The holiest sites in Islam are predominantly located in the
Arabian Peninsula and the
Levant.[2] While the significance of most places typically varies depending on the
Islamic sect, there is a consensus across all mainstream branches of the religion that affirms three cities as having the highest degree of holiness, in descending order:
Mecca,
Medina, and
Jerusalem. Mecca's
Al-Masjid al-Haram (including the
Kaaba),
Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina and
Al-Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem are all revered by
Muslims as sites of great importance.[1][3][4][5][6]
Within the Levant, both the
Umayyad Mosque in the city of
Damascus and the
Ibrahimi Mosque in the city of
Hebron have held interchangeable significance as the fourth-holiest Islamic sites.[7]
The two holy cities of Islam, Mecca and Medina, are traditionally known as the Ḥaramayn, which is the dual form of ḥaram, thus meaning "The Two Sanctuaries".[11] They should not be confused with Jerusalem and Hebron, which were also called Haramain during the
Mamluk period.[11] Another appellation of the Two Noble Sanctuaries is Ḥaramayn Ṭayyibayn.
Mecca is considered the holiest city in Islam, as it is home to Islam's holiest site
Kaaba in Al-Masjid Al-Ḥaram (The Sacred
Mosque).[1][4] Only Muslims are allowed to enter this place.[12]
Al-Masjid an-Nabawi is located in Medina, making the city the second-holiest site in Islam, after Mecca. Medina is the final place-of-residence of
Muhammad, and where his qabr (
grave) is located.[1] In addition to the Prophet's Mosque, the city has the mosques of
Qubāʾ[17] and Al-Qiblatayn ("The Two
Qiblahs").[18]
The Masjid Al-Aqsa (also known as the Haram Al-Sharif or Temple Mount) includes the Dome of the Rock (left) and Al-Aqsa Mosque/Jami'a Al-Aqsa (right).
The
Al-Aqsa Mosque compound (Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa) in Jerusalem is the third holiest site in Islam. The compound is held in esteem by the entire Muslim community, due to its history as a place of worship by many prophets such as
Ibrahim (
Abraham),[4]Dawud (
David),
Sulaiman (
Solomon),
Ilyas (
Elijah) and
Isa (
Jesus). The mosque has the capacity to accommodate in the region of 400,000 worshippers.[23] According to Islamic tradition, the Temple Mount served as the first qiblah (direction of prayer) for Muhammad and his Ummah, before the Kaaba in Mecca. Muslims believe that Muhammad was taken from
Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, to visit Masjid al-Aqsa, where he led the prayer among the prophets, and was then taken to the heavens from the
Foundation Stone[citation needed] (today part of the
Dome of the Rock) in a
single night in the year 620.[24]
The Qur'an mentions the Al-Aqsa Mosque only once in verse 1 of chapter no. 17[25] (Surah
Al-Isra'),[26] as "the Farthest Mosque". Islamic scholars generally agree that this description refers to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, although Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Qur'an by name.[27]
Umayyad Mosque (left) and its Minaret of Isa (right)
The Umayyad Mosque in
Damascus is often considered the fourth holiest site in Islam.[7][28] The head of
John the Baptist, revered in Islam as the prophet
Yahya, is believed to be in a shrine inside the mosque, which also houses one of only four authorized original copies of the Quran. The Umayyad Mosque is also the place where Muslims believe the prophet
Isa (Jesus) will return at the end of times, atop the "Minaret of Isa" of the mosque, during the time of a Fajr prayer. It is believed that prayers in the Umayyad mosque are considered to be equal to those offered in Jerusalem.[29]
The mosque also holds special importance to Shia Muslims since it contains shrines commemorating Husayn ibn Ali and the
Ahl al-Bayt, made to walk there from
Iraq, after the Battle of Karbala.[30] Furthermore, it was the place where they were imprisoned for 60 days.[31]
Hebron
In Islamic belief,
Hebron was where the
Ibrahim (
Abraham) settled. Within the city lies the
Sanctuary of Abraham, the traditional burial site of the biblical Patriarchs and Matriarchs, and the Ibrahimi Mosque, built on top of the tomb to honor Abraham, is also often considered to be the fourth holiest in Islam.[32][33][34] Muslims believe that Muhammad visited Hebron on his
nocturnal journey from
Mecca to Jerusalem to stop by the tomb and pay his respects.[32] In the mosque in a small niche there is a left footprint, believed to be from Muhammad.[35][36]
The
Sinai Peninsula is associated with the prophets
Harun (
Aaron) and
Musa (
Moses).[37] In particular, numerous references to
Mount Sinai exist in the Quran,[38][39] where it is called Ṭūr Saināʾ,[40]Ṭūr Sīnīn,[41] and aṭ-Ṭūr[42][43] and al-Jabal (both meaning "the Mount").[44] As for the adjacent Wād Ṭuwā (
Valley of Tuwa), it is considered as being muqaddas[45][46] (
sacred),[47][48] and a part of it is called Al-Buqʿah Al-Mubārakah ("The Blessed Place").[43]
In
Sunni Islam, all sites which have been mentioned in the Hadith are holy to Sunni Muslims. The
Kaaba is the holiest site, followed by the al-Masjid an-Nabawi (The Prophet's Mosque), al-Aqsa Mosque compound, and other sites mentioned in the Hadith, as well Umayyad Mosque, Ibrahimi Mosque.
