It's important to understand the complexity of the human brain. The human brain weighs only three pounds but is estimated to have about 100 billion cells. It is hard to get a handle on a number that large (or connections that small). Let's try to get an understanding of this complexity by comparing it with something humans have created--the entire phone system for the planet. If we took all the phones in the world and all the wires (there are over four billion people on the planet), the number of connections and the trillions of messages per day would NOT equal the complexity or activity of a single human brain. Now let's take a "small problem"--break every phone in Michigan and cut every wire in the state. How long would it take for the entire state (about 15 million people) to get phone service back? A week, a month, or several years? If you guessed several years, you are now beginning to see the complexity of recovering from a head injury. In the example I used, Michigan residents would be without phone service while the rest of the world had phone service that worked fine. This is also true with people who have a head injury. Some parts of the brain will work fine while others are in need of repair or are slowly being reconnected.
AN ELECTRICAL AND CHEMICAL MACHINE
Let's start looking at the building blocks of the brain. As previously stated, the brain consists of about 100 billion cells. Most of these cells are called neurons. A neuron is basically an on/off switch just like the one you use to control the lights in your home. It is either in a resting state (off) or it is shooting an electrical impulse down a wire (on). It has a cell body, a long little wire (the "wire" is called an axon), and at the very end it has a little part that shoots out a chemical. This chemical goes across a gap (synapse) where it triggers another neuron to send a message. There are a lot of these neurons sending messages down a wire (axon). By the way, each of these billions of axons is generating a small amount of electrical charge; this total power has been estimated to equal a 60 watt bulb. Doctors have learned that measuring this electrical activity can tell how the brain is working. A device that measures electrical activity in the brain is called an EEG (electroencephalograph).
Each of the billions of neurons "spit out" chemicals that trigger other neurons. Different neurons use different types of chemicals. These chemicals are called "transmitters" and are given names like epinephrine, norepinephrine, or dopamine. Pretty simple, right? Well, no. Even in the simplified model that I'm presenting, it gets more complex.
IS THE BRAIN ONE BIG COMPUTER?
Is the brain like a big phone system (because it has a lot of connections) or is it one big computer with ON or OFF states (like the zeros and ones in a computer)? Neither of the above is correct.
Let's look at the brain using a different model. Let's look at the brain as an orchestra. In an orchestra, you have different musical sections. There is a percussion section, a string section, a woodwind section, and so on. Each has its own job to do and must work closely with the other sections. When playing music, each section waits for the conductor. The conductor raises a baton and all the members of the orchestra begin playing at the same time playing on the same note. If the drum section hasn't been practicing, they don't play as well as the rest of the orchestra. The overall sound of the music seems "off" or plays poorly at certain times. This is a better model of how the brain works. We used to think of the brain as a big computer, but it's really like millions of little computers all working together.
GETTING INFORMATION IN AND OUT OF THE BRAIN
How does information come into the brain? A lot of information comes in through the spinal cord at the base of the brain. Think of a spinal cord as a thick phone cable with thousands of phone lines. If you cut that spinal cord, you won't be able to move or feel anything in your body. Information goes OUT from the brain to make body parts (arms and legs) do their job. There is also a great deal of INCOMING information (hot, cold, pain, joint sensation, etc.). Vision and hearing do not go through the spinal cord but go directly into the brain. That’s why people can be completely paralyzed (unable to move their arms and legs) but still see and hear with no problems.
Information enters from the spinal cord and comes up the middle of the brain. It branches out like a tree and goes to the surface of the brain. The surface of the brain is gray due to the color of the cell bodies (that's why it's called the gray matter). The wires or axons have a coating on them that's colored white (called white matter).
We have two eyes, two hands, and two legs, so why not two brains? The brain is divided in half, a right and left hemisphere. The right hemisphere does a different job than the left. The right hemisphere deals more with visual activities and plays a role in putting things together. For example, it takes visual information, puts it together, and says "I recognize that--that's a chair," or "that's a car" or "that's a house." It organizes or groups information together. The left hemisphere tends to be the more analytical part; it analyzes information collected by the right. It takes information from the right hemisphere and applies language to it. The right hemisphere "sees" a house, but the left hemisphere says, "Oh yeah, I know whose house that is--it's Uncle Bob's house."
So what happens if one side of the brain is injured? People who have an injury to the right side of the brain "don't put things together" and fail to process important information. As a result, they often develop a "denial syndrome" and say "there's nothing wrong with me." For example, I treated a person with an injury to the right side of the brain--specifically, the back part of the right brain that deals with visual information--and he lost half of his vision. Because the right side of the brain was injured, it failed to "collect" information, so the brain did not realize that something was missing. Essentially, this person was blind on one side but did not know it. What was scary was that this person had driven his car to my office. After seeing the results of the tests that I gave him, I asked, "Do you have a lot of dents on the left side of your car?" He was amazed that I magically knew this without seeing his car. Unfortunately, I had to ask him not to drive until his problems got better. But you can see how the right side puts things together.
The left side of the brain deals more with language and helps to analyze information given to the brain. If you injure the left side of the brain, you're aware that things aren't working (the right hemisphere is doing its job) but are unable to solve complex problems or do a complex activity. People with left hemisphere injuries tend to be more depressed, have more organizational problems, and have problems using language.
VISION--HOW WE SEE THINGS
Information from our eyes goes to areas at the very back of the brain. We've all seen cartoons where the rabbit gets hit on the head and the rabbit sees stars. This can actually happen in human beings (trust me, not a good thing to do at home!). If you take a hard enough blow to the back of the head, this brain area bangs against back of your skull. This stimulates it and you can see stars and flashing lights. Remember those two hemispheres? Each hemisphere processes half the visual information. Visual information that we see on the left gets processed by the right hemisphere. Information on the right gets processed by the left hemisphere. Remember, wires that bring in information to the brain are "crossed"--visual information from the left goes to the right brain.
MOVEMENT
The area of the brain that controls movement is in a very narrow strip that goes from near the top of the head right down along where your ear is located. It's called the motor strip. If I injure that area, I'll have problems controlling half of my body. If I have a stroke in the left hemisphere of my brain, the right side of the body will stop working. If I have an injury to my right hemisphere in this area, the left side of my body stops working (remember, we have two brains). This is why one half of the face may droop when a person has had a stroke.
HEARING AND LANGUAGE
In the general population, 95 percent of people are right-handed, which means that the left hemisphere is the dominant hemisphere. (For you left-handers, the right hemisphere is dominant.) With right-handed people, the ability to understand and express language is in this left temporal lobe. If I were to take a metal probe, and charge it with just a bit of electricity, and put it on the "primary" area of my left temporal lobe, I might say "hey, I hear a tone." If I move this probe to a more complex area of the temporal lobe, I might hear a word being said. If I move the electrical probe to an even more complex area, I might hear the voice of somebody I recognize; "I hear Uncle Bob's voice." We have simple areas of the temporal lobe that deal with basic sounds and other areas of the temporal lobe that look at more complex hearing information.
The right temporal lobe also deals with hearing. However, its job is to process musical information or help in the identification of noises. If this area is damaged, we might not be able to appreciate music or be able to sing. Because we tend to think and express in terms of language, the left temporal lobe is more critical for day-to-day functioning.
The vision areas and the hearing areas of the brain have a boundary area where they interact. This is the area of the brain that does reading. We take the visual images and convert them into sounds. So if you injure this area (or it doesn't develop when you are very young), you get something called dyslexia. People who have dyslexia have problems that may include seeing letters backwards or have problems understanding what written words mean.
SKIN SENSATION
If something lands on my left hand, this information will be transmitted to the right side of my brain. It goes to the area of the brain next to the area that deals with movement. The tactile area of the brain deals with physical sensation. Movement and feeling are closely related, so it makes sense that they are next to each other in the brain. Because movement and tactile areas are located close to each other, it is not uncommon for people with a brain injuries to lose both movement and feeling in parts of their body. Remember--tactile information from the left side of the body goes to the right brain, just like movement and vision.
FRONTAL LOBES--Planning, Organizing, Controlling
The biggest and most advanced part of the brain is the frontal lobe. (It's called the frontal lobe because it's in the front part of brain.) One job of the frontal lobe is planning. You have probably heard of "frontal lobotomies." At the turn of the century, this surgery was done on people who were very violent or who were in a psychiatric hospital because they were very agitated. Doctors used surgery to damage this area of the brain. Following this surgery, people became very passive and less violent. At first, scientists saw this as a great thing. Neurosurgery could stop behavioral problems such as violence. The problem was that the patients stopped doing a lot of other things. They didn't take care of themselves and they stopped many activities of daily living. They basically sat there. In head injury, individuals with frontal lobe impairment seem to lack motivation and have difficulty doing any task that requires multiple steps (e.g., fixing a car or planning a meal). They have problems with planning.
The frontal lobe is also involved in organizing. For a lot of activities, we need to do step A, then step B, then step C. We have to do things in order. That's what the frontal lobes help us do. When the frontal lobe is injured, there is a breakdown in the ability to sequence and organize. A common example is people who cook and leave out a step in the sequence. They forget to add an important ingredient or they don't turn the stove off. I've met a lot of patients who've burned or melted a lot of pans.
Additionally, the frontal lobes also play a very important role in controlling emotions. Deep in the middle of the brain are sections that control emotions. They're very primitive emotions that deal with hunger, aggression, and sexual drive. These areas send messages to other parts of the brain to DO SOMETHING. If you're mad, hit something or someone. If you're hungry, grab something and eat it. The frontal lobes "manage" emotions. In general, the frontal lobe has a NO or STOP function. If your emotions tell you to punch your boss, it's the frontal lobes that say "STOP or you are going to lose your job." People have often said to me "a little thing will set me off and I'm really mad." The frontal lobes failed to stop or turn off the emotional system.
On the other hand, we have talked about how the frontal lobes plan activities. The frontal lobes may fail to plan for some types of emotion. For example, sexual interest involves some level of planning or preparation. Without this planning, there is a lack of sexual interest. A lack of planning can also affect the expression of anger. I've had some family members say "You know, the head injury actually improved him, he's not such a hot-head anymore." If you listen very carefully, you're also going to hear "he's not as motivated anymore." Remember, the frontal lobe plans activities as well as controls emotions.
About Me
- sofia
- I'm just a daddy's little girl and enjoying my life. I have a lovely family, great mummy and daddy, kind-hearted siblings, and cute nephews.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
The Star-Storytelling Competition
Join Maybank’s Stories For Our Future storytelling contest, and you could walk away with RM10,000! Register here to take part in the preliminary rounds to be held in four venues across Malaysia (or submit a video online) with the Grand Finale in Kuala Lumpur on 27 November, 2010. Just download and choose from any of the four stories below. Then start practising, practising, practising! You can act out the story, sing it, dance to it or put on your most outrageous costume to recreate your favourite story for our judges. You can be a friendly bird or a naughty boy, a forest giant or a tiny raindrop, a frog or even a wobbly piece of jelly. If our judges like your version best, you could be rich and famous, too!
RULES
This competition is open to all Malaysians between the ages of 7 – 12 years old.
There are two categories:
Category A – Lower Primary (7- 9 years) and
Category B – Upper Primary (10 – 12 years).
Preliminary rounds will be held in four cities across Malaysia with the Grand Finale at The Star Kids Fair, Kuala Lumpur.
All participants are required to register via thestar.com.my/kidsfair2010
There will be a maximum of 100 contestants per location. You have to register first. Walk-ins are not allowed.
If you can’t make it to the roadshows, you can also submit your entry online. Just upload a 3 minute video of your performance here.
Two finalists (per category) will be selected from each location with another two (per category) form the online submissions.
