Mecca of the English transliteration for the Arabic name of the city, although the official transliteration used by the Saudi government is "Makkah", which is closer to the Arabic pronunciation. The word "Mecca" in English has come to be used to refer to any place that draws large numbers of people, and because of this some English speaking Muslims have come to regard the use of this spelling for the city as offensive. The Saudi government adopted "Makkah" as the official spelling in the 1980s, but is not universally known or used worldwide. The full official name is "Makkah al-Mukarramah" ()
Battle of Mecca (883) aftermath of the caliph's flight, al-Muwaffaq ordered that Ibn Tulun be publicly cursed in mosques throughout the empire and "de jure" dismissed him from his governorships, while Ibn Tulun similarly had al-Muwaffaq publicly cursed, declared him deposed from his position as al-Mu'tamid's second heir and proclaimed a "holy war" against him. As Ibn Tulun's relations with the Abbasid government deteriorated, he began to turn his attention to the city of Mecca in western Arabia. As one of the Holy Cities of Islam, Mecca carried with it a significant amount of symbolic prestige, and leadership of the annual hajj or pilgrimage