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
Siege of Mecca (683) entrance in the east and an exit in the west. In addition, he included the semi-circular "hatīm" wall into the building proper. The three fragments of the Black Stone were bound in a silver frame, and placed by Ibn al-Zubayr inside the new Kaaba. After the Umayyad reconquest of the city, the "hatīm" was separated again from the main building, and the western gate was walled up, reverting to the general outlines of the pre-Islamic plan. This is the form in which the Kaaba has survived to this day. Siege of Mecca (683) The Siege of Mecca in September–November 683