The Holy City Of Makkah

Location : The Holy City of Makkah lies inland, some 73 km east of Jeddah, in the narrow, sandy Valley of Abraham. The land consists of rugged, rocky (predominantly granite) terrain, with mountain ranges on three sides (to the west, south and east). The Holy City is 277 meters (909 feet) above sea level. There are three main entrances to the Holy City; Al-Mu'allat, Al-Musfalah and Al-Shubaikah. Jabal hira, to the northeast, is the site of the cave where the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, sought peace for contemplation and where he received the first verse of the Holy Qur'an. --- Prophet Muhammad, Peace Be Upon Him: The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was born around 570 C.E. At the age of 40, Muhammad received his call to become a prophet. He received the word of God through the Angel Gabriel and the divine message was recorded in the Holy Qur'an. The God that spoke to Muhammad was the God of Abraham. Islam is thus essentially part of the great monotheistic movement that emerged and developed in the Near East. In Muhammad, regarded as the "seal of the prophets", the message of God for man was finally comprehended and Islam (submission to the will of Allah) is seen by Muslims as the apotheosis of the Judaeo-Christian tradition. --- Ka'aba: The Ka'aba is an oblong stone building located approximately in the center of the quadrangle of the Grand Mosque in the Holy City of Makkah. The front and back walls are 40 feet in length; the side walls are 35 feet long; the height of the walls is 50 feet. Set in a silver surround in the east corner of the Ka'aba, some four feet above ground level, is the Black Stone. This sacred Stone, the focal point of the Hajj, is the only remnant of the shrine which Abraham built when it was given to Abraham by the angel Gabriel. The Stone (which may be of meteoric origin) is believed to go back still further, to the time of the first man, Adam. --- Al-Salah (Prayer): Prayers are of such great significance that some leading scholars of the religion describe them as the backbone of Islam. Each Muslim is required to pray five times daily, in a prescribed manner. The first prayer is at dawn; the next is at high noon; then in the afternoon; after sunset; and finally at night. The formalized prayer consists of a sequence of obeisances made first from a standing position and then from a kneeling one. Muslims may pray in any place, alone or in the company of others. When praying, the Muslim faces in the direction of the Ka'aba in the Holy City of Makkah. Inseparable from prayers in Islam is the Tahara, that is, the complete cleanliness of clothes, body and place. Without the Tahara, a Muslim's prayers will be rendered null. It is the Muslim's obligation, therefore, to be clean at the time of each prayer before facing his Creator. --- Al Hajj (The Pilgrimage): The fifth and last Pillar of Islam is the Hajj. It is explicitly stated in the Holy Qur'an that every physically and financially able Muslim should make the Hajj to the Holy City of Makkah once in his or her lifetime. The Hajj is considered the culmination of each Muslim's religious duties and aspiration. Muslims from all over the world seek to make the Hajj to the Holy City of Makkah, which occurs between the eighth and thirteenth days of the last month of the Islamic calendar - Dhu al-Hijira - of each year. Muslims travel thousands of miles to reach the Holy City of Makkah for the Hajj and perform the rituals in the same manner as the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) almost fourteen centuries ago. ---

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