MAKKAH CITY

[Muqeem]

Makkah Al Mukarramah is a city in Saudi Arabia, and the holiest meeting site in Islam, closely followed by Medina.

Muslim tradition attributes the beginning of Mecca to Ishmael's descendants. In the 7th century, the Islamic prophet Muhammad proclaimed Islam in the city which was by then an important trading center. After 966, Mecca was led by local sharifs. When the authority of the Ottoman Empire in the area collapsed in 1916, the local rulers established the Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz. The Hejaz kingdom, including Mecca, was absorbed by the Saudis in 1925. In its modern period, Mecca has seen tremendous expansion in size and infrastructure.

The modern day city is the capital of Saudi Arabia's Makkah Province, in the historic Hejaz region. With a population of 1.7 million (2008), the city is located 73 km (45 mi) inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of 277 m (909 ft) above sea level.

Every year, millions of Muslims perform the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca walking seven times around the Kaaba and more than 13 million people visit Mecca annually.

Country - Saudi Arabia
Province - Makkah Province
Construction of Kaaba - (+2000 BCE )
Established - Prophet Ibrahim
Joined Saudi Arabia in - 1924

Government :
- Mayor - Osama Al-Bar
- Provincial Governor - Prince Khalid al Faisal.

Area :
- Urban 850 km2 (328.2 sq mi)
- Metro 1,200 km2 (463.3 sq mi)

Population (2007)
- City 1,700,000
- Density 4,200/km2 (2,625/sq mi)
- Urban 2,053,912
- Metro 2,500,000











Floods in makkah in 1941.






Boundary of Mecca.




World Largest Rehal is at the Makkah Gate on the road from Jeddah to Holy city of Makkah.























MAKKAH GRAND CORAL HOTEL


in jeddah












JABAL OMER PROJECT




NEW MAKKAH


image hosted on flickr






Makkah HILTON Hotel












image hosted on flickr














MAKKAH Dar Al Tawheed HOTEL































Riyadh to Makkah Highway







MOEVENPICK HOTEL - MECCA


Makkah Governor Prince Khaled Al-Faisal receives Pakistani Consul General Abdul Salik Khan at his office in Jeddah.


Jeddah-Makkah Expressway Via duct, Jeddah.


Heavy Rains in Mecca City.


















Washing Inside of Kaaba.

Mecca governor Prince Khaled al-Faisal.




Mecca Governor With CHECHNYA President RAMZAN QADRI.






With SUDAN President Omar Bashir.


Mecca Governor With U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Jeddah.




Prince khalid al faisal - Mecca State Governor.

image hosted on flickr




With SAUDI CROWN PRINCE SULTAN.


WITH CHECHNYA PRESIDENT RAMZAN QADRI.






image hosted on flickr


With Bahrain King, Saudi Crown Prince & Riyadh State Governor
image hosted on flickr








ABRAJ BAIT - 95 Floors Hotel Tower.




Dar Al Salam Hotel Mecca.




Ramada Hotel in Mecca.


image hosted on flickr


Imam of Holy Mosque - Sheikh abdurrahman sudais.








Imam of Holy Mosque - Sheikh SURAIM.














Imam of Holy Mosque - Sheikh Adel Al Kalbani.










Imam of Holy Mosque - Sheikh Saleh bin Humaid.
* Sheikh Saleh bin Humaid is also head of Saudi consultative council (Saudi Arabia Parliament).

With Abdullah GUL - Turkey Prime Minister in Riyadh.


With French President Nicolas Sarkozy.


With U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Saudi Parliament - Riyadh.








Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah performs Maghreb prayer with others at the Grand Mosque in Mecca.












Hamas Leder Khalid Micheal in Makkah.














Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh (C) prays inside the Grand Mosque.






































GRAND MOSQUE NEW PROJECTS.

[Mesch]

Thread's name should be changed to MECCA.

[Ahmad Rashid Ahmad]

Very nice pics....

