This makes it very vulnerable to floods even though there is only less than five inches of rainfall a year. The highest elevations are in the bordering mountains. The highest point in the city is the Hill of Arafat where there are very strong winds. Since it is a very dry place the people must depend on scarce rainfall and the natural springs for water. During the Hajj the government transports water for the pilgrims. Also because of this the only plants that are able to grow are cactuses. The climate makes camel’s great transportation though motor vehicles are used now instead. There are a couple of springs in the city that Mecca uses. These springs also make it one of the most well supplied cities in Saudi Arabia because there are no mountains in the country. They also use a series of underground canals to bring in water from the mountains. The mountains also hold holy caves that the prophet Muhammad is said to have received revelations in.

The climate in Mecca is very dry and warm with low humidity. During the summer it can get up to 113ºF. Also the winter there is also very hot and is at an average 80ºF. This allows only for cactuses to survive as vegetation. Camels are very abundant and are used by nomads in the area. The people within the city are modern and use motor vehicles however. There are many wolves, mountain cats, hyenas, foxes, mongooses, and kangaroo rats. All animal life is up in the mountains though.

The city is completely centered on the Ka’ba and the great mosque. All major roads lead to the center and to these things. The center of the city is dedicated to religious buildings like mosques. Only Muslim religious buildings are here because non-Muslims are forbidden from entering the city. The north is where most of the buildings for pilgrims are. Here there are hotels, restaurants etcetera. The east and west are mostly residential areas. There are many houses here for students, religious figures and students. The south has many colleges and universities. Mecca is Saudi Arabia’s center for scholars and philosophical teaching. The majority of the city is tourism based because over 2,000,000 Muslims come here for the Hajj. The population density of the city is very high. This is because of the amount of people needed to work for the service industry and pilgrims make the density even higher.

Size of City

Mecca has a population of 1.4 million people. This number rises to about 4 million during the Hajj. The area of the cities boundaries is about 791.5 square miles. The nationalities are all considered Muslim but there is a great variant as to what country they come from. The people in the city are from the nations of Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Benin, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Syria, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Western Sahara, Yemen.

Many people can be from other countries as well but those are the main countries. Pilgrims come from all around the world and can come from countries such as the United States or the United Kingdom. Only Muslims are allowed in the city so 99% of the people in the city will be from the counties listed above. Although all of these countries come from Islamic nations and to Mecca for the Hajj, Saudi Arabia has discouraged moving permanently to Mecca. The leaders wish to have Mecca be a city where there is enough room for Saudi students and philosophers.

Foundation

Mecca has been known as “the holy city”, “the Islam city”, “the city of Muhammad”, or the “city of Ishmael”. The name is fully spelt Makka al-Mukarrama. That literally translates to “honored Mecca”. The correct spelling in Saudi Arabia is Makkah but the world spells it as Mecca. When someone refers to a place as mecca they mean a place that they badly want to visit. This is why Muslims named the city Mecca. It was founded for many reasons. One was that during ancient times control of the trade route was very important to kings and nomadic tribes. The trade route went right through Mecca’s location. The trade route leads to Egypt, eastern Africa, and the Mediterranean. Anyone in the Arabian Peninsula had to follow this path. It also led to the Arabian Sea. This is because it is located at the heart of three mountain passes. Many traders came through there. Around 1500 B.C there was a great migration of people towards lands that could not support people well. They moved here because there were spices and gum products that people wanted badly. Many settlers that came were from Mesopotamia. They built many cities. This was important because they were one of the few people that organized cities and used an alphabet. Mecca was one city that they started to build. Trade was the most important thing in these settler’s lives so Mecca was perfect. They used only ground trade routes because they did not have enough water technology and many wars were taking place on the sea. Many nations fought over the original trade post that was Mecca. Later the Romans and Byzantines later expanded the city further so it could be a major trade center.

The location also had much religious lure. Many people came and settled there because of this. Mecca had the holy Ka’ba and also it was near the mountains that Adam and Eve met each other after being cast out of paradise. There is also a shrine that Adam built to mimic the one that was in paradise. Adam is also said to be buried in the soil that the city was built on. The ark that Noah built to survive the flood also landed just north of Mecca. This drew many pilgrims even before Muhammad was born. After Muhammad was born the city had expanded greatly but when he conquered the city it brought more interest in its expansion. The original people in Mecca were descendants of Ishmael who was Abraham’s first son. Abraham left Ishmael and his mother Hagar by a spring so they would have water. Ishmael lived here for the rest of his and his mother’s life. His children also lived there for quite some time but eventually formed there own tribe and only returned to see their father’s grave.

