MECCA, Medina, Aden, Sana the capital of Yemen, and Daraieh, are the chief towns of Arabia. Mecca is a holy city of the Muham madans. It is situated in an arid and barren tract of country, a full day's journey from the seaport town of Jedda. In the summer months the heat is excessive. There are several structures in it of historical interest, one of them, the Ka'ba, so called from its form being nearly a cube (kaab). It is a massive structure of grey Mecca stone, nearly 44 feet long by 35 feet wide, and from 35 to 40 feet high, with a flat roof, supported by two columns, between which are hundreds of lamps bung in festoons. The Ka'ba is encircled by an immense curtain (kessoua) of rich black stuff, on appears in large Arabic characters the essence of the Muhammadan creed, There is no other deity but God, and Mahomed is the prophet of God,' also some prayers worked in gold thread. Beyond these are the mambar (pulpit), Al Bab-us-Salam, and the buildings enclosing the well of Zamzam. Serving as an upper chamber to this structure is the Makam-us-Shafiah, and opposite to the re maining three sides of the Ka'ba are the makam of the other orthodox sects, viz. the Hanefi, the Hanbali, and Maleki. There are arcades around the square in which the Ka'ba stands. Built into the Ka'ba wall is the black stone, Hajar-us-Siah, said to have been brought by the angel Gabriel in order to the construction of that edifice. The stone, according to the legend, was at first of a bright white colour, but is absolutely black or deep reddish-brown. This stone every Muhammadan pilgrim must kiss, or at least touch, every time he goes round the Ka'ba. Neither the stone of Abraham nor that of Ishmael receives the same honours ; pilgrims are not obliged either to visit or to kiss them. The Arabs venerate the Ka'ba as having been built by Abraham, and having been his house of prayer. Within the same enclosure is the well of Zamzam. Hagar, when banished by her master, set little Ishmael down here while she should find some water to quench his thirst. Another ornament of the Ka'ba is a row of metal pillars surrounding it. The black stone has suffered from the iconoclastic principle of Muham madanism, having once narrowly escaped destruc tion by order of the ruler of Egypt. In these days the metal rim serves as a protection as well as an ornament. Its height from the ground is 4 feet 9 inches ; Ali Bey places it 42 inches above the pavement.
Mecca territory is reputed sacred to a certain distance round, which is indicated by marks set for this purpose. Every person, it is assumed, should perform the pilgrimage to Mecca who has a beast to ride upon, and who can supply himself with provisions for the journey. Ul-Shaffei says, Those who have money, if they cannot go, should perform this journey by deputy. Malik thinks all who have strength sufficient should go to Mecca ; but Ul-Hanifa deems both money and health of body requisite before this duty can be deemed obligatory. During the pilgrimage, the city becomes an immense fair, in which products of Arabia are exchanged for the richest and most valuable commodities of Persia, India, and Europe, to the amount of several millions of dollars. There are few khans, baths, semis, or even mosques, and there are few cisterns for collecting rain ; the well-water is brackish, and during the pilgrimage sweet water becomes an absolute scarcity. At other times the city is chiefly supplied by a conduit coming from the vicinity of Arafat, a distince of six hours' journey. This extensive work was constructed by Zobeida, wife of Harun-ur-Rashid. Year after year thousands of unfortunate and improvident pilgrims crowd these places, and are left to look after themselves as they please, without the slightest regard being had to sanitation. In 1881 cholera broke out with great severity at Mecca. On the day of pilgrimage the preacher sits on a camel, because the prophet, during his last pilgrimage, being sick, made the tour of the Ka'ba on his camel, and remained on it while he preached. Mount Arafat (recognition) is so called because Abraham the patriarch, after the vision in which he was commanded to sacrifice his son Ishmael, wandered about for a day in perplexity as to whether the order came from God. On the second day, being at Arafat, he had a second vision, and be then recognised, i.e. arafa, its truth. In Mecca im morality is conspicuous, and the pilgrim may often apply to himself the words of Umr-ibn-Ali Rabiah on his return from Mecca—` I set out in hope of lightening the burden of my sins, and returned bringing with me a fresh load of trans gressions.'
