Mecca Mecca Mecca (; "" () is a city in the Hejazi region of the Arabian Peninsula, and the plain of Tihamah in Saudi Arabia, and is also the capital and administrative headquarters of the Makkah Region. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level, and south of Medina. Its resident population in 2012 was roughly 2 million, although visitors more than triple this number every year during the "Ḥajj" (, "Pilgrimage") period held in the twelfth Muslim lunar month of "Dhūl-Ḥijjah" (). As the birthplace of Muhammad, and the site
Mecca the "Hollow of Mecca". The area contains the valley of Al Taneem, the Valley of Bakkah and the valley of Abqar. This mountainous location has defined the contemporary expansion of the city. The city centers on the Masjid al-Haram area, which is lower than most of the city. The area around the mosque is the old city. The main avenues are "Al-Mudda'ah" and "Sūq al-Layl" to the north of the mosque, and "As-Sūg Assaghīr" to the south. As the Saudis expanded the Grand Mosque in the center of the city, hundreds of houses were replaced by wide avenues and city