Mecca: The Sacred City || A 10 point book review

1. Name: Mecca : The Sacred City
2. Author: Ziauddin Sardar
3. Genre: Non Fiction/History
4. Book Post No. : 71
5. What is it about? : Mecca is the most important religious place for Muslims all over the world. It is, as the author mentions, the heart of Islam. It’s the direction Muslims face when they pray and the site of the annual pilgrimage of Haj, which is performed by almost 2 Million people every year. It’s not for nothing that the word ‘Mecca’ has entered the English language meaning “a place regarded as a center for a specific group, activity, or interest” (Merriam-Webster). This book details the history of the city from pre Islamic times to the modern era. Filled with insights dealing with both religious and non-religious aspects, this books examines the social, physical and cultural points that makes Mecca one of the most influential cities on Earth.

6. How I came to read it? : This was one of several books that my mama gave me years ago. It was at my home waiting to be read. Whenever I visit my home in India, I pick up a couple of books from our book collection there and bring it over to Canada to read. On my last trip I picked up this book. Also, it is my goal these days, in today’s polarized outlook toward Muslims, to better equip myself with knowledge of Muslims and Islam and also to share good books with my readers. It is my own small contribution to combat Islamophobia.

7. Did I like it? : This was a good read. The book is divided into 11 chapters running into around 360 pages. The book starts with explaining how important Mecca is to a Muslim and how it becomes a part of growing up for every Muslim child across the world. The author, himself, a Muslim, shares his own experience of how he viewed Mecca as a child and how he felt when he finally got to see the Kaaba in person. I am a Muslim myself and I could relate to a lot of the things that the author mentions. Growing up seeing posters of Kaaba and the Masjid al Haram (the Great Mosque of Mecca) at relatives’ houses was pretty common. Even for myself, getting my parents to complete the Haj and/or the Umrah is a Wishlist item which I intend to complete.

Having laid out the importance Mecca holds for Muslims, Ziauddin then moves onto the history of the place. He starts with pre-Islamic times when Arab society was heavily tribal and localized. Then came the arrival of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), who changed the course of history of not only Mecca but the entire world. The early history of Islam and Mecca is intertwined but starts to diverge with the appointment of the 4th caliph which is when power slowly started to shift away from Mecca.

Then Ziauddin takes the readers through the ages when Muslim power shifted significantly away from Mecca and to the other grand cities of Islam like Baghdad, Cairo, Damascus, Cordoba, Grenada, Samarkand, Bukhara, Basra and others. Mecca though still held significance because of the Haj pilgrimage and the presence of religious scholars. One of the things any history reader of Islamic empires will notice is that many rulers when defeated were usually sent to Mecca to spend their last days in exile. Even in India there are examples of this. After Tipu Sultan was killed in 1799 during the Anglo-Mysore war, the British sent some of his family members to Mecca for exile. This is the kind of role Mecca played. A place where important people were sent to effectively nullify any risk of their posing any problems.

There are chapters about who ruled Mecca during these periods and their impacts. Most of it is just insignificant rulers coming and going. There were a few exceptional ones as well. The book ends with how the current House of Saud unified the Arabian peninsula and created the current kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which, fun fact, remains the only country named after a family.

Overall its a good book which does not shy away from talking about the ugly bits of politics that any city in the world undergoes.

8. Positives: 

• Well written
• Laced with humor
• Author shares his own experiences of visiting and living in Mecca

9. Areas of improvement: 

• I found some bits unnecessary like the story of the donkey in the Introduction.
• In some places the author assumes that readers are familiar with the history of Islam and the different sects.

10. Any other personal notes, observations, fun facts etc.

Related reading from other posts on my blog:

1. Ornament of the World – How Muslims, Jews and Christians created a culture of tolerance in Medieval Spain.
2. Saladin – Life of Sultan Saladin, focusing mainly on the crusades and the buildup to the Battle of Hattin.