All islamic content in one place: home q & a free downloads kids online bayan blog forums about islam is life just a game. However, the Book of Curiosities maps still hold its place in the Muslim cartographic tradition, with its artistry and knowledge that it gives to the reader. A rectangular map of the world unlike any other recorded ancient or medieval world map has been preserved in a recently discovered Arabic treatise dating from around 1200 and containing a.

According to a 2017 report from the Pew Research Center, Muslims are the world’s fastest growing religious group. It’s projected that at the current rate, Muslims will outnumber Christians by 2060. Even now, nearly a quarter of the world population practices Islam and there are about 50 Muslim-majority countries.

But it’s hard to ignore the negativity that is far too often associated with the Muslim faith; it’s possibly the world’s most misunderstood religion. This makes it all the more important to study and explore.

Traveling can introduce you to the tenets of Islam, no matter what your faith. And it doesn’t hurt that Muslims are responsible for some of mankind’s most beautiful creations. Get a taste of the Muslim religion, culture, and history with some landmarks from the Islamic world.

1. Imam Square in Esfahan, Iran

Imam or Naqsh-e Jahan Square is surrounded by Islamic architecture icons, like the intricately tiled Naghsh-e Jahan Mosque, the six-story Ali Qapu Palace, and the Qeysarie Gate, which opens to the Esfahan Grand Bazaar.

• Character of the city
  • Landscape
  • Economy
  • Administration and social conditions

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Site Map All Islamic Content In One Places

John Bagot GlubbSee All Contributors

Mecca, Arabic Makkah, ancient Bakkah, city, western Saudi Arabia, located in the Ṣirāt Mountains, inland from the Red Sea coast. It is the holiest of Muslim cities. Muhammad, the founder of Islam, was born in Mecca, and it is toward this religious centre that Muslims turn five times daily in prayer (seeqiblah). All devout and able Muslims attempt a hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca at least once in their lifetime. Because it is sacred, only Muslims are allowed to enter the city.

In the 20th and 21st centuries the city underwent vast improvements. The area around the religious shrines was cleared, the mosque enlarged, housing and sanitation improved, and transportation facilities enhanced. As a result, Mecca can accommodate the continually increasing number of pilgrims, or hajjis. Area 10 square miles (26 square km). Pop. (2010) 1,534,731.

Character of the city

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Landscape

City site

Mecca is situated at an elevation of 909 feet (277 metres) above sea level in the dry beds of the Wadi Ibrāhīm and several of its short tributaries. It is surrounded by the Ṣirāt Mountains, the peaks of which include Mount (Jabal) Ajyad, which rises to 1,332 feet, and Mount Abū Qubays, which attains 1,220 feet, to the east and Mount Quʿayqʿān, which reaches 1,401 feet, to the west. Mount Hirāʾ rises to 2,080 feet on the northeast and contains a cave in which Muhammad sought isolation and visions before he became a prophet. It was also in this cave that he received the first verse (āyah) of the holy Qurʾān. South of the city, Mount Thawr (2,490 feet) contains the cave in which the prophet secreted himself from his Meccan enemies during the Hijrah to Medina, the event that marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar.

Entrance to the city is gained through four gaps in the surrounding mountains. The passes lead from the northeast to Minā, ʿArafāt, and Al-Ṭāʾif; from the northwest to Medina; from the west to Jeddah; and from the south to Yemen. The gaps have also defined the direction of the contemporary expansion of the city.

Climate

Because of its relatively low-lying location, Mecca is threatened by seasonal flash floods despite the low amount of annual precipitation. There are less than 5 inches (130 mm) of rainfall during the year, mainly in the winter months. Temperatures are high throughout the year and in summer may reach 120 °F (49 °C).

Plant and animal life

Plants and animals are scarce and consist of species that can withstand the high degree of aridity and heat. Natural vegetation includes tamarisks and various types of acacia. Wild animals include wild cats, wolves, hyenas, foxes, mongooses, and kangaroo rats (jerboas).

City layout

The city centres on the Ḥaram Mosque, also called the Great Mosque, in which are situated the Kaaba and the sacred well of Zamzam. The compact built-up area around the mosque comprises the old city, which stretches to the north and southwest but is limited on the east and west by the nearby mountains. The main avenues are al-Muddaʿah and Sūq al-Layl to the north of the mosque and al-Sūq al-Ṣaghīr to the south. Since World War II, Mecca has expanded along the roads through the mountain gaps to the north, northwest, and west. Among the modern residential areas are Al-ʿAzīziyyah and Al-Fayṣaliyyah along the road to Minā and Al-Ẓāhir, Al-Zahraʿā, and Shāriʿ al-Manṣūr along the roads to Jeddah and Medina. Expansion has been accompanied by the construction of new streets in the old city. In the 21st century a number of skyscraper hotels were built in the area around the mosque.

The Ḥaram Mosque is magnificent in its size and architecture and has been embellished and enlarged on numerous occasions through the centuries, most recently in a series of massive expansions by the government of Saudi Arabia in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The state-of-the-art complex, now multilevel, includes an advanced communication network, air-conditioning, escalators, and a complex network of pedestrian routes and tunnels, in addition to numerous aesthetic and artistic accompaniments. The mosque can accommodate one million worshippers at a time. Houses near the mosque have been razed, and it is now surrounded by open spaces and wide streets, which can be crossed through underground walkways built to ease traffic. To the south of the Ḥaram Mosque, the Saudi government built the Abrāj al-Bayt skyscraper complex, one of the world’s largest and tallest buildings, to house hotels, shopping centres, and prayer areas near the holy sites.

Housing

Mecca’s houses are more compacted in the old city than in the modern residential areas. Traditional buildings of two or three stories are built of local rock. The villas in the modern areas are constructed of concrete. Slum conditions can still be found in various parts of the city; the slum inhabitants are mainly poor pilgrims who, unable to finance their return home, remained in Mecca after arriving either for the hajj or for a lesser pilgrimage known as the ʿumrah.

People

The population density in Mecca is high. Most of the people are concentrated in the old city, while densities in the modern residential areas are the lowest in the city. During the month of pilgrimage the city is swollen with one to two million worshippers from other parts of Saudi Arabia and from other Muslim countries. Entrance into Mecca is permitted only to followers of Islam. Mecca is, however, one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world, containing people from various countries throughout the globe. People of the same national origin tend to live together in certain parts of the city.