Kaaba
The
Kaaba or
Masjid al-Haram in
Mecca, is the most sacred holy place of Islam and a
Qibla of the Muslims, contains al-Bayt ul-Ma'mur spiritually above the Kaaba, contains the
Maqam Ibrahim,
Hateem, and the
Al-Hajar-ul-Aswad which belonged in
Jannah to
Adam and Eve (Adam and Hawa). According to the Islamic tradition it was first built by the first prophet
Adam, after
Noah's Flood the
flood of the prophet
Nūḥ (
Noah), it was then rebuilt by
Abraham (ʾIbrāhīm) and his son
Ishmael (Ismāʿīl), it has been rebuilt several times.
Masjid an-Nabawi
Masjid an-Nabawi or The Prophet's Mosque in
Medina, contains the grave of
Muhammad. The two companions
Abu Bakr and
Umar are also buried with Muhammad, the grave of
Uthman in located in
al-Baqi' cemetery located to the southeast of the Prophet's Mosque, while the grave of
Ali is in
Najaf. The grave of
al-Hasan is also in al-Baqi', while
al-Husayn is buried in Karbala.
Masjid al-Aqsa
Jerusalem's
Temple Mount, called Masjid al-Aqṣā, was the first qibla of the Muslims before the Kaaba. According to tradition, Muhammad on the occasion of
Isra' and Mi'raj led all the prophets and angels at the site, the site of the mosque built by Sulaymān, son of Dāwūd and king of the
Israelites.
Others
Various other cites and mosques across the Islamic world are claimed to be fourth holiest site in Islam or among the holiest.
The city of
Bukhara in
Uzbekistan (which is associated with Imam
Al-Bukhari) is considered as a holy city,[59][60] also claimed by some to be the fourth holiest city in Islam.[61]
The city of
Harar in Ethiopia is considered by some to be the fourth holiest city in Islam.[62][63][64]
The town of
Chinguetti in Mauritania, whose libraries contain many ancient manuscripts, is claimed by some to be the seventh holiest city in Islam.[65][66]
Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf, Iraq is the holiest site for Shia Muslims as the first Shia Imam Ali was buried here. The site is visited annually by at least 8 million pilgrims on average, which is estimated to increase to 20 million in years to come.
Imam Husayn Shrine
Imam Husayn Shrine in Karbala, Iraq, contains the tomb of Husayn ibn Ali. The mosque stands on the site of the grave of Husayn ibn Ali, where he was martyred during the
Battle of Karbala in 680.[67][68] Up to 20 million pilgrims visit the city for the anniversary of Hussein ibn Ali's death.[69] There are many Shia traditions which narrate the status of Karbala.
Imam Reza Shrine
Imam Reza shrine, located in
Mashhad,
Iran, contains the tomb of
Ali al-Rida, the eighth
Imam of
Shia Islam. It is the largest mosque in the world by area. The complex is a tourism center in Iran[70][71] with 25 million Shias visiting the shrine each year.[72]
Mazar Ghous in Baghdad, Iraq is the one of the holiest site in Sufi Islam. It is dedicated to the founder of Qadiryya Sufi order, Abdul Qadir Gilani. The complex was built near the Bab al-Sheikh (ash-Sheikh Gate) in
al-Rusafa.[74][75][76]
Tomb of Shah Rukn-e-Alam
The Tomb of Shah Rukn-e-Alam in
Multan is considered the third most holiest site in Sufi Islam. It is the
mausoleum of Multan's
Sufi saint
Sheikh Rukn-ud-Din Abul Fateh. It is one of the most impressive shrines in the world.[77] The shrine attracts over 100,000 pilgrims to the annual Urs festival that commemorates his death.
^
abcdTrofimov, Yaroslav (2008), The Siege of Mecca: The 1979 Uprising at Islam's Holiest Shrine, New York, p. 79,
ISBN978-0-307-47290-8{{
citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
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^Salibi, K. S. (2003).
A House of Many Mansions: The History of Lebanon Reconsidered. I. B. Tauris. pp. 61–62.
