The Siege of Mecca The Siege of Mecca The Siege of Mecca: The Forgotten Uprising in Islam's Holiest Shrine and the Birth of Al Qaeda is a 2007 book by Wall Street Journal correspondent Yaroslav Trofimov about the 1979 Grand Mosque seizure in Mecca. Hundreds of Islamic radicals led by Saudi preacher Juhayman al-Otaybi invaded the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Islam's holiest shrine, on Nov. 20, 1979. The intruders included men from all over the Muslim world and a handful of American converts. Tens of thousands of worshipers were trapped inside the compound. The battle for the shrine lasted two weeks, causing hundreds of
Mecca was also fulfilling the pillar of making the Pilgrimage to Mecca. While in Mecca, prayers were made for the King of Irak and then also for El Melik El Nasir. The prayers were made in the Temple of Mecca. This temple is very large, but was also destroyed once and was rebuilt a little bit smaller than the original. The temple also contained images of angels, prophets, Jesus, his mother Mary and many others. This temple is one of the most important parts of Mecca due to the fact that many people make the pilgrimage to Mecca for the purpose