Makkah is better than Mecca...

[jh1]

I agree , it's the official name here in Saudi ( Makkah Al-Mukarramah )

[JOKER07]

nice pics.
i always prefer to mention:
Makkah instead of Mecca
and Masjid instead of Mosque.

[Qatar Son 333]

Makkah for the win.

[Mesch]

What about the official name in the entire world ?
I just can't see the need for trying to change a long standing history.

Mecca is the original English transliteration of the Arabic and is still most commonly used in English dictionaries, by international organisations in their English language literature and in academic writing

Source

[Koobideh]

I got a question. Is it true that the dress code in Mecca is more liberal than the rest of Saudi Arabia? Can you just wear a normal headscarf without the abaya?

Would it be okay for women to dress like this in Mecca?



(the ones who covered their hair in this pic)




It is just that I heard from somebody that because Saudi Arabia has Muslims from all over the world and so the authorities know they shouldn't enforce Saudi values onto foreign pilgrims, and so the dress code is less strict. Is that true?

[jh1]

you can say the same about the city of Mumbai in India, it used to be called "Bombay" because the british used that name since the 17th century .
but the Indians reclaimed their city's name and started calling it Mumbai since 1995 ( I think , not sure about the date ) .

"Mecca" is just a corrupted English version of "Makkah" , we should stick to the original name and that's what the government is doing .
by the way , the name Makkah is now gaining hold among other people and languages , it's just a matter of time before it's universally acknowledge as the correct name of the city .

[jh1]

Originally Posted by Koobideh

I got a question. Is it true that the dress code in Mecca is more liberal than the rest of Saudi Arabia? Can you just wear a normal headscarf without the abaya?

Would it be okay for women to dress like this in Mecca?



(the ones who covered their hair in this pic)




It is just that I heard from somebody that because Saudi Arabia has Muslims from all over the world and so the authorities know they shouldn't enforce Saudi values onto foreign pilgrims, and so the dress code is less strict. Is that true?

yes it is OK , look at the pictures in this thread , Niqab or burka is not required by law in the Kingdom ( most expats here don't cover their faces , and some few saudis as well ) . but the Abaya is required for women in Saudi , although that is not the case in Makkah .
some of the female visitors and Hajij wear similar clothes to what we see in your pictures and it's regarded as normal by the authorities , but the majority of women , try to stick to less colorful clothes because they think it's more appropriate for the place and the occasion .

I hope that answers your question

[Mesch]

Originally Posted by jh1

you can say the same about the city of Mumbai in India, it used to be called "Bombay" because the british used that name since the 17th century .
but the Indians reclaimed their city's name and started calling it Mumbai since 1995 ( I think , not sure about the date ) .

"Mecca" is just a corrupted English version of "Makkah" , we should stick to the original name and that's what the government is doing .
by the way , the name Makkah is now gaining hold among other people and languages , it's just a matter of time before it's universally acknowledge as the correct name of the city .

Corrupted ?! lol
Mecca is the oldest English transliteration of "مكة". It is the way it was known since forever and it's the closest to the Biblical "Becca".
In pronunciation, Mecca resembles the original Arabic word more than Makkah does. Can't believe me? Ask an American or a Brit to pronounce the two words.
Arabic is a language and English is another. Why in hell do you want to mix the two? What's the point of that other than the amateurish Arab pride and ignorance of history.
I will support writing "Makkah Al-Mukarrammah" (God that's even hard to pronounce for me! An Arabic speaker!) if the Arabic language was Latinized for example but as long as it isn't, Mecca (full name should be: Holy Mecca, Honored Mecca) will have my full support and the international community's support as well.
By that same childish logic, the Arab cities of Cairo, Damascus and Bethlehem will have to be changed into Al-Kahira, Dimashq and Beit Laham. Let's also try changing Jerusalem into Al-Quds! Pfff… lol

@ Koobideh: Yes, it's true. You really should visit, it's a lovely experience.

