![]() Meccan families would just hang out around the Grand Mosque, since there were few other public spaces. Those were beautiful times.”Ībdul-Halim's family home was close to the Grand Mosque, so they could watch pilgrims circling the Kaaba from their roof. “If someone was sick they used to treat them in their homes. Huge investment pouring in has transformed Mecca.īack in the day, “people had their homes open” to pilgrims, said Fajr Abdullah Abdul-Halim, a 57-year-old who was born and raised in Mecca. But the measures authorities have put in to control and organize the crowds have imposed a distance. Meccans used to have more personal interaction with the Hajj pilgrims. Born in Jeddah, Abdu has lived in Mecca since she was six. She also braces for hours of overtime because of the influx of pilgrims suffering from colds, flu symptoms, upset stomachs or muscular pains - all typical Hajj ailments. Security tightens in the streets to direct traffic as massive crowds move around the Grand Mosque and out to the holy sites in the nearby desert like Mina, Muzdalifa and Mount Arafat.įor Abdu, it means allowing extra time for traffic and avoiding certain routes because of road closures, even though she doesn’t live near the Grand Mosque. “There is music at birthdays and other celebrations, but it won’t be loud.”Īnd once a year, the city’s population effectively doubles for up to a month as Hajj pilgrims from around the world flow in, as is happening this week. “It is a holy city and that needs to be respected,” Abdu said. Wedding halls are tucked away from sacred areas. For a cinema, residents go to the coastal city of Jeddah, about 70 kilometers (35 miles) away. Mecca has no cinemas, despite the government lifting a nationwide ban on movie theatres in 2018. fast-food chicken chain Popeyes was opening soon.ĭaily life does make concessions to the city's sacredness. One mall’s food court had a sign proclaiming that the U.S. ![]() The malls are modest, though bubble tea shops and well known chains like Sephora are moving in. The city has little of the glitz of Gulf cities like Dubai or Doha, or even Riyadh. It’s also where around 2 million people live, work, and do ordinary activities like laundry, grocery shopping, homework, putting the trash out and paying the bills.Īway from the pilgrim-dominated areas, the city’s modern neighborhoods spread out among boulevards with strip malls, gyms, schools and a university. ![]() It’s the location of the Kaaba, the black, cube-shaped structure that Muslims around the world turn to five times a day when praying. It’s the birthplace of Prophet Muhammad, where Muslims believe he first received God’s revelations of the Quran. Mecca is Islam’s holiest city and a focal point for followers of the faith. But people can’t imagine how normal life is for us. “The Haram (Grand Mosque) is my home,” said the 29-year-old pharmacist. The desert plains and valleys that throng with pilgrims every year are where, in the off season, she and family and friends had picnics, rode horses and played soccer. Raised in Mecca, Abdu remembers roller-skating with friends near the Grand Mosque where the Kaaba is located. MECCA, Saudi Arabia - For Zainab Abdu, the holiest sites in Islam were the backdrop for her weekends growing up.
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