Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Medina, [a] officially Al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (Arabic: المدينة المنورة, romanized: al-Madīnah al-Munawwarah, lit. 'The Luminous City', Hejazi Arabic pronunciation: [al.maˈdiːna al.mʊˈnawːara]) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (المدينة, al-Madina) and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (يَثْرِب), is the capital of Medina Province in the ...
Mecca (/ ˈ m ɛ k ə /; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, [a] commonly shortened to Makkah [b]) is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the holiest city according to Islam. [4] It is 70 km (43 mi) inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley 277 m (909 ft) above sea level.
Following his death in 632, his followers rapidly expanded the territory under Muslim rule beyond Arabia and conquered many parts of Asia, Africa and Europe conquering huge swathes of territory. Although Arabia soon became a politically peripheral region as the focus shifted to the more developed conquered lands , [ 17 ] Mecca and Medina ...
The Hejaz (/ h iː ˈ dʒ æ z, h ɪ ˈ-/, also US: / h ɛ ˈ-/; Arabic: ٱلْحِجَاز, romanized: al-Ḥijāz, lit. 'the Barrier', Hejazi Arabic pronunciation: [alħɪˈdʒaːz]) is a region that includes the majority of the west coast of Saudi Arabia, covering the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif and Baljurashi.
Hejaz is the region in the Arabian Peninsula where Mecca and Medina are located. It is where the Islamic prophet Muhammad was born and raised. [10]The two holy cities of Islam, Mecca and Medina, are traditionally known as the Ḥaramayn, which is the dual form of ḥaram, thus meaning "The Two Sanctuaries". [11]
Ancient Mecca was an oasis on the old caravan trade route that linked the Mediterranean world with South Arabia, East Africa, and South Asia. The town was located about midway between Maʾrib in the south and Petra in the north, and it gradually developed by Roman and Byzantine times into an important trade and religious centre.
The land of Hijaz, particularly Makkah and Madinah, is the place where Islam was firstly established. Thus, the majority of its population are Muslims. Moreover, Qur’an is considered the constitution of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic law "sharia’" is the main legal source.
A cohesive political structure based on the Majlis al-Shura (consultative council) system had been in place for centuries. A central administrative body managed an annual budget which allocated expenditure on secondary schools, military and police forces. [4] Similarly, the religious fabric of the Najd and the Hejaz were vastly different.