ISBN978-1-86064-912-7. To the
Arabs, this same territory, which the Romans considered Arabian, formed part of what they called
Bilad al-Sham, which was their own name for
Syria. From the classical perspective however Syria, including Palestine, formed no more than the western fringes of what was reckoned to be Arabia between the first line of cities and the coast. Since there is no clear dividing line between what are called today the
Syrian and
Arabian deserts, which actually form one stretch of arid tableland, the classical concept of what actually constituted Syria had more to its credit geographically than the vaguer Arab concept of Syria as
Bilad al-Sham. Under the Romans, there was actually a province of Syria, with its capital at
Antioch, which carried the name of the territory. Otherwise, down the centuries, Syria like Arabia and
Mesopotamia was no more than a geographic expression. In Islamic times, the Arab geographers used the name arabicized as
Suriyah, to denote one special region of Bilad al-Sham, which was the middle section of the valley of the
Orontes river, in the vicinity of the towns of
Homs and
Hama. They also noted that it was an old name for the whole of Bilad al-Sham which had gone out of use. As a geographic expression, however, the name Syria survived in its original classical sense in
Byzantine and Western European usage, and also in the
Syriac literature of some of the
Eastern Christian churches, from which it occasionally found its way into
Christian Arabic usage. It was only in the nineteenth century that the use of the name was revived in its modern Arabic form, frequently as Suriyya rather than the older Suriyah, to denote the whole of Bilad al-Sham: first of all in the Christian Arabic literature of the period, and under the influence of
Western Europe. By the end of that century it had already replaced the name of Bilad al-Sham even in Muslim Arabic usage.
^National Geographic Society (U.S.); de Blij, H.J.; Downs, R.; John Wiley & Sons (2007).
Wiley/National Geographic College Atlas of the World. Wiley. p. 49.
ISBN978-0-471-74117-6. Retrieved 2022-06-15. Al 'Aqsa is the second oldest mosque in Islam after the Kaaba in Mecca and is third in holiness after the mosques in Mecca and Medina. It holds up to 400,000 worshippers at one time.
^The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Vol. 7 (New ed. 2006 ed.). Brill. 2006. pp. 97–105.
^Janet L. Abu-Lughod (2007).
"Damascus". In Dumper, Michael R. T.; Stanley, Bruce E. (eds.). Cities of the Middle East and North Africa: A Historical Encyclopedia.
ABC-CLIO. pp. 119–126.
ISBN978-1-5760-7919-5.
^Qummi, Shaykh Abbas (2005). Nafasul Mahmoom. Qum: Ansariyan Publications. p. 362.
^
abVitullo, Anita (2003). "People Tied to Place: Strengthening Cultural Identity in Hebron's Old City". Journal of Palestine Studies. 33: 68–83.
doi:
10.1525/jps.2003.33.1.68. quote: From earliest Islam, the sanctuaries of Hebron and Jerusalem [al-Haram al-Ibrahimi and al-Haram al-Sharif] were holy places outranked only by Mecca and Medina; the Ibrahimi Mosque was originally regarded by some Muslims as Islam's fourth holiest site. Muslims believe that the Hebron sanctuary was visited by the Prophet Muhammad on his mystical nocturnal journey from Mecca to Jerusalem.
^Aksan & Goffman 2007, p. 97: 'Suleyman considered himself the ruler of the four holy cities of Islam, and, along with Mecca and Medina, included Hebron and Jerusalem in his rather lengthy list of official titles.'
^Darrow, William R. (2011).
"Holy Places". Islamic Beliefs, Practices, and Cultures. Marshall Cavendish. pp. 180–182.
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^Lecoquierre, Marion (2019).
"Hebron: A nested division of sacred spaces". In Dumper, Michael (ed.). Contested Holy Cities: The Urban Dimension of Religious Conflicts. Routledge.
ISBN978-0-429-67384-9. Hebron is often presented as the fourth holy city of Islam after Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem
^Prah, Kwesi (11–12 May 2004),
Towards a Strategic Geopolitic Vision of Afro-Arab Relations, AU Headquarters,
Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, archived from
the original on 2007-09-28, By 670, the Arabs had taken Tunisia, and by 675, they had completed construction of Kairouan, the city that would become the premier Arab base in North Africa. Kairouan was later to become the third holiest city in Islam in the medieval period, after Mecca and Medina, because of its importance as the centre of the Islamic faith in the Maghrib.{{
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^Santelli, Serge (2008).
"Harar: The Fourth Holy City of Islam". In Jayyusi, Salma K.; Holod, Renata; Petruccioli, Attilio; Raymond, André (eds.). The City in the Islamic World. Brill. p. 631.
ISBN978-90-04-16240-2. Harar, which is known as being the fourth Holy city of Islam (...)
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^Al-Ghunya li-talibi tariq al-haqq wa al-din (Sufficient provision for seekers of the path of truth and religion) with introduction by Al-Kilani, Majid Irsan. Al-Kilani, Majid, al-Tariqat, 'Ursan, and al-Qadiriyah, Nash'at
Musharraf, Hussain (2012). The Five Pillars of Islam: Laying the Foundations of Divine Love and Service to Humanity. Leicestershire, UK: Kube Publishing.
ISBN9781847740236.
Tucker, Spencer; Roberts, Priscilla (2008). The encyclopedia of the Arab-Israeli conflict : a political, social, and military history. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO.
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