Mecca

Islam’s holiest city, located in western Saudi Arabia in a desert valley surrounded by mountains. Mecca is the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, home of the sacred Kaaba, and the destination of the Hajj pilgrimage required of all Muslims who are physically and financially able to undertake it at least once in their lifetime.

Islamic tradition connects Mecca to Abraham and Ishmael. After Hagar and Ishmael were sent into the wilderness (Genesis 21:14-21), Islamic sources place them in the valley of Mecca, where God provided the spring of Zamzam when Ishmael was dying of thirst. Abraham later visited and together with Ishmael built the Kaaba as a house of monotheistic worship. The Quran identifies it as “the first House [of worship] established for mankind” at “Bakkah” (Quran 3:96).

By Muhammad’s time (6th-7th century CE), Mecca had become a prosperous trading center and pilgrimage destination, though the Kaaba housed 360 idols representing various tribal deities. Muhammad was born in Mecca around 570 CE into the Quraysh tribe. At age 40, while meditating in a cave on Mount Hira outside Mecca, he received his first revelation from the angel Gabriel (Jibril), marking the beginning of his prophetic ministry. His preaching of pure monotheism and social justice threatened Mecca’s religious establishment and economic interests tied to polytheistic pilgrimage.

Facing increasing persecution, Muhammad and his followers migrated (hijra) to Medina in 622 CE—the event that marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar. Eight years later, in 630 CE, Muhammad returned to Mecca with an army of 10,000, conquering the city largely without bloodshed. He cleansed the Kaaba of its idols, restoring it to Abrahamic monotheism. The Quran commemorates this victory: “It is He who withheld their hands from you and your hands from them within [the area of] Mecca after He caused you to overcome them” (Quran 48:24). Mecca became Islam’s spiritual center, with Muslims worldwide orienting their prayers (salah) toward the Kaaba five times daily, and undertaking the Hajj pilgrimage that culminates in circumambulating the sacred structure.