The judging will be based on
- Language Proficiency – 40%
- Delivery of Story – 35%
- Interpretation of Story – 15%
- Costume Dressing & Props – 10%
Each contestant must complete the story within 3 minutes. Contestants who exceed this time limit will be subjected to demerit points of 1 point for every 30 seconds beyond the time frame.
Both Bahasa Malaysia & English can be used.
Judges’ decisions are final and no correspondence will be entertained.
All finalists will also receive a copy of Maybank Stories For Our Future storybook and a 1-year free subscription to Kuntum.
All winners are required to open a Maybank Yippie Savings Account as the cash prizes will be deposited into the account.
TERMS & CONDITIONS
This contest is only open to Malaysian citizens residing in the country.
To qualify for a prize, however, a contestant must be a registered MyStar user who has provided valid personal information. (ie. New IC number and name as appears on the IC)
Participant is only entitled to one prize.
Prizes are not transferable and the organiser reserves the right to substitute the prizes for others of equal value.
Staff of Malayan Banking Berhad, Star Publications (M) Berhad and their immediate family members are not allowed to participate.
The judges' decision is final and no correspondence will be entertained.
The winners will be notified either by phone or email at the end of all roadshows.
The winners' names will be published in thestar.com.my/kidsfair2010/ one week before the final event.
Maybank reserves the right to use the submitted videos for advertising, promotional and publicity purposes without further notice.
For further information, please visit thestar.com.my/kidsfair2010/sfof.asp
RULES
This competition is open to all Malaysians between the ages of 7 – 12 years old.
There are two categories:
Category A – Lower Primary (7- 9 years) and
Category B – Upper Primary (10 – 12 years).
Preliminary rounds will be held in four cities across Malaysia with the Grand Finale at The Star Kids Fair, Kuala Lumpur.
All participants are required to register via thestar.com.my/kidsfair2010
There will be a maximum of 100 contestants per location. You have to register first. Walk-ins are not allowed.
If you can’t make it to the roadshows, you can also submit your entry online. Just upload a 3 minute video of your performance here.
Two finalists (per category) will be selected from each location with another two (per category) form the online submissions.
The judging will be based on
- Language Proficiency – 40%
- Delivery of Story – 35%
- Interpretation of Story – 15%
- Costume Dressing & Props – 10%
Each contestant must complete the story within 3 minutes. Contestants who exceed this time limit will be subjected to demerit points of 1 point for every 30 seconds beyond the time frame.
Both Bahasa Malaysia & English can be used.
Judges’ decisions are final and no correspondence will be entertained.
All finalists will also receive a copy of Maybank Stories For Our Future storybook and a 1-year free subscription to Kuntum.
All winners are required to open a Maybank Yippie Savings Account as the cash prizes will be deposited into the account.
TERMS & CONDITIONS
This contest is only open to Malaysian citizens residing in the country.
To qualify for a prize, however, a contestant must be a registered MyStar user who has provided valid personal information. (ie. New IC number and name as appears on the IC)
Participant is only entitled to one prize.
Prizes are not transferable and the organiser reserves the right to substitute the prizes for others of equal value.
Staff of Malayan Banking Berhad, Star Publications (M) Berhad and their immediate family members are not allowed to participate.
The judges' decision is final and no correspondence will be entertained.
The winners will be notified either by phone or email at the end of all roadshows.
The winners' names will be published in thestar.com.my/kidsfair2010/ one week before the final event.
Maybank reserves the right to use the submitted videos for advertising, promotional and publicity purposes without further notice.
For further information, please visit thestar.com.my/kidsfair2010/sfof.asp
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Mountain Lions
Mountain lions are the largest species of the cat family found in North America. They weigh from 90 to 200 pounds, with an average of 110 pounds. They are about 6 feet long including their tail.
Mountain lions are carnivorous. That means that they eat meat. They eat small animals, deer and elk. Sometimes they also eat cattle, sheep and horses.
They are very secretive and hard to find. They are usually found in brushy and rocky areas. They are very territorial. These animals are beautiful but they can be very dangerous. Be very very careful if you go into their territory.
There are about 1,500 to 2,000 mountain lions in Colorado.
Mountain lions are carnivorous. That means that they eat meat. They eat small animals, deer and elk. Sometimes they also eat cattle, sheep and horses.
They are very secretive and hard to find. They are usually found in brushy and rocky areas. They are very territorial. These animals are beautiful but they can be very dangerous. Be very very careful if you go into their territory.
There are about 1,500 to 2,000 mountain lions in Colorado.
Madinah
This year, as they have for more than fourteen centuries, Muslims from across the world performed the Hajj, the pilgrimage to the Holy Mosque in Makkah. The standing at Arafat, the most important day of the Hajj, fell on April 6. Although the rituals of the Hajj are exclusively performed in and around Makkah, most of the more than two million Muslims who complete them also undertake a pilgrimage to Madinah.
The Prophet's Mosque dominates the Madinah skyline. King Fahd, who oversaw the latest expansion of the mosque, wrote an inscription on the base of the last of the 23-foot brass crescents that top its six new minarets
For the world's more than one billion Muslims, the Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam. It is the spiritual high point of a Muslim's life to visit the Ka'abah, the House of God, in the Holy Mosque, towards which Muslims around the globe face to pray five times a day. On the other hand, Muslims are drawn to Madinah, not as a religious duty as in the case of Makkah, but out of love and respect for God's last Prophet. For it is in this city that the Prophet Muhammad established the first Islamic community, spent the last years of his life, and where he and many of his companions are buried.
Known by more than 90 names that generally denote respect and devotion, the city is most commonly called Madinah (city), short for Madinah Al-Nabi (City of the Prophet) or Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah (the Radiant or Enlightened City), a reference to its association with the Prophet.
Although Madinah came to prominence with the introduction of Islam, its roots date back hundreds of years into the pre-Islamic era when it was known as Yathrib. Situated on a plain with aquifers fed by runoff from the surrounding hills, the city had abundant water supplies that fed vast date palms and vegetable gardens. The availability of food and water made Madinah an important reprovisioning point for caravans that plied the commercial routes from the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula along the Red Sea to Syria and Egypt. Its inhabitants sold food to these passing caravans and, over time, became involved in trade.
Yathrib may have languished in relative anonymity were it not for events that took place in Makkah, more than 200 miles to the south, at the turn of the seventh century AD. What was taking place in Makkah would not only transform Yathrib, but also much of the known world.
Unlike Yathrib and other oasis settlements that relied on agriculture, Makkah's primary significance was as a pilgrimage site. Large numbers of people visited the Ka'abah, the House of God built by the Prophet Abraham. However, at this time monotheism had been swept aside, and the Ka'abah housed numerous idols belonging to the inhabitants of Makkah and nearby tribes.
It was against this backdrop that the Prophet Muhammad was born in 570 AD in Makkah and received the first verses of the Holy Qur'an in the year 610. Based on the worship of God, the absolute and single Creator, Islam rejected the idolatry that was prevalent in Makkah at the time. As such, Islam was viewed as a threat to the livelihood and power base of the ruling tribe of Makkah, and its growing number of followers were harassed, persecuted and threatened.
During this period, leaders of Yathrib, familiar with the Prophet Muhammad's reputation for honesty and sincerity, had sent envoys asking that he mediate a dispute between two powerful tribes. Impressed by the Prophet's character and teachings, these envoys soon accepted Islam and were followed by other converts. Observing the growing threat to their fellow Muslims in Makkah, the people of Yathrib offered a safe haven to them, and beginning in 620 AD, the Prophet Muhammad started sending groups of Muslims to live in Yathrib.
Having learned of a plot to murder him, the Prophet Muhammad himself left Makkah for Yathrib, arriving in the city in September 622. This event is known as the Hijrah (emigration). The Prophet's arrival in Yathrib was a turning point in world history. It marked the establishment of the first Islamic state and the rapid growth of the new faith. From then on, the city became Madinah Al-Nabi, and the date of the Prophet's arrival there marked the first year of the Islamic calendar.
The second-holiest site in Islam, the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah contains the chamber in which the Prophet Muhammad is buried.
With the emigration, Madinah became a center of activity. Upon his approach to the oasis in 622, the Prophet established the first mosque in Islam at Quba, a village on the outskirts of Madinah. Called Masjid Al-Taqwa (Mosque of Piety), the mosque still stands, albeit modernized and enlarged.
Once settled in Madinah, the Prophet built another mosque adjacent to his house. Called Masjid Al-Nabawi (the Prophet's Mosque), the first structure on today's site was a simple one supported by the trunks of standing palm trees, and was built by the Prophet himself. It was this mosque at which the Prophet and his companions prayed, and which soon became the social and economic center of the city and the Islamic state. With the growth of Islam, more mosques were established throughout the city and its environs.
The first eight years of the Hijrah were spent strengthening the ummah (Islamic community) in Madinah and in warding off the aggression of the armies sent from Makkah. In the eighth year of the Hijrah, 630 AD, the Prophet and his followers entered Makkah without bloodshed. He ordered the removal of all idols from the Ka'abah, and within weeks all inhabitants of Makkah had accepted Islam. He returned to Makkah in 632 for his final pilgrimage, the rituals of which are followed by all Muslims who have since performed the Hajj.
While the Holy Mosque in Makkah was the spiritual center of Islam, Madinah became the administrative hub of the new Islamic state during the Prophet Muhammad's lifetime. It was from here that the successful campaign to convince the tribes to abandon idolatry was waged.
It was also in Madinah that the Prophet's companions compiled the verses of the Holy Qur'an and collected the Hadith (teachings and sayings of the Prophet) that would serve as the basis of Shari'ah (Islamic law).
And it was also in Madinah that the Prophet died on June 8, 632, and where he was buried in his house adjoining the mosque he had helped build with his own hands.
The Quba Mosque (left) and the Qiblatain Mosque (right) are two of the oldest in the world.
After his death, the first three caliphs, Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq, Omar Ibn Al-Khattab and Othman Ibn Affan, continued to administer from Madinah the expanding Islamic nation, which had by now spread to Persia and Syria. In time, Abu Bakr and Omar were buried in a separate chamber next to the Prophet. Othman and several members of the Prophet's immediate family were buried at the nearby Baqi' Cemetery.
The administrative and political demands of a growing empire, one that over the next hundred years would reach from Spain and Morocco in the west through the Middle East, to the Indian Subcontinent and beyond in the east, forced subsequent Islamic leaders to move their capital away from Madinah.
Although its political and commercial fortunes declined in the following centuries, the City of the Prophet continued to hold a special place in the hearts of Muslims. The small mosque the Prophet had established next to his house was enlarged by various Muslim rulers over time and continued to draw pilgrims from around the world as Islam's second holiest site.
Yet the instability and turmoil that had gripped the Arabian Peninsula in recent centuries made the pilgrimage to Makkah and Madinah a demanding and often dangerous undertaking, with the result that the number of Muslims visiting the holy sites each year seldom exceeded 40,000, even into the early part of this century.
In 1926 a defining event took place that made the City of the Prophet more accessible to Muslims and also changed the fortunes of its inhabitants. In that year, King Abdul Aziz Ibn Abdul Rahman Al-Saud extended his protection to Makkah and Madinah in his effort to unify the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula. In 1932 he accomplished his goal and founded the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
King Abdul Aziz's rule brought an immediate end to the turmoil and instability that prevailed in the peninsula. For the first time in 13 centuries, pilgrims and merchants could travel safely to the holy cities and, indeed, anywhere else in the Kingdom, without concern for their lives and property.