Lastly Mecca has been an oasis needed in the area for thousands of years. There are many springs that were discovered over time that many travelers used. This makes it one of the larges oases in the area because Saudi Arabia has no rivers or lakes. Also the ancient people built canals to bring water down from the mountains. These canals are still used. The land is also prosperous in animal life. The amount of animals is extremely high even though it is a desert climate. This allowed for a food source which is a rare thing in the area because it is so dry and cannot support farms.

Culture

There is much culture in the city of Mecca. All of the culture is Islam but there are also other forms. There are almost 50 Islamic countries that send pilgrims to Mecca. The religion of Islam is the basis for all of these cultures. This leads to basic Islamic beliefs but into practice. Women have many restrictions in Mecca. They cannot drive and they can only have jobs that deal with other women. However many laws were made in belief that they must protect a woman’s honor. How a woman acts is viewed as her family’s reputation. They cannot socialize with other men outside the house but in the house they are respected and have great influence. In the job field they are making progress. They can now treat men as doctors but must wear veils while doing so. Family is also considered to come first. If a son does not move into his father’s house with his new wife he must live near it. The only time a wife stays at her parent’s house for a long time is the seven weeks after birth given to her for her recovery. Disloyalty to the family is a crime that is punishable by law in Mecca.

Marriages in Mecca are still arranged by tradition. The marriages are usually arranged at birth. The only time a man and woman choose each other and are allowed to marry is in a city but since Mecca is completely based on Islam it is not practiced much. Dating is impossible with the separation of male and female. When a man is of age he must pay a dowry to marry the woman. To keep these offerings in the family and keep their social status it is not uncommon to marry extended family members. Many more traditional Islamic families believe the best marriage is between first cousins. Most men have only one wife but they can have up to four. To do this they must have their wife’s consent and they must provide equally for every one of them. It is almost unheard of to marry someone who is not from the same country as you. When a person dies excessive mourning is not acceptable because it is viewed that they have gone to paradise. Graves are unmarked and the body is buried usually on the first day.

Mecca has a very special cuisine. There are many variants on traditional Saudi Arabian dishes. This is because it is still a trade center so there are many more spices and ingredients available. Dishes are usually a little spicy and contain rice with either chicken or lamb. Meals are usually served with a salad that contains vegetables. Most meals are ended with fruit. After eating men will stay at the table and talk while drinking Saudi coffee which is known to be extremely bitter. Coffee is also served at the beginning of the meal along with tea. The other most popular drinks are camel’s milk and buttermilk. There is never alcohol consumed in Mecca or even Saudi Arabia. Also Muslim’s do not eat any pork.

Recreation is usually reserved for men. The national sport is soccer but only men are allowed to watch. There are also clubs for horse and camel racing where no betting is allowed and of course only men are allowed to compete and watch. Hunting and hawking is still widely done. Younger men also play basketball, volleyball and swimming. Women are allowed to play volleyball though. For recreation women usually go to visit other women. The only other things they do are visit museums or go on trips with their families. DVDs are very popular. The only DVDs that are allowed to be sold are ones that are considered proper by Islamic leaders. There are also no public theaters.

The arts are a great tradition. Poets are regarded very highly for their skill. Many use their talent to recall great victories or put shame on fallen enemies. Many poets memorize the Qur’an which is a great feat. Any artist is usually abstract because the Qur’an discusses idols. Calligraphy is a skill that is in great use. Many people will use calligraphy to copy the Qur’an. These copies are very expensive and they sell the most in Mecca because of the Hajj. Another form of artwork is metal working. Many families will buy daggers with jewels and their families crest on it. The leader of the family is usually the one that carries this. Music is a skill that is highly revered. Vocal music is the most common. There are no public performances though so the industry is completely dependant on CDs.

The language used in Mecca is Arabic. This language is used by close to a billion people around the world. Many more people are considered Arabic because of the language and not genealogy. The types of Arabic are: classic Arabic, modern Arabic, and oral Arabic. Classic Arabic is styled after the Qur’an writings and was used to write most of the Arabian literature until the twentieth century. Modern Arabic is an evolution from classic Arabic. It includes modern slangs and changes in words. Spoken Arabic has many different forms. The style is usually based on where a person lives. The difference can be so big that two people could be speaking Arabic and yet not understand each other. Arabic is believed to be a sacred language and the only one fully understood by god and his disciples. That is the reason that no Qur’an is translated into another language. Foreigners have translated the Qur’an though. Arabic has strict grammar rules. The whole language is based on three consonants (I S and L). There are also ten forms of verbs. The language is viewed as much simpler than western languages but has a vocabulary that is much more extensive and used much more. There are 28 characters that make up Arabic.

