from Encyclopedia Britannica

History

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. It was known to Ptolemy as Macoraba.

According to Islâmic tradition, Abraham and Ishmael, his son by Hagar, built the Kaʿbah as the house of God. The central point of pilgrimage in Mecca before the advent of Islâm in the 7th century, the cube-shaped stone building has been destroyed and rebuilt several times. During biblical times, the city was ruled by a series of Yemeni tribes. Under the Quraysh, it became a type of city-state, with strong commercial links to the rest of Arabia, Ethiopia, and Europe. Mecca became a place for trade, for pilgrimage, and for poetry festivals.

The city gained its religious importance with the birth of Muḥammad about 570. The prophet was forced to flee from Mecca in 622, but he returned eight years later and took control of the city. He purged Mecca of idols, declared it a centre of Muslim pilgrimage, and dedicated it to Allâh. Since then, the city has remained the major religious centre of Islâm. As the ancient caravan route fell into decline, Mecca lost its commercial significance and has since lived mainly on the annual pilgrimages and the gifts of Muslim rulers.

Mecca remained virtually independent, although it acknowledged the power of Damascus andlater of the ʿAbbâsid caliphate of Baghdad, Iraq. In 1269 it came under the control of the Egyptian Mamlûk sultans. In 1517 dominion over the holy city passed to the Ottoman Turks in Constantinople (now Istanbul). The local city rulers were chosen from the sharîfs, or descendants of Muḥammad, who retained a strong hold on the surrounding area. With the fall of Turkish power after World War I, control of Mecca was contested between the sharîfs and the Âl Saʿûd (the Wahhâbîs) of central Arabia. King Ibn Saʿûd entered the city in 1925, and it became part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the capital of Makkah mânaṭiq idârîyah.

Under the Âl Saʿûd, a puritanical moral code and law and order were enforced, and the facilities for pilgrims were improved. With the exploitation of Saudi Arabia's oil resources since World War II, Mecca has had a high level of economic development.

some pictures of the city and the Grand Mosque

i'll post more later.

i cant wait to perform hajj and step foot in the holy lands. the only place on earth that people from all over the world come together as brothers and sisters wer ur race and culture does not matter and people see you as what you really are. human beings.

i cud not help but realise the shiny whit araound the kabe while the rest of the photo is dull. wats da reason for that?

well its the mosque's floor covered with white marble.

and its clear that the saudi government is not doing a good job for the city itself,

sure they are maintaining the mosque but i mean the city has no Green areas, no parks no trees nothing as far as i know.

I am not sure what Saudies are doing to Mecca but forest are not native in that part of the world. Every city needs to have its own distinct character and there is nothing wrong with desert look. Artificially making Mecca look green and a cheap replica of Dallas is not necessarily a good thing

Azimuth said "parks" and "green areas" and not what you described as "forest"! Common sense, any city needs a park, a green one of course. This will beautify the city and allows for grounds for recreational activies and sports. Afterall, the government is not poor.

Azimuth, there are few parks in the center of Mecca, which is the picture u posted here because of various reasons:

1- the area is very rigid and moutaineous so will be hard for a flat big enough park to be built.

2- it is the center of the city, all lands are owned by people and investors. In fact, the closer to the mosque the higher prices per square meter. It is crazy expensive, so no way the governmetn will buy the land to build just a part in the middle of the city.

Other parks around the city exist.

Don't twist the truth. My uncle worked for Al Nadwah newspaper in 1987 and all my relatives are resident of Mecca. The fanatic Iranians of that year wanted to marsh for the Iranian revolution and what they called "denouncing the infidels" demonstration with knives and sharp metals. After damaging nearby buses and clashing with the locals of the holy city, they finall clashed with the police and killed couple of them before the police had to end it with opening life fire on them. 85 Saudi policemen were killed? by what? by those fanatics carrying weapons, not wood sticks. Wake up man.

For your information, a year before in 1986, a  large quantity of explosives, plastic bombs and weapons were discovered in the luggage of Iranian "pilgrims" arriving in Saudi Arabia for the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Saudi police arrested 100 of the undercover agents sent from Iran.

Finally, stick with the topic at least since you don't even know your information.

P.S: I have the 35 minute video of the interview with them, how do you post it here? I zipped it, still not working.

ramin you mean when they came as pilgrims and then started acting like revolting?

destroying cars and making fire in the streets and waving the iranian flags

and stopping many other pligrims from passing which caused many injuries and deaths?

Originally posted by DayI very beautifull place, hope Inshallah ill be there in the middle ages of my life

yee, if u live till then

i think many people think that piligrimage should be don at an older age like 50 or even older,

i think it should be done when you can do it and afford it.

i myself went to makkah once when i was 14 in a school trip

it wasnt for piligrim, it was a normal visit which is called Umrah.

people considered Piligrims when they go to makkah in certain time in a year and do what piligrims has to do as per Islam.

yea sure you can do what you like, but its part of the five pillars of Islam, that a muslim must do Haj once in his life time.

Actually it is not something you pay for just to go and circle around the Ka'abah and throw stones. It is actually something you go to to experience unity and equality. Where all people are dressed in simple two white cloth. No wonder that Malcom X has changed his views after his pilgrimate from a fanatic of the Nation of Islam of one race, to join the effort in raising the notion that white and black can live toagher and all races, and revenge is always bad. Malcom X learned in his Hajj, where he sat with the white Albanians, the black Nigerians, the South Asians, the East Asians, the Arab, the Turks..etc

that is an experience that worth paying for Hajj. You don't pay for your Hajj to go around Ka'ba and just throw the stones, you pay to feel it, to experience it, and to have a chance for a rebirth.

and by paying we mean pay for your transport, residence and food ( although there are alot of free meals offered there), 

as any place you'll visit in the world

and that is not supporting the terrorists as some may strangly think

yea something i knew about recently about that Ottoman castle "Ajyad",

the building that will be built there will be considered "Waqf"

which means any benifits comes from this building will be spent for the service and the maintainance of the Mosque.

Assalamulaikum...

Mecca or MEkah (in Malay) is a pleasently and peaceful place...

My mother will be there for Hajj this year Insha Allah.... and I am planning to be there for Umrah 2006 or 2007

Varma

that guy who calls himself a "historian" is nothing but an old ignornt who think everything is Hindu,

and please watch for your language, you got a warning already and if you continued you will be banned,

 i think non-Muslims can enter Mecca in many cases, but its preferred that its kept for Muslims only most of the time.