As the Kingdom entered a new era of development, which began after the end of World War II, it started building roads, ports and airports throughout the country, further facilitating travel to Makkah and Madinah.
With the attention lavished by King Abdul Aziz and his successors on the holy cities, Madinah blossomed, undergoing a veritable transformation. Whereas once only the adventurous dared undertake a journey to the city, the trip became safe and secure, and could now be completed with little anxiety. With the arrival of more pilgrims from across Saudi Arabia and the globe King Abdul Aziz realized that the Prophet's Mosque was in dire need of expansion.
The original mosque, built with mud bricks and tree trunks in 622, covered an area of 8,661 square feet. The caliphs Omar and Othman expanded the mosque in 638 and 650, respectively. Further expansions were undertaken in the early and late parts of the eighth century AD. By this time, the rooms in which the Prophet and his companions Abu Bakr and Omar were buried were incorporated into the mosque and a dome had been built over the rooms.
For eleven centuries no major additional improvements were made to the mosque, although various Muslim rulers funded renovation work and endowments for the mosque's operations and upkeep. The last expansion before the modern era was completed in 1849 by Sultan Abdul Majid the Second, bringing the mosque's total area to a little more than 120,000 square feet.
In 1950, Saudi Arabia undertook the largest expansion project the mosque had ever witnessed. It more than doubled the size of the complex to accommodate the ever-increasing number of Muslims visiting the site, which grew steadily year by year, reaching more than 100,000 in 1955.
The establishment of a modern infrastructure and improved accommodations for visitors saw the number of pilgrims to Makkah and Madinah increase rapidly beginning in the 1960s. By 1970, the number of pilgrims had reached one million. In 1973, King Faisal Ibn Abdul Aziz ordered that the west side of the mosque be shaded from the sun. Although this project increased the area in which visitors to the mosque could pray, it was only a temporary solution.
A more permanent arrangement for the mosque was needed. A panel of experts headed by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz launched a three-year study to formulate plans for a major expansion of the mosque. Once the plans were approved and preparations completed, construction began in earnest in 1985.
The project would take seven years of continuous work. Once completed in 1992, it expanded the mosque's area approximately 15-fold to 1.78 million square feet, allowing more than 700,000 visitors to pray simultaneously.
A similar expansion project for the Holy Mosque in Makkah, undertaken concurrently with that for the Prophet's Mosque, more than doubled its size, allowing more than one million worshippers. The implementation of these two projects would cost more than 70 billion Saudi riyals (18.66 billion U.S. dollars).
The expansion project for the Prophet's Mosque involved new buildings on three sides of the existing structure, and a vast courtyard surrounding it paved with marble and inlaid with geometric Islamic designs. The new buildings provide extensive roofed prayer areas. Within the new structure there are also 27 courtyards open to the sky. In inclement weather concrete domes slide into place to cover these courtyards. Two larger, open courtyards each have six mechanized, retractable umbrellas that are opened or closed depending on the weather.
Retractable umbrellas (top) and domes (above) in the Prophet's Mosque are opened or closed electronically depending on the weather.
The retractable domes and umbrellas, as well as the other electrical and mechanical systems in the complex, are monitored and controlled from the computerized automation center in the basement. This center also controls the air conditioning system, one of the largest and most innovative of its kind. Located at a plant 4.3 miles away, the system pumps 17,000 gallons of chilled water per minute through pipes into the basement of the mosque, where it is used to cool air circulating throughout the complex.
The expansion project added six new minarets to the mosque's four existing ones. Each of the new minarets is 360 feet high, topped by a 23-foot brass crescent weighing close to five tons.
Several kinds of marble and granite were used to build the vast, open courtyard plaza that surrounds the new structure. Lights mounted on marble and brass pillars illuminate the entire area at night.
With the completion of the expansion project, the Prophet's Mosque can easily accommodate the more than two million worshippers that congregate around the Hajj season and visit throughout the year.
As the mosque has expanded in recent decades, so has the city that surrounds it. The City of the Prophet is no longer the small town enclosed by walls that it was at the turn of the century. Today, it is a vibrant city of half a million people where the old and the new blend in harmony, complementing each other. The religious and historic sites in and around the city have been preserved and renovated to allow visitors to appreciate their role in the history of the Kingdom and Islam.
At the same time, new amenities and services have been established to facilitate the city's social and physical growth. As Madinah slowly expanded in every direction, the provision of adequate water supplies was a primary concern. The Kingdom addressed this issue not only by tapping the aquifers that have traditionally supplied the city with water, but also by laying massive pipes to bring in water from desalination plants along the Red Sea. These projects have met all the city's water requirements. Furthermore, water recycling has allowed the city to establish more than 60 major parks and playgrounds where residents and their families can relax and take refuge from the heat.
An employee (top) of the King Fahd Holy Qur'an Printing Complex checks a page from the Holy Book prior to publishing. Over the past half century Madinah (above) has been transformed into a modern urban center.
Once only accessible by caravan trails, the city is now an integral part of the network of modern highways and roads that connect all major urban centers in the Kingdom. An airport established seven miles northeast of the city connects the City of the Prophet to other cities in the Kingdom as well as the world.
For the past 14 centuries, Madinah has been a center of learning, attracting Islamic scholars and students from around the world. Today, a vast, modern educational structure consisting of hundreds of elementary, intermediate and secondary schools enrolls the city's young. Moreover, the Islamic University, established in 1966, draws thousands of students from Madinah, other parts of the Kingdom and more than 100 countries around the world.
In 1985, King Fahd inaugurated a unique complex near Madinah. The King Fahd Holy Qur'an Printing Complex was built on over 37 acres of land to produce high-quality copies of the Holy Book in large numbers. Employing some 1,500 scholars, artists and technicians, the facility now produces more than 14 million copies of the Holy Qur'an in Arabic and six other major languages, as well as 200,000 sets of audio cassettes of the Holy Book each year. These are distributed free to visitors to the two holy mosques and are donated to mosques, religious institutions, schools and universities in the Kingdom. Millions of copies of the Holy Qur'an are also donated each year to mosques and Islamic centers throughout the world.
Madinah also boasts a modern health care network of nine major hospitals and 76 health care centers, which provide services to residents as well as religious pilgrims. During the Hajj season, numerous temporary health centers are set up to ensure that permanent facilities are not over- burdened and quality care is available to all in need.
A state-of-the-art telecommunications system that supports both land and mobile telephones, computers and facsimile and telex machines is maintained by the Ministry of Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones for residents and visitors.
An ancient oasis, Madinah continues to cultivate extensive gardens and farms that produce a variety of dates and vegetables.
Like the city itself, Madinah's traditional date farms and vegetable gardens have also prospered. Of the 500 varieties of dates produced in the Kingdom, some 120 are cultivated here. Indeed, some of the most popular varieties, including the Ajwa, are grown primarily in the date groves surrounding the city.
While the lives of the people of Madinah continue to revolve around the Prophet's Mosque, and in the service of its visitors, the city's inhabitants now support a dynamic business and commercial sector. Thousands of new stores and shops have been established in recent decades to cater to the needs of visitors and inhabitants alike.
In the latter part of the twentieth century, Madinah has evolved into a modern urban center while retaining its strong religious and cultural values.
The Prophet's Mosque dominates the Madinah skyline. King Fahd, who oversaw the latest expansion of the mosque, wrote an inscription on the base of the last of the 23-foot brass crescents that top its six new minarets
For the world's more than one billion Muslims, the Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam. It is the spiritual high point of a Muslim's life to visit the Ka'abah, the House of God, in the Holy Mosque, towards which Muslims around the globe face to pray five times a day. On the other hand, Muslims are drawn to Madinah, not as a religious duty as in the case of Makkah, but out of love and respect for God's last Prophet. For it is in this city that the Prophet Muhammad established the first Islamic community, spent the last years of his life, and where he and many of his companions are buried.
Known by more than 90 names that generally denote respect and devotion, the city is most commonly called Madinah (city), short for Madinah Al-Nabi (City of the Prophet) or Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah (the Radiant or Enlightened City), a reference to its association with the Prophet.
Although Madinah came to prominence with the introduction of Islam, its roots date back hundreds of years into the pre-Islamic era when it was known as Yathrib. Situated on a plain with aquifers fed by runoff from the surrounding hills, the city had abundant water supplies that fed vast date palms and vegetable gardens. The availability of food and water made Madinah an important reprovisioning point for caravans that plied the commercial routes from the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula along the Red Sea to Syria and Egypt. Its inhabitants sold food to these passing caravans and, over time, became involved in trade.
Yathrib may have languished in relative anonymity were it not for events that took place in Makkah, more than 200 miles to the south, at the turn of the seventh century AD. What was taking place in Makkah would not only transform Yathrib, but also much of the known world.
Unlike Yathrib and other oasis settlements that relied on agriculture, Makkah's primary significance was as a pilgrimage site. Large numbers of people visited the Ka'abah, the House of God built by the Prophet Abraham. However, at this time monotheism had been swept aside, and the Ka'abah housed numerous idols belonging to the inhabitants of Makkah and nearby tribes.
It was against this backdrop that the Prophet Muhammad was born in 570 AD in Makkah and received the first verses of the Holy Qur'an in the year 610. Based on the worship of God, the absolute and single Creator, Islam rejected the idolatry that was prevalent in Makkah at the time. As such, Islam was viewed as a threat to the livelihood and power base of the ruling tribe of Makkah, and its growing number of followers were harassed, persecuted and threatened.
During this period, leaders of Yathrib, familiar with the Prophet Muhammad's reputation for honesty and sincerity, had sent envoys asking that he mediate a dispute between two powerful tribes. Impressed by the Prophet's character and teachings, these envoys soon accepted Islam and were followed by other converts. Observing the growing threat to their fellow Muslims in Makkah, the people of Yathrib offered a safe haven to them, and beginning in 620 AD, the Prophet Muhammad started sending groups of Muslims to live in Yathrib.
Having learned of a plot to murder him, the Prophet Muhammad himself left Makkah for Yathrib, arriving in the city in September 622. This event is known as the Hijrah (emigration). The Prophet's arrival in Yathrib was a turning point in world history. It marked the establishment of the first Islamic state and the rapid growth of the new faith. From then on, the city became Madinah Al-Nabi, and the date of the Prophet's arrival there marked the first year of the Islamic calendar.
The second-holiest site in Islam, the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah contains the chamber in which the Prophet Muhammad is buried.
With the emigration, Madinah became a center of activity. Upon his approach to the oasis in 622, the Prophet established the first mosque in Islam at Quba, a village on the outskirts of Madinah. Called Masjid Al-Taqwa (Mosque of Piety), the mosque still stands, albeit modernized and enlarged.
Once settled in Madinah, the Prophet built another mosque adjacent to his house. Called Masjid Al-Nabawi (the Prophet's Mosque), the first structure on today's site was a simple one supported by the trunks of standing palm trees, and was built by the Prophet himself. It was this mosque at which the Prophet and his companions prayed, and which soon became the social and economic center of the city and the Islamic state. With the growth of Islam, more mosques were established throughout the city and its environs.
The first eight years of the Hijrah were spent strengthening the ummah (Islamic community) in Madinah and in warding off the aggression of the armies sent from Makkah. In the eighth year of the Hijrah, 630 AD, the Prophet and his followers entered Makkah without bloodshed. He ordered the removal of all idols from the Ka'abah, and within weeks all inhabitants of Makkah had accepted Islam. He returned to Makkah in 632 for his final pilgrimage, the rituals of which are followed by all Muslims who have since performed the Hajj.
While the Holy Mosque in Makkah was the spiritual center of Islam, Madinah became the administrative hub of the new Islamic state during the Prophet Muhammad's lifetime. It was from here that the successful campaign to convince the tribes to abandon idolatry was waged.
