Great Mosque of Mecca Great Mosque of Mecca The Great Mosque of Mecca, also called "Al-Haram Mosque" (, "the Forbidden Mosque", "the Holy Mosque" or "the Sacred Mosque") or "Grand Mosque of Makkah", is the largest mosque in the world, and surrounds the Islamic "Qiblah", that is the "Ka‘bah" in the Hejazi city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Muslims face the Kaaba while praying. One of the Five Pillars of Islam requires every Muslim to perform the "Ḥajj", one of the largest annual gatherings of people in the world, at least once in their lifetime when able to do so, including circumambulating the Kaaba. It
Siege of Mecca (683) Siege of Mecca (683) The Siege of Mecca in September–November 683 was one of the early battles of the Second Islamic Civil War. The city of Mecca served as a sanctuary for Abdallah ibn al-Zubayr, who was among the most prominent challengers to the dynastic succession to the Caliphate by the Umayyad Yazid I. After nearby Medina, the other holy city of Islam, also rebelled against Yazid, the Umayyad ruler sent an army to subdue Arabia. The Umayyad army defeated the Medinans and took the city, but Mecca held out in a month-long siege, during which the Kaaba was damaged