Mecca: A Literary History of the Muslim Holy Land

by F.E. Peters

For the non-Muslim, Mecca is the most forbidden of Holy Cities--and yet, in many ways it is the best known. Muslim historians and geographers have studied it, and countless pilgrims and travelers--many of them European Christians in disguise--have left behind lively and well-publicized accounts of life in Mecca and its associated shrine-city of Medina, where the Prophet lies buried. The stories of all these figures, holy men and heathens alike, come together in this book to offer a remarkably revealing literary portrait of the city's traditions and urban life and of the surrounding area. Closely following the publication of F. E. Peters's The Hajj (Princeton, 1994), which describes the perilous pilgrimage itself from the travelers' perspectives, this collection of writings and commentary completes the historical travelogue.The accounts begin with the Muslims themselves, in the patriarchal age of Abraham and Ishmael, and trace the sometimes glorious and sometimes sad history of Islam's central shrine down to the last Grand Sharif of Mecca, Husayn ibn Ali, whose fragile kingdom was overtaken by the House of Sa`ud in 1926. Because of chronic flooding and constant rebuilding, there is little or no material evidence for the early history of Islam's holy cities. By assembling, analyzing, and fashioning these literary accounts of Mecca, however, Peters supplies us with a vivid sense of place and human interaction, much as he did in his widely acclaimed Jerusalem (Princeton, 1985).

Genres: History

520 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 31, 1994

Reviews

[Liam · Rating 5 out of 5]

The subtitle of this book is: "A Literary History of the Muslim Holy Land." As F. E. Peters explains, Saudi Arabia does not permit archaeological research in Mecca, especially Western research, so the interested scholar must rely entirely on written records.

He starts during what Muslims call the jahiliyya, the Age of Ignorance before the Prophet brought God's words to the people of Mecca. He explains the unique social, political and religious character of Mecca (even before Muhammad, a sacred site of pilgrimage). He describes how the Quraysh came to power, and how the Prophet's message transformed a small, tribal community into the center of a sophisticated continent-spanning culture in less than a century.

Despite the limitation to literary sources, Peters has crafted an absorbing account of Mecca's long, long history, right up until 1926, when Ibn Sa'ud was proclaimed king of the Hijaz.

A must-read for the dedicated student of Islamic history.

[Petar Kalpakchi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Не само история на Мека. Исторически разказ за Хиджаз, за Арабския полуостров и района на Червено море. Бих предпочел разказът за края на 19.век и 20.век да е по-пълен и обширен.