Attractions One of the main attractions of the city is the great mosque. The great mosque is surrounded by an arcade. The arcade was built in 754 A.D. The arcade is a series of arches that lead into the great mosque. The arcade is held up by buttresses and pillars. Inside the arcade is the great mosque which has four minarets on each of the four cardinal directions (towers that cries go onto to call the people to the mosque). More minarets have been built on the sides of the mosque. In the center of the great mosque is a courtyard. The courtyard holds the Ka’ba. The Ka’ba holds the black stone that was said was given to Abraham and Ishmael by an angel. They built a shrine according to the shadow of a cloud. The Ka’ba is the center of Islam and all Muslims must face it when they pray. The Ka’ba is 34 feet long and around 40 feet wide. It is also 50 feet high. The Ka’ba is shaped like a cube and its four corners point to north, east, south, and west. The Ka’ba is inside the cube that holds it. You can access the inside although only religious leaders are allowed to. To enter you must climb a ladder and reach

the roof where you climb down. Recently however a large brass door has been added for convenience. The roof is held up by wooden supports and the only other items inside the cube besides the Ka’ba are lamps. The cube itself is made out of stones from the hills surrounding Mecca. The cube has religious writings from the Qur’an written on the side in gold paint. The black stone known as the Ka’ba is at the northern point of the cube. Many nations have fought over it so it has now been broken into three pieces. The pieces are held together by a silver band. The stone is around a foot long and has been theorized to have been a meteorite or a result of a volcano. The stone is covered by a black cloth that is changed every year. There is also another stone on the western point that was made from the Ka’ba.

The great mosque that surrounds the Ka’ba is named Al-Masjid al-Ḥarām and is the largest mosque in the world. The mosque has an area of 1168 square feet. It can hold up to 4 million worshippers at once. The mosque itself is surrounded by a great wall that separates it from the rest of the city. The reason that the mosque was built at the center of the city was because Muslims are supposed to pray five times a day so the mosque was built where it was easiest to access. The minarets of the Great mosque are 270 feet high. Recently the mosque has been expanded greatly. Much of the mosque was destroyed and rebuilt. This has caused much unease because most of what was destroyed had significant historical value. Over twenty new gateways have been built in the past ten years along with new domes and a whole new wing for prayer. 500 new columns have been built since 2005. Since the amounts of pilgrims were increasing, heated floors, air conditioning, escalators, and plumbing systems were installed. New renovations were started in 2007 and will continue until 2020. This latest renovation will increase the capacity of the mosque by 35%.

A current attraction under construction is the Abraj Al-Bait Towers. These towers will be the largest in Saudi Arabia and the tallest tower will be one of the largest in the world with a height of 1,950 ft. They will also have the largest floor space in the world 5,100,000 square feet. It is the second largest building project in the world and will be completed vey soon in 2009. The building site is just south of the great mosque. Also the sit is on top of where an ancient Ottoman fortress stood. There will be a large prayer room for pilgrims that can hold four thousand people. The largest tower can hold two million people and will be used as a five star hotel. The other towers will be a giant shopping mall, a parking garage and a residential building with to helipads. There will also be giant conference rooms. The residential building will hold 65,000 people. There will be four clocks on each side of the hotel tower and they will be the highest clocks in the world.

The other attractions for Mecca are very few. Many tourists wish to go to the markets outside the great mosque because goods from every Islamic country can be bought there. Also the house of Hagar (Ishmael’s mother) was turned into a shrine. Lastly many people visit the natural springs. It was said that these springs were created when Ishmael cried. God heard his crying and created the springs. Then he led Hagar to the location of them. There are also hundreds of other historical landmarks inside of the city.

Major Industries

Mecca is a very prosperous city. Its economy is very healthy especially during the Hajj. When 2-3 million people make their way to the city every hotel is filled. Almost the entire city has its basis for income centered on the Hajj. There are hundreds of hotels that are very large. Also there are countless restaurants for the pilgrims. Everybody prospers from the pilgrims in their own way such as: taxi drivers, souvenir shops, and of course the religious leaders in charge of the great mosque. Major Islamic airlines make an average of 12% of their yearly income during the Hajj. In that short amount of time Islamic business involved in the Hajj have a gross income over 2 billion dollars. Mecca makes over 100 million dollars and only about 50 million dollars is spent on the pilgrims so the city makes a great profit. Most of that money is spent on food and water. This time has such a great affect on the economy of the Hejaz region that if there were to be an underage of pilgrims the whole region would go into a recession. The amount of pilgrims has greatly increased this century because of the availability of jet travel. This industry and the Hajj have greatly benefited each other.