It was also in Madinah that the Prophet's companions compiled the verses of the Holy Qur'an and collected the Hadith (teachings and sayings of the Prophet) that would serve as the basis of Shari'ah (Islamic law).
And it was also in Madinah that the Prophet died on June 8, 632, and where he was buried in his house adjoining the mosque he had helped build with his own hands.
The Quba Mosque (left) and the Qiblatain Mosque (right) are two of the oldest in the world.
After his death, the first three caliphs, Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq, Omar Ibn Al-Khattab and Othman Ibn Affan, continued to administer from Madinah the expanding Islamic nation, which had by now spread to Persia and Syria. In time, Abu Bakr and Omar were buried in a separate chamber next to the Prophet. Othman and several members of the Prophet's immediate family were buried at the nearby Baqi' Cemetery.
The administrative and political demands of a growing empire, one that over the next hundred years would reach from Spain and Morocco in the west through the Middle East, to the Indian Subcontinent and beyond in the east, forced subsequent Islamic leaders to move their capital away from Madinah.
Although its political and commercial fortunes declined in the following centuries, the City of the Prophet continued to hold a special place in the hearts of Muslims. The small mosque the Prophet had established next to his house was enlarged by various Muslim rulers over time and continued to draw pilgrims from around the world as Islam's second holiest site.
Yet the instability and turmoil that had gripped the Arabian Peninsula in recent centuries made the pilgrimage to Makkah and Madinah a demanding and often dangerous undertaking, with the result that the number of Muslims visiting the holy sites each year seldom exceeded 40,000, even into the early part of this century.
In 1926 a defining event took place that made the City of the Prophet more accessible to Muslims and also changed the fortunes of its inhabitants. In that year, King Abdul Aziz Ibn Abdul Rahman Al-Saud extended his protection to Makkah and Madinah in his effort to unify the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula. In 1932 he accomplished his goal and founded the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
King Abdul Aziz's rule brought an immediate end to the turmoil and instability that prevailed in the peninsula. For the first time in 13 centuries, pilgrims and merchants could travel safely to the holy cities and, indeed, anywhere else in the Kingdom, without concern for their lives and property.
As the Kingdom entered a new era of development, which began after the end of World War II, it started building roads, ports and airports throughout the country, further facilitating travel to Makkah and Madinah.
With the attention lavished by King Abdul Aziz and his successors on the holy cities, Madinah blossomed, undergoing a veritable transformation. Whereas once only the adventurous dared undertake a journey to the city, the trip became safe and secure, and could now be completed with little anxiety. With the arrival of more pilgrims from across Saudi Arabia and the globe King Abdul Aziz realized that the Prophet's Mosque was in dire need of expansion.
The original mosque, built with mud bricks and tree trunks in 622, covered an area of 8,661 square feet. The caliphs Omar and Othman expanded the mosque in 638 and 650, respectively. Further expansions were undertaken in the early and late parts of the eighth century AD. By this time, the rooms in which the Prophet and his companions Abu Bakr and Omar were buried were incorporated into the mosque and a dome had been built over the rooms.
For eleven centuries no major additional improvements were made to the mosque, although various Muslim rulers funded renovation work and endowments for the mosque's operations and upkeep. The last expansion before the modern era was completed in 1849 by Sultan Abdul Majid the Second, bringing the mosque's total area to a little more than 120,000 square feet.
In 1950, Saudi Arabia undertook the largest expansion project the mosque had ever witnessed. It more than doubled the size of the complex to accommodate the ever-increasing number of Muslims visiting the site, which grew steadily year by year, reaching more than 100,000 in 1955.
The establishment of a modern infrastructure and improved accommodations for visitors saw the number of pilgrims to Makkah and Madinah increase rapidly beginning in the 1960s. By 1970, the number of pilgrims had reached one million. In 1973, King Faisal Ibn Abdul Aziz ordered that the west side of the mosque be shaded from the sun. Although this project increased the area in which visitors to the mosque could pray, it was only a temporary solution.
A more permanent arrangement for the mosque was needed. A panel of experts headed by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz launched a three-year study to formulate plans for a major expansion of the mosque. Once the plans were approved and preparations completed, construction began in earnest in 1985.
The project would take seven years of continuous work. Once completed in 1992, it expanded the mosque's area approximately 15-fold to 1.78 million square feet, allowing more than 700,000 visitors to pray simultaneously.
A similar expansion project for the Holy Mosque in Makkah, undertaken concurrently with that for the Prophet's Mosque, more than doubled its size, allowing more than one million worshippers. The implementation of these two projects would cost more than 70 billion Saudi riyals (18.66 billion U.S. dollars).
The expansion project for the Prophet's Mosque involved new buildings on three sides of the existing structure, and a vast courtyard surrounding it paved with marble and inlaid with geometric Islamic designs. The new buildings provide extensive roofed prayer areas. Within the new structure there are also 27 courtyards open to the sky. In inclement weather concrete domes slide into place to cover these courtyards. Two larger, open courtyards each have six mechanized, retractable umbrellas that are opened or closed depending on the weather.
Retractable umbrellas (top) and domes (above) in the Prophet's Mosque are opened or closed electronically depending on the weather.
The retractable domes and umbrellas, as well as the other electrical and mechanical systems in the complex, are monitored and controlled from the computerized automation center in the basement. This center also controls the air conditioning system, one of the largest and most innovative of its kind. Located at a plant 4.3 miles away, the system pumps 17,000 gallons of chilled water per minute through pipes into the basement of the mosque, where it is used to cool air circulating throughout the complex.
The expansion project added six new minarets to the mosque's four existing ones. Each of the new minarets is 360 feet high, topped by a 23-foot brass crescent weighing close to five tons.
Several kinds of marble and granite were used to build the vast, open courtyard plaza that surrounds the new structure. Lights mounted on marble and brass pillars illuminate the entire area at night.
With the completion of the expansion project, the Prophet's Mosque can easily accommodate the more than two million worshippers that congregate around the Hajj season and visit throughout the year.
As the mosque has expanded in recent decades, so has the city that surrounds it. The City of the Prophet is no longer the small town enclosed by walls that it was at the turn of the century. Today, it is a vibrant city of half a million people where the old and the new blend in harmony, complementing each other. The religious and historic sites in and around the city have been preserved and renovated to allow visitors to appreciate their role in the history of the Kingdom and Islam.
At the same time, new amenities and services have been established to facilitate the city's social and physical growth. As Madinah slowly expanded in every direction, the provision of adequate water supplies was a primary concern. The Kingdom addressed this issue not only by tapping the aquifers that have traditionally supplied the city with water, but also by laying massive pipes to bring in water from desalination plants along the Red Sea. These projects have met all the city's water requirements. Furthermore, water recycling has allowed the city to establish more than 60 major parks and playgrounds where residents and their families can relax and take refuge from the heat.
An employee (top) of the King Fahd Holy Qur'an Printing Complex checks a page from the Holy Book prior to publishing. Over the past half century Madinah (above) has been transformed into a modern urban center.
Once only accessible by caravan trails, the city is now an integral part of the network of modern highways and roads that connect all major urban centers in the Kingdom. An airport established seven miles northeast of the city connects the City of the Prophet to other cities in the Kingdom as well as the world.
For the past 14 centuries, Madinah has been a center of learning, attracting Islamic scholars and students from around the world. Today, a vast, modern educational structure consisting of hundreds of elementary, intermediate and secondary schools enrolls the city's young. Moreover, the Islamic University, established in 1966, draws thousands of students from Madinah, other parts of the Kingdom and more than 100 countries around the world.
In 1985, King Fahd inaugurated a unique complex near Madinah. The King Fahd Holy Qur'an Printing Complex was built on over 37 acres of land to produce high-quality copies of the Holy Book in large numbers. Employing some 1,500 scholars, artists and technicians, the facility now produces more than 14 million copies of the Holy Qur'an in Arabic and six other major languages, as well as 200,000 sets of audio cassettes of the Holy Book each year. These are distributed free to visitors to the two holy mosques and are donated to mosques, religious institutions, schools and universities in the Kingdom. Millions of copies of the Holy Qur'an are also donated each year to mosques and Islamic centers throughout the world.
Madinah also boasts a modern health care network of nine major hospitals and 76 health care centers, which provide services to residents as well as religious pilgrims. During the Hajj season, numerous temporary health centers are set up to ensure that permanent facilities are not over- burdened and quality care is available to all in need.
A state-of-the-art telecommunications system that supports both land and mobile telephones, computers and facsimile and telex machines is maintained by the Ministry of Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones for residents and visitors.
An ancient oasis, Madinah continues to cultivate extensive gardens and farms that produce a variety of dates and vegetables.
Like the city itself, Madinah's traditional date farms and vegetable gardens have also prospered. Of the 500 varieties of dates produced in the Kingdom, some 120 are cultivated here. Indeed, some of the most popular varieties, including the Ajwa, are grown primarily in the date groves surrounding the city.
While the lives of the people of Madinah continue to revolve around the Prophet's Mosque, and in the service of its visitors, the city's inhabitants now support a dynamic business and commercial sector. Thousands of new stores and shops have been established in recent decades to cater to the needs of visitors and inhabitants alike.
In the latter part of the twentieth century, Madinah has evolved into a modern urban center while retaining its strong religious and cultural values.
Mecca
Mecca (Makkah in Arabic) is the center of the Islamic world and the birthplace of both the Prophet Muhammad and the religion he founded. Located in the Sirat Mountains of central Saudi Arabia and 45miles inland from the Red Sea port of Jidda (Jeddah), ancient Mecca was an oasis on the old caravan trade route that linked the Mediterranean world with South Arabia, East Africa, and South Asia. By Roman and Byzantine times it had developed into an important trade and religious center, and was known as Macoraba. The sacred land in which Mecca and Medina are located, known as the Hijaz, is the western region of the Arabian peninsula, a narrow tract of land about 875 miles long east of the Red Sea with the Tropic of Cancer running through its center. The land is called Hijaz, meaning barrier, because its backbone, the Sarat Mountains consist of volcanic peaks and natural depressions creating a stark and rugged environment dominated by intense sunlight and little rain fall.
According to ancient Arabian traditions, when Adam and Eve were cast from Paradise they fell to different parts of the earth; Adam on a mountain on the island of Serendip, or Sri Lanka, and Eve in Arabia, on the border of the Red Sea near the port of Jeddah. For two hundred years Adam and Eve wandered separate and lonely about the earth. Finally, in consideration of their penitence and wretchedness, God permitted them to come together again on Mt. Arafat, near the present city of Mecca (previously called Becca or Bakkah, meaning narrow valley). Adam then prayed to God that a shrine might be granted to him similar to that at which he had worshipped in Paradise. Adam's prayers were answered and a shrine was built. (This is a pre-Islamic legend and the Koran, the Islamic Holy Scripture, says nothing whatsoever of Adam’s connection with Mecca or of a shrine he prayed at). Adam is said to have died and been buried in Mecca and Eve in Jeddah by the sea which still bears her name, jiddah, meaning maternal ancestor in Arabic.
This shrine passed away during the era of the flood, at which time the body of Adam began to float on the water while the Ark of Noah circumambulated around it and the Ka’ba seven times before journeying north where it landed after the flood. A thousand years later, according to one Islamic tradition in 1892 BC, the great patriarch of monothesism, Abraham, or Ibrahim, came to Mecca with his Egyptian wife Hagar and their child Ishmael. Here Hagar lived with her son in a small house, at the site of the earlier shrine, and Abraham came to visit her on occasion.
