Medina, officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (Arabic: المدينة المنورة, romanized: al-Madīnah al-Munawwarah, lit. 'The Enlightened City', Hejazi pronunciation: [almadiːna almʊnawːara], and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah, is the second-holiest city in Islam and the capital of Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia. As of 2020, the estimated population of the city is 1,488,782, making it the fourth-most populous city in the country. Located at the core of the Medina Province in the western reaches of the country, the city is distributed over 589 km2, of which 293 km2 constitutes the city's urban area, while the rest is occupied by the Hejaz Mountains, empty valleys, agricultural spaces and older dormant volcanoes.
Al-Masjid an-Nabawī, known in English as the "Prophet's Mosque", is the second mosque built by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in Medina, after that of Quba, as well as the second largest mosque and holiest site in Islam, after Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, in the Saudi region of the Hejaz. The mosque is located at the heart of Medina, and is a major site of pilgrimage that falls under the purview of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.
Terrorism in Saudi Arabia has mainly been attributed to Islamic extremists. Their targets included foreign civilians—Westerners affiliated with its oil-based economy—as well as Saudi Arabian civilians and security forces. Anti-Western attacks have occurred in Saudi Arabia dating back to 1995. Saudi Arabia itself has been accused of funding terrorism in other countries, including Syria.
The Saudi government does not conduct a census on religion or ethnicity, but some sources estimate the Shiite population in Saudi Arabia to make up around 10-15% of the approximately 23 million natives of Saudi Arabia. The modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was formed in 1932 by the House of Saud, who are followers of a movement within Sunni Islam known as Wahhabism. Followers of the Wahhabite mission—who dominate religious institutions, courts and education of the kingdom—believe that "Muslims should return to the interpretation of Islam found in the classical texts, the Quran and the Sunnah." They also believe that "Muslims who seek intercession from holy men, such as the imams revered by Shiites, are not 'true' Muslims."
The 2010 Zahedan bombings were two suicide bombings on 15 July 2010 that targeted Shia worshippers in Iran, including members of the Revolutionary Guards. The bombings targeted those celebrating the birthday of a Muslim saint at the Jamia mosque in Zahedan, Sistan-Baluchestan. Responsibility for the attacks was claimed by Jundullah in revenge for the execution of their leader by the Iranian government. Amongst the reactions and national and supranational condemnations, Iran blamed the United States and Israel for facilitating the attack.
Anti-Shi'ism is hatred of, prejudice against, discrimination against, persecution of, and violence against Shia Muslims because of their religious beliefs, traditions, and cultural heritage. The term was first used by Shia Rights Watch in 2011, but it has been used in informal research and written in scholarly articles for decades.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Medina, Saudi Arabia.
The following lists events that happened during 2015 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The Qatif and Dammam mosque bombings occurred on 22 and 29 May 2015. On Friday May 22, a suicide bomber attacked the Shia "Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque" situated in Qudeih village of Qatif city in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria claimed responsibility for the blast, which killed at least 21 people. The event is the second deadly attack against Shia in six months. The Islamic state was the ones who attacked leading by Lendrit one of the most important commanders of the Islamic state of Albania and the one who protected the Khalid ibn Al-walid mosque in Syria by the attack
A suicide bombing took place on 26 June 2015 at a Shia mosque in Kuwait. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility for the attack. Kuwait's Emir arrived at the location of the incident after a short period of time. Twenty-seven people were killed and 227 people were wounded.
The 2015 Abha mosque bombing occurred on 6 August 2015, when a suicide bomb attack killed 17 people at a mosque in the south-western Saudi Arabian city of Abha.
The response of Saudi Arabia to the Islamic State has taken many forms. For example, Saudi government agencies have worked with the United States since late 2014 to train and equip Syrian fighters hoping to engage with Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants. The challenges of dealing with ISIL is complicated by the fact that around 2,500 militants originally from Saudi territory have left for Syria in order to join ISIL, the destabilization created by the Syrian Civil War having a big effect on the region.
On 12 January 2016, a suicide attack in Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet district killed 13 people, all foreigners, and injured 14 others. The attack occurred at 10:20 local time, near the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia, an area popular among tourists. The attacker was Nabil Fadli, a Syrian member of the Islamic State.
Mosque of Al-Fadeekh, or Asy-Syams Mosque, is a mosque formerly used by the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his Sahabahs for prayer when they were surrounded by their enemies, and later it was named as Mosque of Bani Nadhir. On the other hand, it is said that Ayah that prohibits khamr (alcohol) was descended here, and Muslims then spilled the alcohol here. Considering the importance of this religious event, which is dealing with the obedience to the religious orders, the mosque was later renamed as Al-Fadeekh, which means a drink made by date palms before being cooked.
Fash Mosque, or Masjid Uhud is a small mosque beneath the Mount Uhud, under the cave, in Medina, Saudi Arabia. There are some accounts of the Islamic prophet Muhammad fulfilling the Zuhr prayer on the day of the Battle of Uhud after the battle. The construction is already destroyed and there are only few remnants of the east, west and south wall, and the mehrab mujawwaf which is still visible. The building is now surrounded by an iron fence to guard its sustainability. It is 4.5 km from Al-Masjid an-Nabawi.
Al-Ijabah Mosque, also known as "Bani Muawiyah Mosque" or "Al-Mubahalah Mosque", is a mosque in Medina, Saudi Arabia, which was built during the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad on a land owned by Muawiyah bin Malik bin 'Auf of the tribe of As-Sus.
The January2021 Baghdad bombings were a pair of terrorist attacks that occurred on 21 January 2021, carried out by two suicide bombers at an open-air market in central Baghdad, Iraq. They killed at least 32 people and injured another 110. This was the Iraqi capital’s first terrorist attack since 2019.
On 4 March 2022, the Islamic State – Khorasan Province attacked a Shia mosque at Qissa Khwani Bazaar in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The suicide attack, carried out by an Afghan man who was a long-term resident of Pakistan, killed at least 63 people and injured another 196.