Since there are so many pilgrims in need of services there is also a need for people to work in the service industry. Mecca has a very high employment rate and thousands of people are hired for the service industry. This also means that there must be services for the servers. This has caused skyscrapers for apartments, grocery stores, and shopping malls to be built. The economy of Mecca seams to be a great circle of services. Throughout the year religious artifacts are sold and sent to hundreds of places in Asia. These artifacts can be religious relics, copies of the Qur’an, or even holy water. Also many people want products from Mecca because they are said to be the finest. These products include spices, silk, and perfume.

Another source of income is from the universities. Millions of Arabs apply to go to these colleges. They are said to be the best in the Arabian Peninsula. All of them are based on history, religion, and social studies. They are owned by the Great Mosque. Almost every major source of income in the city is owned or related to religion. Every scholar that hopes to make it in the world must come to Mecca to study for at least a portion of his education. There are also a few minor industries such as clay factories that have been around for hundred of years, textile, utensil, and furniture making. There are also many industries in and around Mecca. These are iron manufacturing, copper smithies, carpentry shops, vegetable oil industry, sweets manufactures, flour mills, bakeries, poultry farms, frozen, photography processing, ice factories, bottling plants for drinks, barber shops, book shops, travel agencies and banks. Mecca has no airport or railroad so every transportation industry except for taxi services that benefit from the Hajj is not under control of Mecca. Of course every single one of these industries is taxed and that brings in a very large portion of the Saudi Arabian’s government money.

Buildings and Architecture

Most of the buildings in Mecca have ancient ottoman style architecture. Most of the buildings in the city are three stories high but of course the hotels in the city are much larger. Most people live in apartments or houses. House building is encouraged by the government and banks give out special loan offers if the money is for that. Some loans are even interest free. Also labor for building houses and materials cost is very low. Buying the land is the most expensive part of building a house. Apartments however have become more popular since more people are moving into cities. Most houses are built outside the cities. These houses follow the traditional Islamic build. The land that the house is built on is surrounded by a house to keep privacy. In one corner is the one or two story house. The rest of the plot is used for cars or even live stock. Many houses inside Mecca are renovated buildings from ancient times. When a couple is married a new part to the house of the son’s family is built for them. Many houses in the city may seem large when compared to western houses. This is because Muslims have two parts to the house, one part for males and another part for females. Each part has reception room that has a television and cushions, a bathroom, a bedroom, and a room made for eating.

The great mosque started out like every other mosque in the world. When a person builds a mosque they try to establish a divine purity on the world. Every mosque must face Mecca when it is built. The direction to Mecca is shown by a niche in the wall. The only mosque without that niche is of course the great mosque in Mecca. The only restrictions for the main part of the mosque are that the wall with the niche cannot have doors and must have a roof. Many are richly painted with symbols and scenes from the Qur’an. Many mosques have been structured to fit the city since they are usually built in the heart of it. The great mosque has only been able to expand because the people are willing to get rid of whatever buildings are in the way of expansion. The mosque in Mecca was also the very first mosque. The basic structure for a mosque is built off of a main body. This main body is where the prayer is done. There may be an open courtyard off to the side. There is also a minaret, which is a tower that a man climbs up and calls the people to prayer, built off of the main body. Before the part of the body that is made for prayer is reached you must go through a reception room. This room is usually grandly built with great pillars.

The Great Mosque in Mecca: Why it’s a Great City

Mecca is a great city because of its historical value. Around 2000 B.C Ishmael and Abraham built the Ka’ba. This was the source for the original founding of Mecca. Many people would come to visit the Ka’ba. As time passed the tribes and people went to polytheism. They erected idols of the gods the worshiped near the Ka’ba. 360 idols were made in all. The Quryash tribe ruled from around 500 A.D to 600 A.D. That tribe was responsible for having Mecca join the spice trade. They developed routes on land that avoided the sea where enemies could raid the caravans. While the Quryash tribe ruled Mecca surpassed all of its competing trade cities in the area.

Tribes constantly fought for control over the area. Once a year they would make peace and go to Mecca. During that time there would be great festivals. This made Mecca an even more important place to the people. Camel caravans were developed and the merchants struck peace with each other and the nomadic tribes. They worked together to trade everything and there was peace.