The city is chiefly situated in the wadi of the same name, which is also called Mekka, a narrow sandy valley which runs north and south, but inclines towards the N.W. at the latter extremity of the town. The city, with the exception of three castellated buildings and a few watch towers, is defenceless. Around are several sandy wadi, which are separated from the desert by a low barren chain of hills from 200 to 500 feet in height, the most elevated part of which is on the eastern side. Mecca houses are built of stone, usually three storeys high, with terraced roofs surrounded by open parapet walls, and having the unusual addition of numerous windows, shaded by lightly-formed reed blinds ; the aspect is more European than oriental, especially as the streets are very wide, in order to afford the necessary space for an addition of about 50,00Q to 100,000 to the permanent inhabitants, who are between 18,000 and 30,000 souls. Ali Bey (A.D. 1807) calculates 83,000 pilgrims ; Burckhardt (1814), 70,000. Burton reduced it, in 1853, to 50,000. In A.D. 1854, owing to political causes, it fell to about 25,000. Of these at least 10,000 are Meccans, as every one that can leave the city does so at pilgrimage time. A visit to the Masjid-un Nabawi, and the holy spots within it, is technically called Ziyarat or Visitation. The visitor, who approaches the sanctuary as a matter of religious ceremony, is called Zair, his conductor Muzaw wir, whereas the pilgrim at Mecca becomes a Haji. The Masjid-un-Nabawi, or the Prophet's Mosque, is one of the Ifaramain, or the Two Sanctuaries of El Islam, and is the second of their three most venerable places of worship in the world, the'otber two being the Masjid-ul-Haram in the centre of the town of Mecca (Mecca con nected with Abraham) and the Masjid-ul-Aksa of Jerusalem (the peculiar place of Solomon). Muliammadans have the largest cathedral in the world, St. Sophia's at Constantinople. Next to this ranks St. Peter's at Rome ; thirdly the Jamma Masjid, or Cathedral of the old Muhammadan city of Bijapur in India ; the fourth is St. Paul's, London. It is to MEd the First (Aar. 88) that the Saracenie mosque-architecture mainly owes its present form. He had every advantage of borrow ing from Christian, Persian, and even Indian art. From the first he ;ix& the dome, from the second the cloister,—it may have been naturalized in Arabia before his time,—and possibly from the third the minaret and the prayer-niche. The last appears to he a peculiarly Hindu feature in sacred buildings, intended to contain the idol, and to support the lamps, flowers, and other offerings placed before it. Mecca has as many as 29 desig nations, such as Om-el-Kora (Mother of Towns), Balad-el-Amin (Region of the Faithful).
Six Christians of Europe are known to have visited Mecca. Lodovica Bartema, a gentleman of Rome, visited Mecca A.D. 1503; joseph Pitts, of Exeter, A.D. 1678 ; John Lewis Burckhardt, A.D. 1814; Lieutenant Richard Burton, of the Bombay Army, A.D. 1853 ; Herman Bicknell, the translator of Hafiz ; and T. F. Keane, who resided there six months, and afterwards went on to Medina, and published his pilgrimages. It reads like one of those stories which are to be found in the pages of juvenile magazines. During the pilgrim season 1877-1878, the author, apparently a light-hearted young sailor, found himself at Jedda, and con ceived the audacious idea of making a pilgrimage to the holy shrine. Unlike his great predecessors, Burckhardt and Richard Burton, he did not prepare himself for the task by long study and experience of eastern tongues and manners ; still less did he take the preliminary precautions adopted by Herman Bicknell, who qualified as a Muslim at Cairo before setting out for Mecca. On the con trary, so slight was his acquaintance with'oriental languages, that he seems at first to have adopted the name of Abdur Muhammad, a title that is not only impossible, grammatically and philologically, but offensive to Muslim ears. A kind hint from a travelling companion, a young Indian nobleman to whose suite he attached himself, induced him to exchange his preposterous appellation for the more reasonable ono of Muhammad Amin.