In the Islamic religion, Mecca is the holiest city. This is the place where prophet Muhammad was born. As such, it is crucial in the Muslim faith and practice. The city of Mecca is located in the western edge of modern-day Saudi Arabia. It neighbours another Islam holy city known as Medina. For the Muslims, the Hajj is a compulsory pilgrimage to Mecca, and each Muslim has to pay a visit to Mecca at least once in their lifetime. Additionally, Mecca is a geographical point of focus for Muslims when they pray. All Muslims around the world have to face Mecca when they pray.
Prophet Muhammad started his religious practices while in the city of Mecca. That explains why it is vital to Muslims. The prophet was initially married to a rich older woman and protected by a wealthy family in the city. During this time, the city of Mecca had many gods that were worshipped. Travellers from the surrounding regions would come to this city to worship different deities at the Ka’bah. Ka’bah resembled a temple-like building with many different gods.
When prophet Muhammad became a successful caravan raider, his wealth and military power increased, and so did his religious following. As a result, Muhammad’s forces from the city of Medina staged a battle with the soldiers from Mecca. He led a powerful army against the army of Mecca, conquering it and taking over. He went on to remove all the idols from the Ka’bah and declared Mecca the worship centre of Allah alone. Islam religion requires all daily prayers to be carried out while facing Ka’bah. That explains why all Muslims around the world face in a particular direction while praying.
In summary, Mecca is regarded highly by Muslims because prophet Muhammad declared it as the holiest place in Islam. It is ordained as the focus of Muslim pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of faith in Islam.
The city of Mecca is the holiest site in Islam and for its followers, the Muslims. It is located in current day Saudi Arabia, and is the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, who Muslims believe represents the final seal in the long tradition of Prophets beginning with Adam and including Abraham, Noah, Moses and Jesus, who brought the message of Allah, or God, to the people.
Mecca houses the Kaaba, a structure in the shape of a cube, which is the site & direction to which Muslims pray 5 times daily, and represents the "House of God", a marker to where it resides in the heavens. It was built first by Adam, and then again after facing the flood of Noah, by Abraham and his son Ismael under God's command.
Muslims make intention to travel to Mecca in a pilgrimage at least once in their lives, in the Hajj, as it is the 5th and final pillar of Islam. This they do, wearing two pieces of cloth, which represent the funeral shroud, in a spiritual tradition and 10-day long ritual implemented by the Prophet Muhammad and by the Prophets who preceded him, to come to God in humility and without worldly adornments. Here they circumnavigate the Kaaba at least 7 times in counterclockwise direction.
The importance of Mecca includes the Hajr'e Aswad, a black stone which Muslims believe fell from paradise from the time of Adam. Originally pure and unmarked, it altered to its current form after the sins of mankind grew and accumulated, each dark spot representing a sin until it was completely covered. Muslims seek out this stone, which is placed in one corner of the Kaaba, during the Hajj to kiss and honor it and to ask forgiveness from their Lord.
Also in Mecca, flows the well of ZamZam, a holy wellspring which burst forth under the feet of Ismael when he was an infant, when Abraham was ordered to leave his wife and son to the care of God in the desert. Its water still flows strong up until today, and is distributed widely to Pilgrims and Muslims all over the world, who drink it believing of its healing properties.
Furthermore, Mecca is also the city in which Muslims believe the Quran, the final testament after the Torah, Psalms, and the Bible, was revealed to the heart of the Prophet Muhammad by the Angel Gabriel, in a cave where Muhammad used to make seclusion to connect himself more closely with God, away from the hustle and bustle of the city and its population.
Finally, to Muslims, Mecca represents the initial struggle of the Prophet Muhammad to spread the teaching of One God to its people in stark contrast to their paganism and belief in many idols. The Meccans objected to Muhammad's ideas of abandoning decadence for humility, abolishing of slavery, giving property and divorce rights to women, forbidding drunkenness and the idea that all men are equal, regardless of wealth, status or color, save in personal piety to God.
The tribal Meccans, many of whom were his family members and relatives known as the Quraysh, made war and sanctions against Muhammad and the early Muslims in retaliation against his message. After 13 years of persecution, the Prophet Muhammad made exodus or "Hijra", with his followers to Medina, whose inhabitants welcomed him with open arms. Then, later, as the teachings of Islam spread and the Muslims grew in strength and numbers, Muhammad rode for Mecca again, and famously took back the city in the name of Islam without bloodshed or seeking reprisals. Thus, tale of His mercy spread, a strange example unheard of among the warring tribes of Arabia, and he was able to unite all the tribes of Arabia for the first time in history under a common leader, under one message.
Today, Muslims seek to connect with the tradition of their Prophet and His message, when visiting Mecca, in order to better themselves and their connection to Allah or God and in the hopes of espousing their lives with humility and piety.
Mecca is important to Muslims for numerous reasons. It is the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, Islam's most important Prophet. The Prophet Muhammad received his first divine revelation in a cave called Hira(2 miles from Mecca) when the angel Gabriel seized the Prophet Muhammad and ordered him to recite although he was illiterate.
Mecca is also home to Islam's most sacred Mosque, Al-Masjid Al-Haram, where Muslims pray in the direction of the Kaaba, a cube building built by Abraham and Ishmael, that Muslims are ordered to migrate to at least once in their lifetime as apart of the five pillars of Islam, which are:
1.) Faith
2.) Prayer
3.) Charity
4.) Fasting
5.) Pilgrimage to Mecca
Mecca is Islam's holiest city and fosters over 2 million pilgrims per year.
Mecca, which is in modern-day Saudi Arabia, is the holiest city in Islam. It was the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam, and the place where the first revelation of the Quran, Islam's holy book, occurred. From the time of Muhammad onwards, Mecca has had great cultural and religious significance in the lives of Muslims the world over.
It is renowned as a holy place and is visited by millions of Muslims each year as part of the Hajj, or pilgrimage. During the Hajj, pilgrims circle round the Kaaba—the holiest site in Islam—a giant cuboid structure at the heart of The Sacred Mosque. According to the Quran, it was the first Islamic house of worship, built by Ibrahim and Ishmael on the orders of Allah. The Kaaba is so important to Muslims that they face in its direction whenever they pray.
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