Mecca

City in Saudi Arabia and, as birthplace of Muhammad, the holiest city of the Islamic world and a place of annual pilgrimage (the hajj); population (2004) 1,294,200. Non-Muslims have been forbidden entry to the city since AD 630, when Muhammad made it the centre of the Muslim faith. In the centre of Mecca is the Great Mosque, in the courtyard of which is the Kaaba, the sacred shrine dating from pre-Islamic times and containing the black stone believed to have been given to Ibrahim (Abraham) by the angel Jibra'el (Gabriel). Because of the predominance of the religious functions of the city, industrial development is on a small scale, but includes some manufacture of textiles and furniture.

History
Before the advent of Islam, Mecca owed its importance to its being a stage on the north–south trade route and, in addition, a religious sanctuary; it was a place of pilgrimage for neighbouring tribes and several markets were held nearby during an annual ‘truce of God’.

Mecca also contains the well, Zam-Zam, associated by tradition with the biblical characters Hagar and

Ishmael. Until the advent of air transport, most pilgrims came via the port of Jiddah, 80 km/50 mi to the west. Most of the approximately 2 million pilgrims on the hajj are foreigners.