[Muqeem]

hello mesch & others
in skyscrapercity.com
how to add more pages in same thread ?
what is the steps ?
pls reply.

[Mesch]

You can't just "add" more pages. It depends on the number of posts, meaning, if the number of posts exceeds the page's maximum limit then another page would automatically show up.

[jh1]

Originally Posted by Mesch

Corrupted ?! lol
Mecca is the oldest English transliteration of "مكة". It is the way it was known since forever and it's the closest to the Biblical "Becca".
In pronunciation, Mecca resembles the original Arabic word more than Makkah does. Can't believe me? Ask an American or a Brit to pronounce the two words.
Arabic is a language and English is another. Why in hell do you want to mix the two? What's the point of that other than the amateurish Arab pride and ignorance of history.
I will support writing "Makkah Al-Mukarrammah" (God that's even hard to pronounce for me! An Arabic speaker!) if the Arabic language was Latinized for example but as long as it isn't, Mecca (full name should be: Holy Mecca, Honored Mecca) will have my full support and the international community's support as well.
By that same childish logic, the Arab cities of Cairo, Damascus and Bethlehem will have to be changed into Al-Kahira, Dimashq and Beit Laham. Let's also try changing Jerusalem into Al-Quds! Pfff… lol

@ Koobideh: Yes, it's true. You really should visit, it's a lovely experience.

how to pronounce Makkah in Arabic ? مَـكَّــة , right ?
even "Becca" is بَـكَّة , notice the Fatha on the مـ ? that is of course according to the Quraish dialect which we read the Quran according to today . the same can be said about Madinah , being pronounced Medina in English !

so that makes "Mecca" a Corrupted pronunciation of the original name Makkah. and I see no relevance in citing biblical sources as a prove to anything is this debate since Makkah is an arab name and the bible is not written in Arabic ! .

as for the arab cites that you've mentioned , they don't hold the same sates as Makkah and Madinah to Arabs and Muslims , so I really don't care about changing names .

[Mesch]

Yeah well, the vast majority of the world's population nowadays is unfortunately non-Qurashi.
Again: Arabic is a language and English is another. There's no need in trying to impose a certain language's pronunciation of a certain place in another non-related language.
The name Mecca holds no negative meaning and is a historical term. It is actually so historical that the term is casually used today to describe "any place considered to be a very important place to visit by people with a particular interest." Source

So again, what's the point of all of this nonsense?

[jh1]

renaming cites is not as rare and outlandish as you believe ! ( and not nonsense either ) .
nobody today calls istanbul :Constantinople anymore , the same for Mumbai and other cites around the world :
Peiping 1927 to 1949, ->Beijing
Gyeongseong 1914 ->Seoul in 1946
Edo (pre 1868) -> Tokyo
the list goes on ..

and it's not like we're fundamentally changing the name , it's a slight change , more of a correction rather than change really .
I just can't understand why are you so worked up about it ! the official name of the city in government records and documents is Makkah , so live with it .

[Mesch]

Because it is a part of our history and I don't like changing histories. It also has an underlying tone but let's not get into details here..
Anyways, I don't need to live with it since the entire world calls it by the name I believe is right.

[daniel-llerandi]

So beautifull!!! I have a question, if I like mexican wanna go to Mecca, can I go?

Greetings from Mexico!!!!!

[Mesch]

You're more than welcome
.. If you're a Muslim

But if you aren't Jeddah, Riyadh, Hofuf, Khobar, Abha, Jizan, etc. are wondeful cities to explore

[daniel-llerandi]

Originally Posted by Mesch

You're more than welcome
.. If you're a Muslim

But if you aren't Jeddah, Riyadh, Hofuf, Khobar, Abha, Jizan, etc. are wondeful cities to explore

Well I'm not muslim, but It would be great visit Meca, is a very interesting city for me, but is nice to know that I can go to another cities in Saudi Arabia. Thank you for the answer!!