Around 570 A.D Muhammad was born. He grew up in Mecca and helped expand its trade empire. In 630 A.D he conquered Mecca with his army. Then he destroyed all of the idols and created the religion of Islam. When he conquered the city he destroyed the Quryash tribe. The city was under the rule of his descendants until 1269 A.D. Around this time they allowed Christians to enter. The reason they let the Christians enter was because they were engineers. The Ka’ba had nearly been destroyed in a flood and they hired foreign engineers to build a mechanism to keep the flooding from happening. This was the only time non-Muslims were allowed to enter. The Ottoman Empire conquered Mecca in 1517. They brought about many changes to Mecca. They expanded the city and are responsible for the style of the buildings today. They also made new trade routes to Jeddah which was a sea port not far from Mecca. The Ottomans also allowed Mecca to be self ruled as long as the people paid taxes.

In 1802 the city was captured by a group trying to create a Saudi State. This was the beginnings of the Saudi Arabian kingdom. The Ottomans and Saudis fought over Mecca for over 100 years. In 1916 an Arab revolution brought Mecca under the control of Hussein bin Ali. He was quickly defeated by the Saudis after he declared Mecca the capital of his kingdom. Finally Mecca was part of the Saudi Arabian kingdom.

Social and Environmental Problems

Mecca has had many social problems. On November 20, 1979 there was a revolution in Mecca. Two hundred Islamic rebels led by a Muslim preacher seized the Great Mosque. They claimed that the Saudi royal family had fallen from its Islamic roots. They believed that they were pure in faith so they should be the ones that controlled the mosque and the Ka’ba. The rebels took tens of thousands of pilgrims hostages and made a base in the great mosque. The rebellion lasted two weeks. Hundreds of pilgrims were killed and the mosque suffered great damage.

Again on July 31, 1987 Mecca was a site of bloodshed. Pilgrims had started an anti-United Sates demonstration. The crowd started to become violent. Although the demonstrators were unarmed the Saudi Police opened fire. 402 people were killed and close to 700 people were wounded.

Mecca also has its fair share of environmental problems. With the population rising and more pilgrims coming the springs are being run dry. This also causes a problem for the wild life that is sparse in Mecca. They drink from the natural springs but people are drinking all of the water. The animals are important to Mecca because they have such a barren land. Many people travel to and from Mecca. This causes sand and dust to be spread in the air. This is air pollution and can get into the fragile water source. Floods are still a constant worry for Mecca. Even though they get very little rain flash floods are still a problem. Lastly the desert is slowly killing Mecca. Without being able to grow its own food and most of the water being drunk the desert must go. Plans are being made for irrigating the desert into fertile land. If this plan goes smoothly most of the profits from the Hajj can be used for other things besides importing food and water.

Future of Mecca

The future of Mecca has many certainties but is mostly unknown. Saudi Arabia funds most of the cities activities with its oil revenue. Once that resource runs out there will be a great lack of goods for the pilgrims. The whole country might become dependant on the money coming in from the Hajj. To increase income beyond a short time of the year Mecca may expand its clay industry and make maybe even more activities for its residents. Also it has a great source of income from universities. In this way Mecca is almost self sufficient because it does not need desalination plants because of the natural springs and water from the mountains. The only problem for Mecca to solve is the food problem. The land cannot grow crops so they need to import most of its food from other nations. If they could find a way to grow their own food the people of Mecca would be a great deal wealthier. Mecca may become Saudi Arabia’s top income city once the oil business fails.

Mecca has been a complete Muslim city for 100’s of years. I do not believe this will change in anyone’s recent lifetime. With the world population on the rise the influence of Islam will spread and the number of its members will increase. I believe this will force Mecca to expand its boundaries and create even more room for the pilgrims. They will most likely keep increasing the number of pilgrims allowed to come for the Hajj to increase revenue. Also they will maybe promote the lower pilgrimage that attracts only about 100,000 to Mecca. However if the oil industry fails then that will mean many people will be in debt and poor. This is a restriction against the people wanting to make the Hajj. A person cannot make the Hajj until they have made sure they have paid all debts, given their family enough money to survive, and cleansed themselves. The travel costs alone would be too expensive and they would be unable to pay their debts. This could cause a serious impact on the tourism business which is the basis of the Mecca economy.

Even though Mecca is in the Middle East I believe that it will not have problems from war. The civil wars over there are mostly between feuding Islamic nations. They would never want to ruin the people’s potential to make the high pilgrimage. Also it may help that the city is located on a great land route that covers the Arabian Peninsula and goes into Africa and the Mediterranean. The most problems I could see for Mecca as far as war goes is civil unrest among the different nationalities in the city. The people of Islam are very conscious of their behavior so I believe that they would not want to bring shame to their families by attacking someone in the holy city.

Mecca I believe will survive for many centuries. I could be very wrong though. It all depends if Islam loses its influence and control goes to another religion. The only reason Mecca has survived since B.C times are because of its religious significance. The only way for it to survive a new religion is for it to accept it instead of resent it and prays that its religious importance is kept.

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