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Mecca has been referred to by many names. As with many Arabic words, its etymology is obscure. [24] 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.
Prior to Islam, the Kaaba was a holy site for the various Bedouin tribes throughout the Arabian Peninsula. Once every lunar year, Bedouin people would make a pilgrimage to Mecca. Setting aside any tribal feuds, they would worship their gods in the Kaaba and trade with each other in the city. [21]
The city of Hebron, in Palestine, is traditionally considered – along with Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem – one of the "four holy cities" in Islam, [25] due to the presence in the city of the Cave of the Patriarchs, the holy site where Abraham is said to be buried.
For Christians, the Holy Land is considered holy because of its association with the birth, ministry, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, whom Christians regard as the incarnation of God and the Messiah. Christian books, including many editions of the Bible, often have maps of the Holy Land (considered to be Galilee, Samaria, and Judea).
Islamic tradition identifies Bakkah as the ancient name for the site of Mecca. [1] [6] [7] [8] An Arabic word, its etymology, like that of Mecca, is obscure.[3]One meaning ascribed to it is "narrow", seen as descriptive of the area in which the valley of the holy places and the city of Mecca are located, pressed in upon as they are by mountains. [6]
Contrary to the Gospel of Matthew, which places Jesus's birth in the time of Herod I, [6] the Gospel of Luke correlates it with the census: [a] In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.
Father Issa Thaljieh, a 40-year-old Greek Orthodox parish priest at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, kneels at the spot where tradition says Jesus was born.
Egypt: The Flight to Egypt episode in the Gospel of Matthew takes place after the birth of Jesus, and the family flees to Egypt before returning to Galilee a few years later. [ 54 ] [ 55 ] [ 56 ] "The region of Tyre and Sidon " ( Mark 7:24–30 and Matthew 15:21–28 ) in what had once been Phoenicia and had become in Jesus' time part of Roman ...