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) Ibn Tulun again endeavored to assert his authority in Mecca, and he dispatched the officers Muhammad ibn al-Sarraj and al-Ghanawi to the city with a force of four hundred and seventy cavalry and two thousand infantry. The Tulunid army reached Mecca on June 8 (two days before the beginning of the pilgrimage month of Dhu al-Hijjah) and found the governor Harun ibn Muhammad absent from the city, being at that time at Bustan ibn 'Amir. Upon their arrival they began distributing money among the populace in order to garner support, giving two dinars each to the Jazzarin and Hannatin and