Mecca is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia and the holiest city in 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 last recorded population was 2,385,509 in 2022. Its metropolitan population in 2022 is 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 foreigners from other Muslim 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 10 most visited cities in the world.
Haram is one of several similar words originating from the triliteral Semitic root Ḥ-R-M. The word literally means "sanctuary," commonly used by Muslims to refer to Al-Masjid Al-Haram and Prophet Mohammad's Mosque. There are certain rules which Muslims within these two areas must follow.
The Sharif of Mecca or Hejaz was the title of the leader of the Sharifate of Mecca, traditional steward of the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina and the surrounding Hejaz. The term sharif is Arabic for "noble", "highborn", and is used to describe the descendants of Hashim Ibn Abd-Manaf.
Al-Ḥajj is the 22nd chapter (sūrah) of the Quran with 78 verses (āyāt). This surah takes its name from the 27th verse.
Abdul Rahman ibn Abdul Aziz al-Sudais, better known as al-Sudais, is the Chief Imam of the Grand Mosque, Masjid al-Haram in Makkah, Saudi Arabia; the President of the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques; a renowned Qāriʾ ; he was the Dubai International Holy Qur'an Award's "Islamic Personality Of the Year" in 2005.
Muzdalifah is an open and level area near Mecca in the Hejazi region of Saudi Arabia that is associated with the Ḥajj ("Pilgrimage"). It lies just southeast of Mina, on the route between Mina and Arafat.
The miqat is a principal boundary at which Muslim pilgrims intending to perform the Ḥajj or ʿUmrah must enter the state of iḥrām, a state of consecration in which certain permitted activities are made prohibited.
The holiest sites in Islam are predominantly located in the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant. While the significance of most places typically varies depending on the Islamic sect, there is a consensus across all mainstream branches of the religion that affirms three cities as having the highest degree of holiness, in descending order: Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem. Mecca's Al-Masjid al-Haram, Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina and Al-Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem are all revered by Muslims as sites of great importance.
Islam in Cyprus is the island's second-largest religion after Christianity, and is also the predominant faith of the Turkish Cypriot community which resides in Northern Cyprus. Before the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, the Turkish Cypriot community made up 18% of the island's population and lived throughout the island. Today, most of the estimated 264,172 Muslims are based in the north of the island.
The East London Mosque (ELM) is situated in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets between Whitechapel and Aldgate East. Combined with the adjoining London Muslim Centre and Maryam Centre, it is one of the largest mosques in Western Europe accommodating more than 7,000 worshippers for congregational prayers. The mosque was one of the first in the UK to be allowed to use loudspeakers to broadcast the adhan.
The Zamzam Well is a well located within the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is located 20 m (66 ft) east of the Kaaba, the holiest place in Islam.
The Jerusalem Waqf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department, also known as the Jerusalem Waqf, the Jordanian Waqf or simply the Waqf, is the Jordanian-appointed organization responsible for controlling and managing the current Islamic edifices on the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, which includes the Dome of the Rock. The Jerusalem Waqf is guided by a council composed of 18 members and headed by a director, all appointed by Jordan. The current director of the Waqf, since 2005, is Sheikh Azzam al-Khatib.
Al-Haram, was a Palestinian Arab village in the Jaffa Subdistrict, in Mandatory Palestine. It was located 16 km north of Jaffa, adjacent to the ruins of the medieval walled city of Arsuf, and its extent was estimated to range between 9,653 and 11,698 dunams of which 5,150 were accounted for in the cadastral registrations. It was depopulated during the 1948 war.
Khalifa Ezzat was born in Bani Sweif, south of Egypt where he first received his Islamic education in the local Al-Fahsn Institute of Al Azhar located in Al-Fashin City. It was the custom of the Saft Al-Urafa community, to enrol the able and bright students for Qur'anic memorisation. Khalifa, began memorising the Qur'an, from his teachers Sheikh Husain, then his son Sheikh Muhammad, then Sheikh Sayyed Othman.
The King of Saudi Arabia, officially the King of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is the monarch and head of state/government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia who holds absolute power. He is the head of the Saudi Arabian royal family, the House of Saud. The king is the supreme commander-in-chief of the Royal Saudi Armed Forces and the head of the Saudi national honors system. The king is called the "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques", a title that signifies Saudi Arabia's jurisdiction over the mosques of Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina. The title has been used many times through the history of Islam. The first Saudi king to use the title was Faisal; however, King Khalid did not use the title after him. In 1986, King Fahd replaced "His Majesty" with the title of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and it has been since used by both King Abdullah and King Salman. The king has been named the most powerful and influential Muslim and Arab leader in the world according to the Muslim 500.
Masjid al-Haram, also known as the Sacred Mosque or the Great Mosque of Mecca, is considered to be the most significant mosque in Islam. It encloses the vicinity of the Kaaba in Mecca, in the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia. It is among the pilgrimage sites associated with the Hajj, which every Muslim must perform at least once in their lives if able. It is also the main site for the performance of ʿUmrah, the lesser pilgrimage that can be undertaken any time of the year. The rites of both pilgrimages include circumambulating the Kaaba within the mosque. The Great Mosque includes other important significant sites, such as the Black Stone, the Zamzam Well, Maqam Ibrahim, and the hills of Safa and Marwa.
Abdullah Awad Al Juhany, is one of the nine Imams of the Grand Mosque Masjid al-Haram in Mecca. He holds a B.A. from the faculty of Qur'an at the Islamic University of Madinah, and a doctorate (Ph.D.) from Umm al-Qura University in Mecca.
Saudi Arabian media often attacks Jews in books, news articles, and mosques with what some describe as antisemitic satire. Saudi Arabian government officials and state religious leaders often promote the idea that Jews are conspiring to take over the entire world; as proof of their claims, they publish and frequently cite The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as factual.
Yasser ibn Rashed al-Dosari born on 6 August 1980, is an imam, khatib, and qāriʾ from Saudi Arabia. He has been one of the imams of Masjid al-Haram since 12 October 2019. Previously, he is an imam of Taraweeh and Tahajjud at Masjid al-Haram from 2015 and also an imam at several mosques in Riyadh since 1995. Al-Dosari was a student of a group of 'ulama and sheikhs, including Abdulaziz Al Sheikh, Saleh Al-Fawzan, and Abdullah ibn Jibreen. He also learned qira'at with several shuyukh and qaris, including Bakri Al-Tarabisyi and Ibrahim Al-Akhdar. previously his contract had expired and he did not lead for about 5 and a half months. Now he has been reappointed as an Imam of Masjid al-Haram.
Abbey's Productions іs a Kuwait-based company that produces cinematic and media content in the Pan Arab and MENA regions. The company was founded in 2019 by Sheikha Abrar Khaled Al Sabah.
