Every day, one and a half billion people turn to face an ancient oasis on the edge of the Arabian Desert and bow in prayer. It is the destination of almost four million visitors every year, and in the last month of the Islamic calendar, its population swells with two million pilgrims on a sacred journey called the hajj. They are coming to see Mecca, the birthplace of the prophet Muhammad and the religion he founded, Islam. This city is located in the western region of Saudi Arabia known as the Hejaz, a narrow stretch of land that runs 1,400 kilometers along the coast of the Red Sea.
Mecca was a holy place long before the birth of Muhammad in 570 AD. Since ancient times, the city had been a gathering point for traders following caravan routes between the Mediterranean, East Africa, and South Asia. Many of these travelers would stop at a small shrine known as the Kaaba, built at the site of a natural spring called the Zamzam. This spring made Mecca a desirable spot for traders to rest and conduct business, but it had a particular significance to Muslims. According to Islamic tradition, the spring was discovered by Hagar, the second wife of Abraham and mother of Ishmael. Abraham is considered the forefather of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He built the Kaaba at the spot where the angel Gabriel commanded him to rebuild the shrine first erected by Adam. When Hagar could not find water for Ishmael, the angel Gabriel touched the ground with his wing and created the Zamzam spring.
By the time Muhammad was born, several hundred different gods and idols were being worshipped at the Kaaba shrine. Judaism and Christianity, monotheistic religions, were also practiced at the Kaaba shrine. Islam holds that Muhammad, a caravan trader from Mecca, received revelations from God in a nearby cave. He declared that the many gods worshipped in the city were false and that Allah was the one and only true God. Muslims consider Muhammad to be the last in a series of prophets that includes the ancient prophets of the Jewish tradition and Jesus Christ, and that Allah is the same God worshipped by these religions.
The ruling tribe of Mecca, however, did not accept the prophet’s message, leading to conflict between the believers and the nonbelievers. Muhammad was forced to leave Mecca for the city of Medina, 330 kilometers to the north. In Medina, Muhammad attracted a large following. The Meccan rulers, however, continued to persecute converts to Islam and attacked Medina several times. In retaliation, Muhammad and his followers repeatedly attacked caravans going to and from Mecca in order to undermine the commerce of the people of Mecca. Finally, in 630 AD, the Muslims launched an assault on Mecca and took control of the holy city. Muhammad destroyed the statues of the pagan gods in the Kaaba shrine, dedicated Mecca to the worship of Allah, and established the pilgrimage to Mecca as a fundamental element of the religion of Islam.
Islam spread quickly in the centuries after Muhammad, as Muslim warriors conquered the Middle East, North Africa, Spain, and other parts of Europe. From farther and farther away, the Muslim faithful made the arduous journey to Mecca by boat, by camel, and on foot. Today, Islam is practiced from Indonesia and China to West Africa and Spain, and Mecca sees pilgrims from every corner of the world.
Every Muslim who is healthy enough and has the financial means is expected to make the hajj to Mecca at least once. Pilgrims usually arrive at Jidda, a port city near Mecca, and travel to Mecca in groups. Before their arrival in Mecca, they stop to change into the ihram, a garment consisting of seamless white cloth that symbolizes their state of purity for the rest of the journey. On the first day of the hajj, pilgrims perform a tawaf (circling the Kaaba seven times), then walk between Mount Safa and Mount Marwa seven times in memory of Hagar’s search for water, and then set out from Mecca to nearby Mina, a city where they camp and prepare for the rest of their journey. When they reach the Plain of Arafat, where Muhammad gave his famous farewell sermon, they participate in the "standing," the central rite of the hajj. The pilgrims pray for forgiveness and spend hours in individual worship. At an open area called Muzdalifah, between the Plain of Arafat and Mina, pilgrims collect stones. Then, when they reach Mina, they throw these stones at pillars that represent the temptations of the devil in a rite called the "stoning of the jamarat." After sacrificing a sheep or goat, the pilgrims go to Mecca where they perform a final tawaf and drink from the Zamzam spring. After the hajj, many visitors journey north to Medina, Muhammad’s home for many years and the place where his tomb is located.
The Kaaba today is a cubical structure 16 meters tall that is draped in black silk embroidered in gold with verses from the Koran, the sacred book of Islam. The Kaaba stands in an open courtyard at the center of the Masjid al-Haram. Seven tall minarets surround this mosque, and 64 gates allow entrance to its vast courtyard. The Masjid al-Haram is the largest mosque in the world and is capable of holding 1.2 million people comfortably.
The scale of the hajj is an awe-inspiring vision of human devotion. In one short week, over two million pilgrims visit the city and nearby sites. Tent cities are set up at Mina, and the Plain of Arafat becomes a sea of white-robed pilgrims. The government of Saudi Arabia now regulates the number of visas it issues for the hajj. At other times in the year, many Muslims make a lesser pilgrimage, called the umrah, which keeps the city busy. The government has spent billions of dollars improving infrastructure in the area, for example, building roads and expanding mosques, providing health services and housing to visitors, and trying to ensure public safety. Even though Mecca is not open to traditional tourism—people of faiths other than Islam are forbidden to enter—pilgrims spend over thirty billion dollars each year visiting the holy sites of Islam, and Mecca’s economy depends almost exclusively on this income.
When they return to their homes, Muslims who have made the journey to Mecca are granted a special title—hajji. But Mecca’s importance to Islam transcends its role as a religious center and the destination of the hajj. A modern pilgrim flying home will notice that the airplane’s onboard screens not only display information about the plane’s speed, altitude, and estimated arrival time, but also an arrow pointing to Mecca. Five times every day, when Muslims unroll their prayer mats to pray, no matter where they may be, they first turn to face Mecca. By this act, Muslims all over the world unite around the holy city that is the spiritual center of their faith.