MEDINA, or MEDINEH, Ara bia, the native Medinah-al-Nabi or City of the Prophet (also Medinat Rasul Allah, City of the Apostle of God), 500 miles southeast of Pales tine, 250 miles north of Mecca and about 110 miles east of Yesnbu on the Red Sea. It is reached from Damascus by an 820-mile railway journey. The city is celebrated for containing the tomb of Mohammed whence it ranks sec ond to Mecca as a pilgrimage resort of Islam. It is situated in the most fertile spot of all He jaz, the streams of the vicinity tending to con verge in this locality. An immense plain ex tends south from it; in every direction the view is bounded by hills and mountains. The town forms an oval, surrounded by a strong stone wall, 30 to 40 feet high, that dates from the 12th century, and is flanked with towers, while on a rock, at its northwest side, stands the cas tle. Of its four gates, the east Bab-el-Misri, or Egyptian gate, is remarkable for its beauty. Medina has no large buildings except the great mosque, two smaller ones, a college and public baths. The houses are of stone, two stories high. Beyond the walls of the city, west and south, are suburbs consisting of low houses, yards, gardens and plantations. These suburbs have also their walls and gates. The mosque of the Prophet stands at the east side of the city and resembles that at Mecca on a smaller. scale. Its court is almost 500 feet in length, the dome is high and the three minarets pic turesque. The tomb of the Prophet, who died and was buried here in 632, is enclosed with a screen of iron filigree, at the south side of which the pilgrim goes through his devotions, for all of which he pays, but is consoled with the assurance that one prayer here is as good as a thousand elsewhere. The tombs of Fatima (Mohammed's daughter) and Abu Bekr (father of his wife Ayesha), and of Omar, the first calif, are also here. The mosque dates
from the period of Mohammed, but has been twice burned and reconstructed. Omar and Othman both enlarged the original simple brick structure. It was again enlarged by the Calif Wald, so that it enclosed the three tombs. It was destroyed by lightning,. probably about 850, and the graves almost forgotten. In 892 the place was cleared up, the tombs located and a fine mosque built, which was destroyed by fire in 1257 and almost immediately rebuilt. It was restored by Khaid Bey, the Egyptian ruler, in 1487. It is estimated that one-third of the pilgrims to Mecca go on to Medina, the pil grimage to which may be performed at any time of the year. In the time of Ptolemy the town was known as Lathrippa. There never was much population until the place acquired fame as a resort for pilgrims. The city has been built up by acquisitions from visiting pil grims, who recognized the opportunities for making money here by catering to visitors. For this reason the local people are heterogeneous and stand for nothing but keeping up the crowd of pilgrims. Since 1814 Medina has been the capital of the north pashalic of Arabia. Pop. 40,000. In June 1916 the Grand Shereef of Mecca proclaimed his independence of Turkey. Mecca thus, with the founding of the new lung dom of Hejaz, was lost to the Turks; Medina held out, however, until 13 Jan. 1919, when the Turkish garrison under Fakhri Pasha sur rendered to the Emir Abdullah, the representa tive of King Hussein of Hejaz. Consult Bur ton, Sir Richard Francis, Pilgrimage to Al-Medinah and Meccah' (London 1855). See