gifts, processions, animal sacrifice, circumcising
boys, Quran recitation, all-night Sufi dhikr ses-
sions, devotional songs, feasting, dancing, tat-
tooing, and acquisition of blessed souvenirs to
take back home. Commercial activity as a rule is
brisk at a mawlid, and special markets are set up
for the larger ones. Mawlids are often attended by
non-Muslims. Moreover, the Coptic Christians of
Egypt celebrate the mawlids of their saints, as do
Middle Eastern Jews theirs.
Mawlid also denotes a devotional song that
praises Muhammad and celebrates the event of his
birth, often embellished with legends. It is com-
monly performed in connection with the anniver-
sary of his birth, other saints’ holidays, and other
celebratory occasions.
See also: ashUra; al-badaWi, ahmad; baraka;
holidays; qawwali; sayyid; sUFism.
Further reading: Nicholaas H. Biegman, Egypt: Moulids,
Saints, Sufis (London: Kegan Paul International, 1990);
P. M. Currie, “The Pilgrimage of Ajmer.” In Religion in
India, edited by T. N. Madan, 237–247 (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1991); Carl W. Ernst and Bruce B.
Lawrence, Sufi Martyrs of Love: The Chishti Order in
South Asia and Beyond (New York: Palgrave Macmil-
lan, 2002); Annemarie Schimmel, And Muhammad Is
His Messenger: The Veneration of the Prophet in Islamic
Piety, 144–158 (Chapel Hill: University of North Caro-
lina Press, 1985); Nancy Tapper and Richard Tapper,
“The Birth of the Prophet: Ritual and Gender in Turk-
ish Islam.” Man, New Series 22, no. 1 (March 1987):
69–92; Peter van der Veer, “Playing or Praying: A Sufi
Saint’s Day in Surat,” Journal of Asian Studies 51, no. 3
(August 1992): 545–564.
Mecca (also Makkah)
A number of cities have been regarded as sacred
centers in the history of religions. Varanasi
(Banaras), Mathura, and Ayodhya in India are
among those considered sacred by Hindus, Ise is
sacred to the Japanese, and JerUsalem is sacred to
Jews, Christians, and Muslims. The most sacred
city in Islam is Mecca, followed by medina, Jeru-
salem, and, for the Shia, karbala and Najaf. Like
these other cities, its special status as a holy city
is based on events narrated in sacred history that
are believed to have occurred there, its distinctive
architectural landscape, and the complex of ritual
practices that are performed there.
In Islamic sacred history, Mecca, which is
known as “Ennobled Mecca” (Makka al-Mukar-
rama), is where Muslims believe that abraham
and his son Ishmael built the kaaba and where
Ishmael and his mother hagar are buried. It is
the birthplace of mUhammad (ca. 570–632) and
where he received the early revelations of the
qUran. Indeed, another epithet for the city is
“Dwelling Place of Revelation.” Many of his wives
and Companions were also born there, and it was
the ancestral home of the Umayyad and Abbasid
caliphs. According to accounts related by Muham-
mad ibn Abd Allah ibn Ahmad al-Azraqi (d. 837),
who wrote a history of the city, it is called the
“Mother of Towns” (umm al-qura) because it is
where the creation of the earth began. His book
also tells about how Adam traveled there from
India, his home after being expelled from para-
dise, to be reunited with Eve and perform the first
haJJ rites, setting a precedent for performing these
rites that would be reconfirmed in later times by
Abraham and Muhammad.
Mecca is situated in a valley amidst the Sirat
Mountains in the western region of the Arabian
Peninsula known as the Hijaz. It is about 45 miles
inland from the city of Jedda, which is located
on the Red Sea coast. Its distinctive architectural
landscape is defined by ritual spaces in the city,
in the adjacent valley of Mina, and in the plain of
Arafat. The ceremonial center of the urban ritual
complex is the Sacred Mosque, where the Kaaba
and the well of zamzam are situated, and the
concourse between the hills of Safa and Marwa,
which is located on the northeastern side of the
mosque. The Valley of Mina contains the three
satanic pillars that are stoned by pilgrims at the
conclusion of the hajj. About seven miles pastMecca 465 J