Mecca scholarship governed by the Hashemite Sharifs. In 930, Mecca was attacked and sacked by Qarmatians, a millenarian Ismaili Muslim sect led by Abū-Tāhir Al-Jannābī and centered in eastern Arabia. The Black Death pandemic hit Mecca in 1349. In 1517, the Sharif, Barakat bin Muhammed, acknowledged the supremacy of the Ottoman Caliph but retained a great degree of local autonomy. In 1803 the city was captured by the First Saudi State, which held Mecca until 1813. This was a massive blow to the prestige of the (Turkish) Ottoman Empire, which had exercised sovereignty over the holy city since 1517. The Ottomans
Battle of Mecca (883) seven dinars to the headmen. Five days later, on June 13, Ja'far ibn al-Baghamardi entered Mecca with approximately two hundred riders under his command. There he was met by Harun, who had returned to the city, and was reinforced with one hundred twenty horsemen, two hundred blacks, thirty Saffarid cavalrymen, and two hundred infantry from Iraq that the governor had at his disposal. After receiving further assistance from a group of Khurasani pilgrims, Ja'far decided to march out and face the troops of Ibn Tulun. The ensuing battle, which took place in the hollow of Mecca, ended in a victory