Editing Mecca (section)

=== Muhammad and the conquest of Mecca ===
{{Main|Muhammad|Conquest of Mecca|Muhammad in Mecca|List of expeditions of Muhammad}}
[[File:Site of the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, Mecca, Saudi Arabia.jpg|thumb|[[Makkah Al Mukarramah Library]] ({{coord|21|25|30|N|39|49|48|E|type:landmark_scale:5000_region:SA|name=Bayt al-Mawlid / Makkah Al Mukarramah Library}}) is believed to stand on the spot where Muhammad was born, so it is also known as ''[[Bayt al-Mawlid]]'']]

Muhammad was [[mawlid|born]] in Mecca in 570, and thus Islam has been inextricably linked with it ever since. He was born into the faction of [[Banu Hashim]] in the ruling tribe of [[Quraysh]]. It was in the nearby mountain cave of Hira on [[Jabal al-Nour]] that Muhammad began receiving divine [[revelation]]s from God through the [[archangel]] [[Gabriel|Jibreel]] in 610, according to Islamic tradition. Advocating his form of [[Abrahamic religions|Abrahamic monotheism]] against Meccan paganism, and after enduring persecution from the pagan tribes for 13 years, Muhammad emigrated ([[Hijra (Islam)|''hijrah'']]) in 622 with his companions, the ''[[Muhajirun]]'', to Yathrib (later renamed [[Medina]]). The conflict between the Quraysh and the Muslims is accepted to have begun at this point. Overall, Meccan efforts to annihilate Islam failed and proved to be costly and unsuccessful.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}} During the [[Battle of the Trench]] in 627, the combined armies of Arabia were unable to defeat Muhammad's forces (as the trench surrounding Muhammad's forces protected them from harm and a storm was sent to breach the Quraysh tribe).<ref name="lapidus-32">[[#Lapidus|Lapidus]], p. 32</ref> In 628, Muhammad and his followers wanted to enter Mecca for pilgrimage, but were blocked by the Quraysh. Subsequently, Muslims and Meccans entered into the [[Treaty of Hudaybiyyah]], whereby the Quraysh and their allies promised to cease fighting Muslims and their allies and pledged to permit Muslims into the city to perform the pilgrimage the following year. It was meant to be a ceasefire for 10 years; however, just two years later, the [[Banu Bakr]], allies of the Quraish, violated the truce by slaughtering a group of the Banu Khuza'ah, allies of the Muslims. Muhammad and his companions, now 10,000 strong, marched into Mecca and conquered the city. The pagan imagery was destroyed by Muhammad's followers and the location [[Islamized]] and rededicated to the worship of [[Allah]] alone. Mecca was declared the holiest site in Islam ordaining it as the center of Muslim pilgrimage (''[[Hajj]]''), one of the Islamic faith's [[Five Pillars of Islam|Five Pillars]].

Muhammad then returned to Medina, after assigning '[[Attab ibn Asid]] as governor of the city. His other activities in Arabia led to the unification of the Arabian Peninsula under the banner of Islam.<ref name="EIE" /><ref name="lapidus-32" /> Muhammad died in 632. Within the next few hundred years, the area under the banner of Islam stretched from North Africa into Asia and parts of Europe. As the [[Rashidun Caliphate|Islamic realm]] grew, Mecca continued to attract pilgrims from all across the [[Muslim world]] and beyond, as Muslims came to perform the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Mecca also attracted a year-round population of scholars, pious Muslims who wished to live close to the Kaaba, and local inhabitants who served the pilgrims. Due to the difficulty and expense of the Hajj, pilgrims arrived by boat at Jeddah, and came overland, or joined the annual caravans from Syria or Iraq.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}}