Located in the Sirat Mountains of central Saudi Arabia and 45 miles inland from the Red Sea port of Jidda (Jeddah), ancient Mecca was an oasis on the old caravan trade route that linked the Mediterranean world with South Arabia, East Africa, and South Asia. By Roman and Byzantine times it had developed into an important trade and religious center, and was known as Macoraba. Sinai, the Mount of Olives, Mt. A few of these daring travelers, such as John Lewis Burckhardt from Switzerland (who, in 1812, was also the first European to visit the ruins of Petra) and Sir Richard Burton from Great Britain were able to convincingly impersonate Muslim pilgrims, gain entrance to Mecca, and write wonderfully of the holy city upon their return to Europe. She is the deadly enemy of all women, especially those who have recently become mothers. Lebanon, Al-Judi, and nearby Mt. Mention must be made, however, of the Zamzan spring and the nearby holy hills of Safa and Marwa (these hills have since disappeared under the leveling topography of modern Mecca). In the middle of Arafat stands Jabal al-Rahmah or the Mount of Mercy where the last verses of the Koran were revealed and where one of the famous farewell addresses of the Prophet was delivered. God gave Abraham precise instructions concerning how to rebuild the shrine and Gabriel showed him the location. Others spent months in camel caravans slowly crossing great tracts of land.
Hagar nursed her son and they drank the remaining water. The most celebrated incident of a non-Muslim visiting Mecca was the visit by the British explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton (who translated the 100 stories of the Arabian Knights and discovered the Kama Sutra) in 1853.
They were told to construct the shrine directly upon the shadow of the cloud, neither exceeding nor diminishing its dimensions. Mecca is the birthplace of Muhammad.The Hira cave located atop the Jabal al-Nur ("Mountain of Light") is located just outside the city and is the location where Muslims believe the Qur'an was first revealed to Muhammad. The most important pilgrimage caravans were the Egyptian, the Syrian, the Maghribi (the trans-Saharan route), the Sudanese (the sub-Saharan, savanna route), and those from Iraq and Persia.During the next few days the pilgrim walks a ritualized route to other sacred places in the Mecca vicinity (Mina, Muzdalifah, Arafat, the Mount of Mercy and Mt.
The idol of Hubal, the largest in Mecca, was a giant stone situated atop the Ka’ba. Rather, he made them the centerpiece of the Muslim religion based on his belief that he was a prophetic reformer who had been sent by god to restore the rites first established by Abraham that had been corrupted over the centuries by the pagan influences. Whatever its ultimate origin, the stone was most probably a sacred object of the pre-Islamic Arabian nomads who had settled around the Zamzam spring that flows at the center of old Mecca. The pilgrims have to circle the Ka’bah seven times.