Nearly all scholars trace the sanctity of Mecca to the Ka’ba edifice later rebuilt at God’s express command by Abraham and Ishmael. Mention must be made, however, of the Zamzan spring and the nearby holy hills of Safa and Marwa (these hills have since disappeared under the leveling topography of modern Mecca). These geographical formations certainly predated the mythical construction of the Ka’ba and could therefore have given birth to the original sanctity of the place. According to Islamic legend, Abraham had left Mecca on God’s command, leaving Hagar and Ishmael with only some water and dates. Hagar nursed her son and they drank the remaining water. Soon thereafter, faced with great thirst, Ishmael started to cry and Hagar began to run between the hills of Safa and Marwa looking for water. She repeated the journey seven times until an angel appeared to her, striking the ground with his wing, with the result that the Zamzam spring, which Muslims consider as a tributary of the waters of Paradise, sprang forth. Henceforth Mecca was graced with a source of water which has continued flowing to this day.
After the departure and return of Abraham to Mecca, and his discovery that Hagar had died, Abraham was then ordered by God to make Hagar’s house into a temple where people could pray. Therefore, he demolished the house and began construction of the Ka’ba. God gave Abraham precise instructions concerning how to rebuild the shrine and Gabriel showed him the location. It is said that by the grace of God the Divine Peace (al-sakinah) descended in the form of a wind which brought a cloud in the shape of a dragon that revealed to Abraham and Ishmael the site of the old temple. They were told to construct the shrine directly upon the shadow of the cloud, neither exceeding nor diminishing its dimensions. Legends say the shrine was built from the stones of five sacred mountains: Mt. Sinai, the Mount of Olives, Mt. Lebanon, Al-Judi, and nearby Mt. Hira. Upon the completion of the shrine, Gabriel brought a magic stone for the sanctuary. Different sources speculate that this stone was a meteorite or a great white sapphire from the Garden of Eden, that it had been concealed on the nearby sacred mountain of Abu Qubays during the period of the flood, and that it was later restored to Abraham for inclusion in his version of the Ka’ba. Whatever its ultimate origin, the stone was most probably a sacred object of the pre-Islamic Arabian nomads who had settled around the Zamzam spring that flows at the center of old Mecca. Upon completion of the Ka’ba, Abraham and Ishmael, accompanied by the archangel Gabriel, then performed all the elements which constitute the Hajj ritual of today. The Ka’ba they had constructed was destined to become the most important sacred site of the nomadic tribes that inhabited the great Arabian deserts. (Abraham was later to leave Mecca to die in Palestine in al-Khalil).
With the passage of centuries, the original Abrahamic observances at the Ka’ba were progressively diluted by the addition of various pagan elements (these arriving via the caravan routes that led to Mecca). The pilgrims of pre-Islamic times visited not only the house of Abraham and the sacred stone of Gabriel but also the collection of stone idols (representing different deities) housed in and around the Ka’ba. There were said to be 360 different deities including Awf, the great bird, Hubal the Nabatean god, the three celestial goddesses Manat, al-Uzza and al-Lat, and statues of Mary and Jesus. The most important of all these deities, and chief of the Meccan pantheon, was known as Allah (meaning “the god”). Worshipped throughout southern Syria and northern Arabia, and the only deity not represented by an idol in the Ka’ba, Allah would later become the sole god of the Muslims.
The city of Mecca achieved its major religious significance following the birth and life of the Prophet Muhammed (570-632AD). In 630 Muhammad took control of Mecca and destroyed the 360 pagan idols, with the notable exception of the statues of Mary and Jesus. The idol of Hubal, the largest in Mecca, was a giant stone situated atop the Ka’ba. Following the command of the Prophet, Ali (the cousin of Muhammad) stood on Muhammad’s shoulders, climbed to the top of the Ka’ba and toppled the idol.
Following his destruction of the pagan idols, Muhammad joined certain of the ancient Meccan rituals with the Hajj pilgrimage to Mt. Arafat (another pre-Islamic tradition), declared the city a center of Muslim pilgrimage and dedicated it to the worship of Allah alone. Muhammad did not, however, destroy the Ka’ba and the sacred stone it housed. Rather, he made them the centerpiece of the Muslim religion based on his belief that he was a prophetic reformer who had been sent by god to restore the rites first established by Abraham that had been corrupted over the centuries by the pagan influences. Thus, by gaining both religious and political control over Mecca, Muhammad was able to redefine the sacred territory and restore Abraham's original order to it.
According to the original words of Muhammad, the Hajj pilgrimage is the fifth of the fundamental Muslim practices known as the 'Five Pillars of Islam'. The Hajj is an obligation to be performed at least once by all male and female adults whose health and finances permit it. The pilgrimage takes place each year between the 8th and 13th days of Dhu al-Hijjah, the 12th month of the Islamic lunar calendar. Before setting out, a pilgrim should redress all wrongs, pay all debts, and plan to have enough money for their journey and the support of their family while away.
As pilgrims undertake the journey they follow in the footsteps of many millions before them. When the pilgrim is about 10 kilometers from Mecca he enters the state of holiness and purity known as Ihram, and dons special garments consisting of two white seamless sheets that are wrapped around the body. Entering the great Mosque in Mecca, the pilgrim first walks seven times around the Ka’ba shrine in a counterclockwise direction; this ritual is called turning, or tawaf. Next, entering into the shrine, the pilgrim kisses the sacred stone. The stone is mounted in a silver frame in the wall, four feet above the ground, in the southeast corner of the shrine. It is of an oval shape about twelve inches in diameter, composed of seven small stones (possibly basalt) of different sizes and shapes joined together with cement. Legend tells that the stone (Hajarul Aswad, the ‘Black Stone’) was originally white but became gradually darkened by the kisses of sinful mortals (some traditions say by the sins of 'offsprings of Adam').
During the next few days the pilgrim walks a ritualized route to other sacred places in the Mecca vicinity (Mina, Muzdalifah, Arafat, the Mount of Mercy and Mt. Namira) and returns to the Ka’ba on the final day (the word Hajj probably derives from an old Semitic root meaning 'to go around, to go in a circle'). The plain of Arafat where millions of pilgrims assemble in a vast congregation symbolizes the plain of Mahshar or Resurrection where everyone will stand before God on the Day of Judgement. In the middle of Arafat stands Jabal al-Rahmah or the Mount of Mercy where the last verses of the Koran were revealed and where one of the famous farewell addresses of the Prophet was delivered. It is here that the alchemy of union between various aspects of human nature takes place and where men and women regain their primordial spiritual wholeness, for it was here that Adam and Eve found each other again after their fall to earth from Paradise. At Mina, where the Prophet delivered his last words during his final pilgrimage, pilgrims cast stones against three large stone pillars representing Satan (al-Shaytan) as a symbol of the eternal battle that must be waged against the demons within. Finally there is the sacrifice of an animal, a sheep or a camel, in emulation of Abraham’s preparation to sacrifice his son Ishmael.
Once a believer has made the pilgrimage to Mecca men may add the title al-Hajji to their name, hajjiyah for females. In different Islamic countries returning pilgrims will use a variety of signs to indicate they have made the Hajj; these include painting pictures of the Ka’ba (and the pilgrim’s means of transportation to the shrine) upon the walls of their homes, painting the entrance doorway of the house bright green, and wearing hats or scarves of green color. A so-called Minor Pilgrimage, known as the Umra, contains some but not all of the rites of the Hajj and may be performed at any time of the year.
The Ka’ba, The Great Mosque, Mecca
(Order Fine Art Print)
The Ka’ba, The Great Mosque, Mecca
(Order Fine Art Print)
The area around the Ka’ba was enclosed by a wall in 638 to create a defined space for the tawaf ritual of circumambulation. In 684 the mosque was further enlarged and ornamented with numerous mosaic and marble decorations. In 709 the Umayyad caliph Al-Walid placed a wooden roof upon marble columns to protect the arcades of the mosque, and between 754 and 757 the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mansur carried out further enlargements, including the first minaret. During the next 700 years numerous modifications were carried out although no major alterations to the form of the building occurred until the Ottoman period in the 16th century (in the 10th century the Black Stone was actually stolen for a period of twenty-one years by the Carmathians). Large-scale renovations and remodeling was undertaken in 1564 during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Sulayman the Magnificent, who rebuilt the minarets and replaced the wooden roofs of the arcades with stone domes. The next major rebuilding of the mosque occurred in the 20th century under the direction of the Saudi royal family and resulted in the Mecca mosque becoming the largest in the world.
The Ka’ba today stands in the midst of an open courtyard known as the al-masjid al-haram, the ‘sanctuary’. The cubical (the word Ka’ba means “cube”), flat-roofed building rises fifty feet from a narrow marble base on mortared bases of a local blue-gray stone. Its dimensions are not exactly cubical: the northeastern and southwestern walls are forty feet long, while the other two walls are five feet shorter (12 meters long, 10 meters broad, 16 meters high). The structure’s corners, rather than the walls, are oriented toward the compass points. The east and west walls are aligned to the sunrise at the summer solstice and sunset at the winter solstice. The south wall is directed to the rising of the bright star Canopus. The northeastern wall has the only door of the building, about seven feet above the ground level. Inside is an empty room with a marble floor and three wooden pillars supporting the roof. There are some inscriptions on the walls, hanging votive lamps, and a ladder leading up to the roof. The entire Ka’ba structure is draped with a black silk covering, called a kiswa, upon which passages from the Koran are embroidered in gold. The kiswa is renewed every year and the old kiswah is cut up and distributed so as to allow the barakah of the ka’ba to emanate among those to whom the pieces of the cloth are given. During the early centuries of Islamic history the kiswah was made in Egypt and carried with great ceremony to Mecca but now it is fashioned near the holy city itself.
Opposite the northwestern wall of the Ka’ba is an area of special sanctity called the Hijr, which Muslim tradition identifies as the burial place of Hagar and Ishmael (and here, too, Ishmael had been promised by God that a gate into heaven would be opened for him). In Muhammad’s time, the Hijr was a place used for discussion, prayer and, significantly, for sleep. The sleepers in the Hijr appear to have gone there specifically to have dreams of divine content: Muhammad’s grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib, was inspired to discover the Zamzam well while sleeping there; the mother of the Prophet had a vision of her son’s greatness; and at the Hijr Muhammed himself was visited by Gabriel before beginning his miraculous Night Journey to Jerusalem.
The Ka’ba, the Zamzan well, the Hijr and the hills of Safa and Marwa are now all enclosed in a vast structure called the Haram al-Sharif, ‘The Noble Sanctuary’. Ringed by seven towering minarets and sixty-four gates, this truly monumental building has 160,000 yards of floor space, is capable of holding more than 1.2 million pilgrims at the same time, and is the largest mosque in the Islamic world. The sa’y, or ritual walk between the hills of Safa and Marwa, celebrating the rapid movement of Hagar and her son Ishmael in search of water and being an integral part of the Hajj rituals, is understood to represent mans quest in this world for the life-bestowing bounties of God
It is interesting to note that prior to the age of the European world explorations, the pilgrimage to Mecca was the single largest expression of human mobility. As the religion of Islam rapidly spread across the world from Indonesia and China in the Far East to Spain, Morocco and West Africa in the west, ever increasing numbers of pilgrims made the long, and often dangerous, journey to Mecca. Some came by boat, braving the Red Sea, the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf. Others spent months in camel caravans slowly crossing great tracts of land. The most important pilgrimage caravans were the Egyptian, the Syrian, the Maghribi (the trans-Saharan route), the Sudanese (the sub-Saharan, savanna route), and those from Iraq and Persia.
