Mecca is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the holiest city according to Islam. It is 70 km (43 mi) inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley 277 m (909 ft) above sea level. Its metropolitan population in 2022 was 2.4 million, making it the third-most populated city in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh and Jeddah. Around 44.5% of the population are Saudi citizens and around 55.5% are Muslim foreigners from other countries. Pilgrims more than triple the population number every year during the Ḥajj pilgrimage, observed in the twelfth Hijri month of Dhūl-Ḥijjah. With over 10.8 million international visitors in 2023, Mecca was one of the ten most visited cities in the world.
The 620s decade ran from January 1, 620, to December 31, 629.
The 570s decade ran from January 1, 570, to December 31, 579.
The Hejaz is a region that includes the majority of the west coast of Saudi Arabia, covering the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif and Baljurashi. It is thus known as the "Western Province", and it is bordered in the west by the Red Sea, in the north by Jordan, in the east by the Najd, and in the south by the Region of 'Asir. Its largest city is Jeddah, which is the second-largest city in Saudi Arabia, with Mecca and Medina, respectively, being the fourth- and fifth-largest cities in the country.
The Quraysh or Qureshi is an Arab tribe that inhabited and used to control Mecca and the Kaaba. Comprising ten main clans, it includes the Hashim clan into which the Islamic prophet Muhammad was born. By 600 CE, the Quraysh had become wealthy merchants, dominating trade between the Indian Ocean, East Africa, and the Mediterranean. They ran caravans to Gaza and Damascus in summer, and Yemen in winter. They also mined and pursued other enterprises on these routes, placing business interests first.
Banu Hashim is an Arab clan within the Quraysh tribe to which the Islamic prophet Muhammad Ibn Abdullah belonged, named after Muhammad's great-grandfather Hashim ibn Abd Manaf.
Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib was the father of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He was the son of Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim and Fatima bint Amr of the Makhzum Clan.
The ʿām al-fīl is the name in Islamic history for the year approximately equating to 570–571 CE. According to Islamic resources, it was in this year that prophet Mohammad was born. The name is derived from an event said to have occurred at Mecca: Abraha, the Abyssinian, Christian king of Himyarite marched upon the Ka‘bah in Mecca with a large army, which included war elephants, intending to demolish it. However, the lead elephant, known as 'Mahmud', is said to have stopped at the boundary around Mecca, and refused to enter. It has been mentioned in the Quran that the army was destroyed by small birds, sent by God, that carried pebbles that destroyed the entire army and Abraha perished. Surah Fil in the Quran contains an account of the event. The year came to be known as the Year of the Elephant, beginning a trend for reckoning the years in the Arabian Peninsula. This reckoning was used until it was replaced with the Islamic calendar during the times of ‘Omar.
Abraha was an Aksumite military leader who controlled the Kingdom of Himyar and a large part of present-day Saudi Arabia for over 30 years in the 6th century. Originally a general in the Aksumite army that invaded Yemen around 525 CE, Abraha seized power by deposing the Christian Himyarite king installed by Kaleb. He is famous for the tradition of his attempt to destroy the Kaaba, a revered religious site in Mecca, using an army that included war elephants, an event known as Year of the Elephant.
Abd al-Muttalib was the grandfather of Muhammad.
This family tree is about the relatives of the Islamic prophet Muhammad as a family member of the family of Hashim and the Quraysh tribe which is ‘Adnani. According to Islamic tradition, Muhammad descends from the biblical Ishmael through the Hashem tribe.
Shayba ibn Hāshim, better known as ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, was the fourth chief of the Quraysh tribal confederation and grandfather of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Hāshim ibn ʿAbd Manāf, born ʿAmr al-ʿUlā, was the great-grandfather of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the progenitor of the ruling Banu Hashim clan of the Quraysh tribe in Mecca. At some point in his life before his father's death, 'Amr chose for himself the name Hāshim, as it was the name God used for Abraham. The narrations from Islamic hagiographists to explain this name change are varied: A narration suggests that `Amr was called Hashim because Hashim translates as pulverizer in Arabic. As a generous man, he initiated the practice of providing crumbled bread in broth that was later adapted for the pilgrims to the Ka'aba in Mecca. Another narration claims the name derives from the Arabic root Hashm, to save the starving, because he arranged for the feeding of the people of Mecca during a seasonal famine, and he thus came to be known as "the man who fed the starved".
The Banu Makhzum was one of the wealthy clans of the Quraysh. They are regarded as being among the three most powerful and influential clans in Mecca before the advent of Islam, the other two being the Banu Hashim and the Banu Umayya.
Hilf al-Fudul was an alliance or confederacy created in Mecca in the year 590 AD, to establish justice for all through collective action, especially for those who were not under the protection of any clan. Because of Muhammad's role in its formation, the alliance plays a significant role in Islamic ethics. Because fudul commonly means "virtuous" the alliance is often translated as League of the Virtuous.
Muhammad, the final Islamic prophet, was born and lived in Mecca for the first 53 years of his life until the Hijra. This period of his life is characterized by his proclamation of prophethood. Muhammad's father, Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib, died before he was born. His mother would raise him until he was six years old, before her death around 577 CE at Abwa'. Subsequently raised by his grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib, and then his uncle, Abu Talib ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib, Muhammad's early career involved being a shepherd and merchant. Muhammad married Khadija bint Khuwaylid after a successful trading endeavour in Syria. After the death of Khadija and Abu Talib in the Year of Sorrow, Muhammad married Sawdah bint Zam'a and Aisha.
When the Islamic prophet Muhammad initially spread Islam in his hometown, Mecca, he did not meet with any significant opposition from his tribesmen, the Quraysh. Rather, they were indifferent to his activities, as they did not appear to be particularly interested in devotional meetings. This was the case until Muhammad started attacking their beliefs, which caused tensions to arise. The Muslims then reportedly received persecution that lasted for twelve years beginning from the advent of Islam to Hijrah.
Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib was the leader of Banu Hashim, a clan of the Qurayshi tribe of Mecca in the Hejazi region of the Arabian Peninsula. He being the brother of Abdullah, the father of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, was his uncle and father of Ali. After the death of his father Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim ibn Abd Manaf, he inherited this position as tribal chieftain, and the offices of Siqaya and Rifada. He was well-respected in Mecca.
Qusai ibn Kilab ibn Murrah, also spelled Qusayy, Kusayy, Kusai, or Cossai, born Zayd, was an Ishmaelite descendant of Abraham. Orphaned early on, he would rise to become chief of Mecca, and leader of the Quraysh tribe. He is best known for being an ancestor of the Islamic prophet Muhammad as well as the third and the fourth Rashidun caliphs, Uthman and Ali, and the later Umayyad, Abbasid, and Fatimid caliphs along with several of the most prominent Hashemite dynasties in the orient.