Forbidden to persons not of the Muslim faith, Mecca came to symbolize for Europeans the secrets and mysteries of the orient, and as such became a magnet for explorers and adventurers. A few of these daring travelers, such as John Lewis Burckhardt from Switzerland (who, in 1812, was also the first European to visit the ruins of Petra) and Sir Richard Burton from Great Britain were able to convincingly impersonate Muslim pilgrims, gain entrance to Mecca, and write wonderfully of the holy city upon their return to Europe. Other explorers were neither so lucky nor divinely guided; many of them disappeared or were caught and sold into slavery. To this day, Mecca remains strictly closed for persons not of the Muslim faith.
Nowadays about 2,000,000 persons perform the Hajj each year, and the pilgrimage serves as a unifying force in Islam by bringing together followers from diverse countries and language groups. In a certain sense Mecca is said to be visited by all Muslims every day; this because five times each day (three times in the Shi’a sect) millions upon millions of devout believers kneel to pray. Wherever the place of prayer - be it an established mosque, a remote place in the wilderness or the interior of a home - Muslims face towards Mecca and are united to the Ka’ba by an invisible line of direction called the qibla.
Readers interested in more detailed information about Mecca and the great Muslim pilgrimage will enjoy the excellent writings of Michael Wolfe and F.E. Peters, listed in the bibliography.
Paintings (on houses in Egypt) of the Ka'ba, Islam's most sacred shrine in Mecca
(Order Fine Art Print)
Additional notes on Mecca
On the walls of ordinary houses all over Egypt, one can still see colorful two-dimensional mementos of the sacred journey to Mecca. A lively tradition of domestic mural painting has preserved a formulaic combination of inscriptions and images of the Ka'ba and of the Prophet's mosque. Images usually show the various modes of travel to the holy places, typically including planes, trains, ships, camels, and often depict the pilgrim on a prayer carpet. These murals serve a protective purpose in addition to certifying publicly and proudly that the house's inhabitants are due the special status and prestige accorded to those who have accomplished the hajj and received the honorific title of hajji. It is especially significant that family and friends of the pilgrim execute the paintings while the travelers are away, so that the dwelling undergoes its ritual transformation even as its inhabitants do.
Seven Doors to Islam: Spirituality and the Religious Life of Muslims, by John Renard
Folklore notes on Adam
Adam was formed by god out of a handful of dust taken, according to tradition, from the Holy Rock of Sakhrah in Beyt el Maddas. When god formed Adam He left the figure lying lifeless for forty days, some say forty years, while notice was given to the Angels and the Jinn to be ready to worship him as soon as god put breath into his nostrils. At first Adam was male and female in one body, man on one side and female on the other. In due time the female part separated from the male and became a complete woman. Adam and the woman mated but they were not happy as the female refused to submit to Adam, saying that as they were made from the same dust, he had no right to order her about. So she was turned out of Paradise and, consorting with Iblis (Satan), became the mother of devils. She is called El-Karineh by the Arabs, both Christian and Muslim, and Lilith by the Jews (La Brusha by the Sephardim Jews). She is the deadly enemy of all women, especially those who have recently become mothers. When El-Karineh was driven out of Paradise, god created Eve out of one of Adam's ribs, which had been extracted while he slept. Adam and Eve were happy together until Satan succeeded in getting back into Paradise concealed in a serpent's fangs. Once there, Satan persuaded Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit. Adam, having been persuaded by his wife to share her offense, was, as a punishment, cast out of Paradise together with Eve, Satan and the Serpent. All four of them fell to the earth, each coming to a different place: Adam at Serendib or Ceylon; Eve at Jiddah; Satan at Akabah; and the Serpent at Isfahan in Persia. Two hundred years passed before Adam and Eve met once more at Jebel Arafat, the mountain of Recognition, near Mecca. During these two hundred years, Eve had borne offspring of the seeds of devils and Adam had many children by female Jinns.
Additional notes on Pilgrimage and Sacred sites in Islam
The worship of saints or even of the Prophet Muhammad himself is blasphemy according to Islamic orthodoxy. When Muhammad died, he was buried in the house of his wife Aisha and it was forbidden to visit his corpse. In accordance with his teachings, no special treatment was given to the burial places of the four rightly guided Caliphs or the Umayyads or early Abbasids, and no special buildings of any importance were erected over any of their graves.
After the ninth century the veneration of tombs of pious men became popular, especially in eastern Iran, and the memorial tomb with religious or secular connotations assumed a leading place among the types of monumental buildings in Islamic architecture. Clearly the urge to build tombs owed nothing to Islamic dogma but rested on deep-seated popular belief.
The grave of a saint (awliya) is a point of psychic contact with the saint for the tomb is conceived as the dwelling place of the saint. These shrines, in different parts of the Islamic world may be called mashhad, maqam, ziyarat (Morocco), imamzada (Iran), mazar (Central Asia) and qabiristan (India) and they may be compared in function to the Christian martyrium.
Apart from the altruism involved in building a mosque, anyone who plans to include his tomb within the area of the mosque expects that this action will ensure the maintenance of his tomb, as it is integral to the architecture of the mosque, and also that his burial remains will benefit supernaturally from the prayers of the users of the mosque and also by the baraka that is generated every time the Koran is recited.
The concept of the living saint is extremely important in Islam. Pilgrims visit the shrine of a saint to receive his baraka and seek his intercession, shafa'a. .. On leaving a shrine, a pilgrim is careful not to turn his or her back on the cenotaph of the saint.
A coffin is optional, but a vault, no matter how simple, is indespensible, for the fact that the body must be able to sit up and reply to the Angels of the Grave, known as Munkir and Nakir, who question it on the first night after burial. ..Bodies are buried in the recumbent posture at right angles to the qibla (the direction of prayer towards Mecca) in such a way that they would face Mecca if turned on their side. This way the believer has the same physical relationship with Mecca in both life and death.
The Hajj pilgrimage to the Ka'ba in antiquity.
At the bottom of the drawing notice the line of pilgrims entering the front of the Great Mosque.
In the upper left corner of the drawing that line may be seen extending for many miles into the distance.
Also consult:
Non-Hajj Pilgrimage in Islam: A Neglected Dimension of Religious Circulation; Bhardwaj, Surinder M.; Journal of Cultural Geography, vol. 17:2, Spring/Summer 1998
Sufism: Its Saints and Shrines: An Introduction to the Study of Sufism with Special Reference to India; Subhan, John A.; Samuel Weiser Publisher; New York; 1970
According to ancient Arabian traditions, when Adam and Eve were cast from Paradise they fell to different parts of the earth; Adam on a mountain on the island of Serendip, or Sri Lanka, and Eve in Arabia, on the border of the Red Sea near the port of Jeddah. For two hundred years Adam and Eve wandered separate and lonely about the earth. Finally, in consideration of their penitence and wretchedness, God permitted them to come together again on Mt. Arafat, near the present city of Mecca (previously called Becca or Bakkah, meaning narrow valley). Adam then prayed to God that a shrine might be granted to him similar to that at which he had worshipped in Paradise. Adam's prayers were answered and a shrine was built. (This is a pre-Islamic legend and the Koran, the Islamic Holy Scripture, says nothing whatsoever of Adam’s connection with Mecca or of a shrine he prayed at). Adam is said to have died and been buried in Mecca and Eve in Jeddah by the sea which still bears her name, jiddah, meaning maternal ancestor in Arabic.
This shrine passed away during the era of the flood, at which time the body of Adam began to float on the water while the Ark of Noah circumambulated around it and the Ka’ba seven times before journeying north where it landed after the flood. A thousand years later, according to one Islamic tradition in 1892 BC, the great patriarch of monothesism, Abraham, or Ibrahim, came to Mecca with his Egyptian wife Hagar and their child Ishmael. Here Hagar lived with her son in a small house, at the site of the earlier shrine, and Abraham came to visit her on occasion.
Nearly all scholars trace the sanctity of Mecca to the Ka’ba edifice later rebuilt at God’s express command by Abraham and Ishmael. Mention must be made, however, of the Zamzan spring and the nearby holy hills of Safa and Marwa (these hills have since disappeared under the leveling topography of modern Mecca). These geographical formations certainly predated the mythical construction of the Ka’ba and could therefore have given birth to the original sanctity of the place. According to Islamic legend, Abraham had left Mecca on God’s command, leaving Hagar and Ishmael with only some water and dates. Hagar nursed her son and they drank the remaining water. Soon thereafter, faced with great thirst, Ishmael started to cry and Hagar began to run between the hills of Safa and Marwa looking for water. She repeated the journey seven times until an angel appeared to her, striking the ground with his wing, with the result that the Zamzam spring, which Muslims consider as a tributary of the waters of Paradise, sprang forth. Henceforth Mecca was graced with a source of water which has continued flowing to this day.
After the departure and return of Abraham to Mecca, and his discovery that Hagar had died, Abraham was then ordered by God to make Hagar’s house into a temple where people could pray. Therefore, he demolished the house and began construction of the Ka’ba. God gave Abraham precise instructions concerning how to rebuild the shrine and Gabriel showed him the location. It is said that by the grace of God the Divine Peace (al-sakinah) descended in the form of a wind which brought a cloud in the shape of a dragon that revealed to Abraham and Ishmael the site of the old temple. They were told to construct the shrine directly upon the shadow of the cloud, neither exceeding nor diminishing its dimensions. Legends say the shrine was built from the stones of five sacred mountains: Mt. Sinai, the Mount of Olives, Mt. Lebanon, Al-Judi, and nearby Mt. Hira. Upon the completion of the shrine, Gabriel brought a magic stone for the sanctuary. Different sources speculate that this stone was a meteorite or a great white sapphire from the Garden of Eden, that it had been concealed on the nearby sacred mountain of Abu Qubays during the period of the flood, and that it was later restored to Abraham for inclusion in his version of the Ka’ba. Whatever its ultimate origin, the stone was most probably a sacred object of the pre-Islamic Arabian nomads who had settled around the Zamzam spring that flows at the center of old Mecca. Upon completion of the Ka’ba, Abraham and Ishmael, accompanied by the archangel Gabriel, then performed all the elements which constitute the Hajj ritual of today. The Ka’ba they had constructed was destined to become the most important sacred site of the nomadic tribes that inhabited the great Arabian deserts. (Abraham was later to leave Mecca to die in Palestine in al-Khalil).
With the passage of centuries, the original Abrahamic observances at the Ka’ba were progressively diluted by the addition of various pagan elements (these arriving via the caravan routes that led to Mecca). The pilgrims of pre-Islamic times visited not only the house of Abraham and the sacred stone of Gabriel but also the collection of stone idols (representing different deities) housed in and around the Ka’ba. There were said to be 360 different deities including Awf, the great bird, Hubal the Nabatean god, the three celestial goddesses Manat, al-Uzza and al-Lat, and statues of Mary and Jesus. The most important of all these deities, and chief of the Meccan pantheon, was known as Allah (meaning “the god”). Worshipped throughout southern Syria and northern Arabia, and the only deity not represented by an idol in the Ka’ba, Allah would later become the sole god of the Muslims.
The city of Mecca achieved its major religious significance following the birth and life of the Prophet Muhammed (570-632AD). In 630 Muhammad took control of Mecca and destroyed the 360 pagan idols, with the notable exception of the statues of Mary and Jesus. The idol of Hubal, the largest in Mecca, was a giant stone situated atop the Ka’ba. Following the command of the Prophet, Ali (the cousin of Muhammad) stood on Muhammad’s shoulders, climbed to the top of the Ka’ba and toppled the idol.
Following his destruction of the pagan idols, Muhammad joined certain of the ancient Meccan rituals with the Hajj pilgrimage to Mt. Arafat (another pre-Islamic tradition), declared the city a center of Muslim pilgrimage and dedicated it to the worship of Allah alone. Muhammad did not, however, destroy the Ka’ba and the sacred stone it housed. Rather, he made them the centerpiece of the Muslim religion based on his belief that he was a prophetic reformer who had been sent by god to restore the rites first established by Abraham that had been corrupted over the centuries by the pagan influences. Thus, by gaining both religious and political control over Mecca, Muhammad was able to redefine the sacred territory and restore Abraham's original order to it.
According to the original words of Muhammad, the Hajj pilgrimage is the fifth of the fundamental Muslim practices known as the 'Five Pillars of Islam'. The Hajj is an obligation to be performed at least once by all male and female adults whose health and finances permit it. The pilgrimage takes place each year between the 8th and 13th days of Dhu al-Hijjah, the 12th month of the Islamic lunar calendar. Before setting out, a pilgrim should redress all wrongs, pay all debts, and plan to have enough money for their journey and the support of their family while away.
As pilgrims undertake the journey they follow in the footsteps of many millions before them. When the pilgrim is about 10 kilometers from Mecca he enters the state of holiness and purity known as Ihram, and dons special garments consisting of two white seamless sheets that are wrapped around the body. Entering the great Mosque in Mecca, the pilgrim first walks seven times around the Ka’ba shrine in a counterclockwise direction; this ritual is called turning, or tawaf. Next, entering into the shrine, the pilgrim kisses the sacred stone. The stone is mounted in a silver frame in the wall, four feet above the ground, in the southeast corner of the shrine. It is of an oval shape about twelve inches in diameter, composed of seven small stones (possibly basalt) of different sizes and shapes joined together with cement. Legend tells that the stone (Hajarul Aswad, the ‘Black Stone’) was originally white but became gradually darkened by the kisses of sinful mortals (some traditions say by the sins of 'offsprings of Adam').
During the next few days the pilgrim walks a ritualized route to other sacred places in the Mecca vicinity (Mina, Muzdalifah, Arafat, the Mount of Mercy and Mt. Namira) and returns to the Ka’ba on the final day (the word Hajj probably derives from an old Semitic root meaning 'to go around, to go in a circle'). The plain of Arafat where millions of pilgrims assemble in a vast congregation symbolizes the plain of Mahshar or Resurrection where everyone will stand before God on the Day of Judgement. In the middle of Arafat stands Jabal al-Rahmah or the Mount of Mercy where the last verses of the Koran were revealed and where one of the famous farewell addresses of the Prophet was delivered. It is here that the alchemy of union between various aspects of human nature takes place and where men and women regain their primordial spiritual wholeness, for it was here that Adam and Eve found each other again after their fall to earth from Paradise. At Mina, where the Prophet delivered his last words during his final pilgrimage, pilgrims cast stones against three large stone pillars representing Satan (al-Shaytan) as a symbol of the eternal battle that must be waged against the demons within. Finally there is the sacrifice of an animal, a sheep or a camel, in emulation of Abraham’s preparation to sacrifice his son Ishmael.
Once a believer has made the pilgrimage to Mecca men may add the title al-Hajji to their name, hajjiyah for females. In different Islamic countries returning pilgrims will use a variety of signs to indicate they have made the Hajj; these include painting pictures of the Ka’ba (and the pilgrim’s means of transportation to the shrine) upon the walls of their homes, painting the entrance doorway of the house bright green, and wearing hats or scarves of green color. A so-called Minor Pilgrimage, known as the Umra, contains some but not all of the rites of the Hajj and may be performed at any time of the year.
The Ka’ba, The Great Mosque, Mecca
(Order Fine Art Print)
The Ka’ba, The Great Mosque, Mecca
(Order Fine Art Print)
The area around the Ka’ba was enclosed by a wall in 638 to create a defined space for the tawaf ritual of circumambulation. In 684 the mosque was further enlarged and ornamented with numerous mosaic and marble decorations. In 709 the Umayyad caliph Al-Walid placed a wooden roof upon marble columns to protect the arcades of the mosque, and between 754 and 757 the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mansur carried out further enlargements, including the first minaret. During the next 700 years numerous modifications were carried out although no major alterations to the form of the building occurred until the Ottoman period in the 16th century (in the 10th century the Black Stone was actually stolen for a period of twenty-one years by the Carmathians). Large-scale renovations and remodeling was undertaken in 1564 during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Sulayman the Magnificent, who rebuilt the minarets and replaced the wooden roofs of the arcades with stone domes. The next major rebuilding of the mosque occurred in the 20th century under the direction of the Saudi royal family and resulted in the Mecca mosque becoming the largest in the world.
The Ka’ba today stands in the midst of an open courtyard known as the al-masjid al-haram, the ‘sanctuary’. The cubical (the word Ka’ba means “cube”), flat-roofed building rises fifty feet from a narrow marble base on mortared bases of a local blue-gray stone. Its dimensions are not exactly cubical: the northeastern and southwestern walls are forty feet long, while the other two walls are five feet shorter (12 meters long, 10 meters broad, 16 meters high). The structure’s corners, rather than the walls, are oriented toward the compass points. The east and west walls are aligned to the sunrise at the summer solstice and sunset at the winter solstice. The south wall is directed to the rising of the bright star Canopus. The northeastern wall has the only door of the building, about seven feet above the ground level. Inside is an empty room with a marble floor and three wooden pillars supporting the roof. There are some inscriptions on the walls, hanging votive lamps, and a ladder leading up to the roof. The entire Ka’ba structure is draped with a black silk covering, called a kiswa, upon which passages from the Koran are embroidered in gold. The kiswa is renewed every year and the old kiswah is cut up and distributed so as to allow the barakah of the ka’ba to emanate among those to whom the pieces of the cloth are given. During the early centuries of Islamic history the kiswah was made in Egypt and carried with great ceremony to Mecca but now it is fashioned near the holy city itself.
Opposite the northwestern wall of the Ka’ba is an area of special sanctity called the Hijr, which Muslim tradition identifies as the burial place of Hagar and Ishmael (and here, too, Ishmael had been promised by God that a gate into heaven would be opened for him). In Muhammad’s time, the Hijr was a place used for discussion, prayer and, significantly, for sleep. The sleepers in the Hijr appear to have gone there specifically to have dreams of divine content: Muhammad’s grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib, was inspired to discover the Zamzam well while sleeping there; the mother of the Prophet had a vision of her son’s greatness; and at the Hijr Muhammed himself was visited by Gabriel before beginning his miraculous Night Journey to Jerusalem.
The Ka’ba, the Zamzan well, the Hijr and the hills of Safa and Marwa are now all enclosed in a vast structure called the Haram al-Sharif, ‘The Noble Sanctuary’. Ringed by seven towering minarets and sixty-four gates, this truly monumental building has 160,000 yards of floor space, is capable of holding more than 1.2 million pilgrims at the same time, and is the largest mosque in the Islamic world. The sa’y, or ritual walk between the hills of Safa and Marwa, celebrating the rapid movement of Hagar and her son Ishmael in search of water and being an integral part of the Hajj rituals, is understood to represent mans quest in this world for the life-bestowing bounties of God
It is interesting to note that prior to the age of the European world explorations, the pilgrimage to Mecca was the single largest expression of human mobility. As the religion of Islam rapidly spread across the world from Indonesia and China in the Far East to Spain, Morocco and West Africa in the west, ever increasing numbers of pilgrims made the long, and often dangerous, journey to Mecca. Some came by boat, braving the Red Sea, the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf. Others spent months in camel caravans slowly crossing great tracts of land. The most important pilgrimage caravans were the Egyptian, the Syrian, the Maghribi (the trans-Saharan route), the Sudanese (the sub-Saharan, savanna route), and those from Iraq and Persia.
Forbidden to persons not of the Muslim faith, Mecca came to symbolize for Europeans the secrets and mysteries of the orient, and as such became a magnet for explorers and adventurers. A few of these daring travelers, such as John Lewis Burckhardt from Switzerland (who, in 1812, was also the first European to visit the ruins of Petra) and Sir Richard Burton from Great Britain were able to convincingly impersonate Muslim pilgrims, gain entrance to Mecca, and write wonderfully of the holy city upon their return to Europe. Other explorers were neither so lucky nor divinely guided; many of them disappeared or were caught and sold into slavery. To this day, Mecca remains strictly closed for persons not of the Muslim faith.
Nowadays about 2,000,000 persons perform the Hajj each year, and the pilgrimage serves as a unifying force in Islam by bringing together followers from diverse countries and language groups. In a certain sense Mecca is said to be visited by all Muslims every day; this because five times each day (three times in the Shi’a sect) millions upon millions of devout believers kneel to pray. Wherever the place of prayer - be it an established mosque, a remote place in the wilderness or the interior of a home - Muslims face towards Mecca and are united to the Ka’ba by an invisible line of direction called the qibla.
Readers interested in more detailed information about Mecca and the great Muslim pilgrimage will enjoy the excellent writings of Michael Wolfe and F.E. Peters, listed in the bibliography.
Paintings (on houses in Egypt) of the Ka'ba, Islam's most sacred shrine in Mecca
(Order Fine Art Print)
Additional notes on Mecca
On the walls of ordinary houses all over Egypt, one can still see colorful two-dimensional mementos of the sacred journey to Mecca. A lively tradition of domestic mural painting has preserved a formulaic combination of inscriptions and images of the Ka'ba and of the Prophet's mosque. Images usually show the various modes of travel to the holy places, typically including planes, trains, ships, camels, and often depict the pilgrim on a prayer carpet. These murals serve a protective purpose in addition to certifying publicly and proudly that the house's inhabitants are due the special status and prestige accorded to those who have accomplished the hajj and received the honorific title of hajji. It is especially significant that family and friends of the pilgrim execute the paintings while the travelers are away, so that the dwelling undergoes its ritual transformation even as its inhabitants do.
Seven Doors to Islam: Spirituality and the Religious Life of Muslims, by John Renard
Folklore notes on Adam
Adam was formed by god out of a handful of dust taken, according to tradition, from the Holy Rock of Sakhrah in Beyt el Maddas. When god formed Adam He left the figure lying lifeless for forty days, some say forty years, while notice was given to the Angels and the Jinn to be ready to worship him as soon as god put breath into his nostrils. At first Adam was male and female in one body, man on one side and female on the other. In due time the female part separated from the male and became a complete woman. Adam and the woman mated but they were not happy as the female refused to submit to Adam, saying that as they were made from the same dust, he had no right to order her about. So she was turned out of Paradise and, consorting with Iblis (Satan), became the mother of devils. She is called El-Karineh by the Arabs, both Christian and Muslim, and Lilith by the Jews (La Brusha by the Sephardim Jews). She is the deadly enemy of all women, especially those who have recently become mothers. When El-Karineh was driven out of Paradise, god created Eve out of one of Adam's ribs, which had been extracted while he slept. Adam and Eve were happy together until Satan succeeded in getting back into Paradise concealed in a serpent's fangs. Once there, Satan persuaded Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit. Adam, having been persuaded by his wife to share her offense, was, as a punishment, cast out of Paradise together with Eve, Satan and the Serpent. All four of them fell to the earth, each coming to a different place: Adam at Serendib or Ceylon; Eve at Jiddah; Satan at Akabah; and the Serpent at Isfahan in Persia. Two hundred years passed before Adam and Eve met once more at Jebel Arafat, the mountain of Recognition, near Mecca. During these two hundred years, Eve had borne offspring of the seeds of devils and Adam had many children by female Jinns.
Additional notes on Pilgrimage and Sacred sites in Islam
The worship of saints or even of the Prophet Muhammad himself is blasphemy according to Islamic orthodoxy. When Muhammad died, he was buried in the house of his wife Aisha and it was forbidden to visit his corpse. In accordance with his teachings, no special treatment was given to the burial places of the four rightly guided Caliphs or the Umayyads or early Abbasids, and no special buildings of any importance were erected over any of their graves.
After the ninth century the veneration of tombs of pious men became popular, especially in eastern Iran, and the memorial tomb with religious or secular connotations assumed a leading place among the types of monumental buildings in Islamic architecture. Clearly the urge to build tombs owed nothing to Islamic dogma but rested on deep-seated popular belief.
The grave of a saint (awliya) is a point of psychic contact with the saint for the tomb is conceived as the dwelling place of the saint. These shrines, in different parts of the Islamic world may be called mashhad, maqam, ziyarat (Morocco), imamzada (Iran), mazar (Central Asia) and qabiristan (India) and they may be compared in function to the Christian martyrium.
Apart from the altruism involved in building a mosque, anyone who plans to include his tomb within the area of the mosque expects that this action will ensure the maintenance of his tomb, as it is integral to the architecture of the mosque, and also that his burial remains will benefit supernaturally from the prayers of the users of the mosque and also by the baraka that is generated every time the Koran is recited.
The concept of the living saint is extremely important in Islam. Pilgrims visit the shrine of a saint to receive his baraka and seek his intercession, shafa'a. .. On leaving a shrine, a pilgrim is careful not to turn his or her back on the cenotaph of the saint.
A coffin is optional, but a vault, no matter how simple, is indespensible, for the fact that the body must be able to sit up and reply to the Angels of the Grave, known as Munkir and Nakir, who question it on the first night after burial. ..Bodies are buried in the recumbent posture at right angles to the qibla (the direction of prayer towards Mecca) in such a way that they would face Mecca if turned on their side. This way the believer has the same physical relationship with Mecca in both life and death.
The Hajj pilgrimage to the Ka'ba in antiquity.
At the bottom of the drawing notice the line of pilgrims entering the front of the Great Mosque.
In the upper left corner of the drawing that line may be seen extending for many miles into the distance.
Also consult:
Non-Hajj Pilgrimage in Islam: A Neglected Dimension of Religious Circulation; Bhardwaj, Surinder M.; Journal of Cultural Geography, vol. 17:2, Spring/Summer 1998
Sufism: Its Saints and Shrines: An Introduction to the Study of Sufism with Special Reference to India; Subhan, John A.; Samuel Weiser Publisher; New York; 1970
Hannah Montana Forever
“Hannah Montana Forever” is the forthcoming and final season of the “Hannah Montana” series, staring Miley Cyrus. The Disney Channel series “Hannah Montana”, which is about a teenager “Miley Stewart”, played by Miley Cyrus,
who is a pop star “Hannah Montana” but performs secretly without letting his family know about it started filming its last season “Hannah Montana Forever” couple of months back in mid January this year.
“Hannah Montana” that still attracts over 5 million viewers every week finished filming the last episode of the last seasons “Hannah Montana Forever” yesterday on Sunday 14th Mar, 2010.
Senior Vice President/programming Adam Bonnett representing the Disney Channel told the media on the start of filming of the last season of “Hanna Montana (Forever)” couple of months back, it is possible that “Hanna Montana” comes back, but at this point we are wrapping up forever.
Moreover he told the media that the last season will be premiered in July this year that will continue to be aired on the channel for the at least a year.
It has been reported that the last season “Hannah Montana Forever” will give its viewers a complete preview of Miley Cyrus’s real life struggles to attain fame after leaving the disguise of the character “Hanna Montana”.
Miley Cyrus in 2008 squashed the rumors of getting fired; when she released a statement saying she is fully committed to the teen series “Hannah Montana”. She moreover in the statement said that this show gave her the great opportunity to reach to the people that love her today.
who is a pop star “Hannah Montana” but performs secretly without letting his family know about it started filming its last season “Hannah Montana Forever” couple of months back in mid January this year.
“Hannah Montana” that still attracts over 5 million viewers every week finished filming the last episode of the last seasons “Hannah Montana Forever” yesterday on Sunday 14th Mar, 2010.
Senior Vice President/programming Adam Bonnett representing the Disney Channel told the media on the start of filming of the last season of “Hanna Montana (Forever)” couple of months back, it is possible that “Hanna Montana” comes back, but at this point we are wrapping up forever.
Moreover he told the media that the last season will be premiered in July this year that will continue to be aired on the channel for the at least a year.
It has been reported that the last season “Hannah Montana Forever” will give its viewers a complete preview of Miley Cyrus’s real life struggles to attain fame after leaving the disguise of the character “Hanna Montana”.
Miley Cyrus in 2008 squashed the rumors of getting fired; when she released a statement saying she is fully committed to the teen series “Hannah Montana”. She moreover in the statement said that this show gave her the great opportunity to reach to the people that love her today.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Effel Tower
The Eiffel Tower was built for the World Exhibition in 1889, held in celebration of the French Revolution in 1789.
The construction was only meant to last for the duration of the Exposition, but it still stands today, despite all protests from contemporary artists who feared the construction would be the advent of structures without 'individuality' and despite the many people who feared that this huge 'object' would not fit into the architecture of Paris.
Today, there is no such aversion anymore among the Parisians, and one could not imagine Paris without the Eiffel Tower, in fact it has become the symbol of the City of Light.
The construction was only meant to last for the duration of the Exposition, but it still stands today, despite all protests from contemporary artists who feared the construction would be the advent of structures without 'individuality' and despite the many people who feared that this huge 'object' would not fit into the architecture of Paris.
Today, there is no such aversion anymore among the Parisians, and one could not imagine Paris without the Eiffel Tower, in fact it has become the symbol of the City of Light.
The Great Wall Of China
The Great Wall of China, one of the greatest wonders of the world, was listed as a World Heritage by UNESCO in 1987. Just like a gigantic dragon, the Great Wall winds up and down across deserts, grasslands, mountains and plateaus, stretching approximately 8,851.8 kilometers (5,500 miles) from east to west of China. With a history of more than 2000 years, some of the sections are now in ruins or have disappeared. However, it is still one of the most appealing attractions all around the world owing to its architectural grandeur and historical significance.
History of Poland
Poland's written history begins with the reign of Mieszko I, who accepted Christianity for himself and his kingdom in AD 966. The Polish state reached its zenith under the Jagiellonian dynasty in the years following the union with Lithuania in 1386 and the subsequent defeat of the Teutonic Knights at Grunwald in 1410. The monarchy survived many upheavals but eventually went into decline, which ended with the third and final partition of Poland by Prussia, Russia, and Austria in 1795.
Independence for Poland was one of the 14 points enunciated by President Woodrow Wilson during World War I. Many Polish Americans enlisted in the military services to further this aim, and the United States worked at the postwar conference to ensure its implementation.
However, the Poles were largely responsible for achieving their own independence in 1918. Authoritarian rule predominated for most of the period before World War II. On August 23, 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Ribbentrop-Molotov nonaggression pact, which secretly provided for the dismemberment of Poland into Nazi and Soviet-controlled zones. On September 1, 1939, Hitler ordered his troops into Poland. On September 17, Soviet troops invaded and then occupied eastern Poland under the terms of this agreement. After Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Poland was completely occupied by German troops.
The Poles formed an underground resistance movement and a government in exile, first in Paris and later in London, which was recognized by the Soviet Union. During World War II, 400,000 Poles fought under Soviet command, and 200,000 went into combat on Western fronts in units loyal to the Polish government in exile.
In April 1943, the Soviet Union broke relations with the Polish government in exile after the German military announced that they had discovered mass graves of murdered Polish army officers at Katyn, in the U.S.S.R. (The Soviets claimed that the Poles had insulted them by requesting that the Red Cross investigate these reports.) In July 1944, the Soviet Red Army entered Poland and established a communist-controlled "Polish Committee of National Liberation" at Lublin.
Resistance against the Nazis in Warsaw, including uprisings by Jews in the Warsaw ghetto and by the Polish underground, was brutally suppressed. As the Germans retreated in January 1945, they leveled the city.
During the war, about 6 million Poles were killed, and 2.5 million were deported to Germany for forced labor. More than 3 million Jews (all but about 100,000 of the Jewish population) were killed in Nazi death camps like those at Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Sobibor.
Following the Yalta Conference in February 1945, a Polish Provisional Government of National Unity was formed in June 1945; the U.S. recognized it the next month. Although the Yalta agreement called for free elections, those held in January 1947 were controlled by the Communist Party. The communists then established a regime entirely under their domination.
Independence for Poland was one of the 14 points enunciated by President Woodrow Wilson during World War I. Many Polish Americans enlisted in the military services to further this aim, and the United States worked at the postwar conference to ensure its implementation.
However, the Poles were largely responsible for achieving their own independence in 1918. Authoritarian rule predominated for most of the period before World War II. On August 23, 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Ribbentrop-Molotov nonaggression pact, which secretly provided for the dismemberment of Poland into Nazi and Soviet-controlled zones. On September 1, 1939, Hitler ordered his troops into Poland. On September 17, Soviet troops invaded and then occupied eastern Poland under the terms of this agreement. After Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Poland was completely occupied by German troops.
The Poles formed an underground resistance movement and a government in exile, first in Paris and later in London, which was recognized by the Soviet Union. During World War II, 400,000 Poles fought under Soviet command, and 200,000 went into combat on Western fronts in units loyal to the Polish government in exile.
In April 1943, the Soviet Union broke relations with the Polish government in exile after the German military announced that they had discovered mass graves of murdered Polish army officers at Katyn, in the U.S.S.R. (The Soviets claimed that the Poles had insulted them by requesting that the Red Cross investigate these reports.) In July 1944, the Soviet Red Army entered Poland and established a communist-controlled "Polish Committee of National Liberation" at Lublin.
Resistance against the Nazis in Warsaw, including uprisings by Jews in the Warsaw ghetto and by the Polish underground, was brutally suppressed. As the Germans retreated in January 1945, they leveled the city.
During the war, about 6 million Poles were killed, and 2.5 million were deported to Germany for forced labor. More than 3 million Jews (all but about 100,000 of the Jewish population) were killed in Nazi death camps like those at Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Sobibor.
Following the Yalta Conference in February 1945, a Polish Provisional Government of National Unity was formed in June 1945; the U.S. recognized it the next month. Although the Yalta agreement called for free elections, those held in January 1947 were controlled by the Communist Party. The communists then established a regime entirely under their domination.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Rumpai Laut
Biom terdiri dari beberapa kelompok alga pelbagai cellular: alga merah, alga hijau, dan alga perang. Oleh kerana ketiga kelompok ini tidak dianggap ada moyang pelbagai cellular yang umum, rumpai laut adalah suatu kelompok paraphyletik.
Seaweeds are popularly described as plants, but biologists do not consider them plants (in biology, all true plants belong to the kingdom Plantae). They should not be confused with aquatic plants such as seagrasses (which are vascular plants). In addition, a few species of cyanobacteria bear a resemblance to seaweed algae.[perlu rujukan] Many phycologists prefer the term "marine algae" over "seaweeds". [perlu rujukan]
Seaweeds are popularly described as plants, but biologists do not consider them plants (in biology, all true plants belong to the kingdom Plantae). They should not be confused with aquatic plants such as seagrasses (which are vascular plants). In addition, a few species of cyanobacteria bear a resemblance to seaweed algae.[perlu rujukan] Many phycologists prefer the term "marine algae" over "seaweeds". [perlu rujukan]
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