MEDINA

Arabic Al-madinahformally Al-madinah Al-munawwarah (The Luminous City), or Madinat Rasul Allah (City of the Messenger of God [i.e., Muhammad]), ancient Yathrib one of the two most sacred cities of Islam, situated in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia about 100 miles (160 km) inland from the Red Sea and some 278 miles (447 km) from Mecca by road. The city developed from an oasis, probably settled by Jews expelled from Palestine about AD 135. In 622 the Prophet Muhammad arrived at Medina from Mecca. This flight, known as the Hegira, marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar. Soon afterward Muhammad drove out the Jews who had controlled the oasis. Thereafter known as Medina, the city prospered as the administrative capital of the steadily expanding Islamic state, a position it maintained until 661, when it was superseded in that role by Damascus. After the sack of the city in 683 by the caliphs for its fractiousness, the native emirs enjoyed a fluctuating measure of independence, interrupted by the aggressions of the sharifs (nobles) of Mecca or by periods under the intermittent Egyptian protectorate. The Ottomans, following their conquest of Egypt, held Medina after 1517 with a firmer hand, but their rule weakened and was almost nominal long before the Wahhabis, an Islamic fundamentalist group, first took the city in 1804. An Ottoman-Egyptian force retook it in 1812, and the Ottomans remained in effective control until the revival of the Wahhabi movement under Ibn Sa'ud after 1912. Between 1904 and 1908 the Ottomans built the Hejaz railroad to Medina from Damascus in an attempt to strengthen the empire and ensure Ottoman control over the hajj, the obligatory Muslim pilgrimage to the nearby holy city of Mecca. Ottoman rule ceased during World War I, when the sharif Husayn ibn 'Ali, ruler of Mecca, revolted and, with the assistance of the British officer T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), put the railroad out of commission. Husayn later came into conflict with Ibn Sa'ud, and in 1925 Medina fell to the Sa'udi dynasty. Medina is second only to Mecca as the holiest place of Muslim pilgrimage; the tomb of Muhammad in the Prophet's Mosque is among the most sacred shrines in the Islamic world. The first two orthodox caliphs, Abu Bakr and 'Umar, are also believed to be buried there. Other religious features of the oasis include the mosque of Quba', the first in Islamic history, from which the Prophet was vouchsafed a view of Mecca; the Mosque of the Two Qiblahs at ar-Rimah, commemorating the change of the prayer direction from Jerusalem to Mecca; the tomb of Hamza, uncle of the Prophet, and of his companions who fell in the Battle of Uhud (625), in which the Prophet was wounded; and the cave in the flank of Uhud, in which the Prophet took refuge on that occasion. Other mosques commemorate where he donned his armour for that battle; where he rested on the way thither; where he unfurled his standard for the Battle of the Ditch; and the ditch itself, dug around Medina by Muhammad. All these spots are the object of pious visitation by all Muslims visiting Medina; they are forbidden to non-Muslims. In addition the city is also the site of the Islamic University, established in 1961. To supplement the income derived from accommodating pilgrims, Medina has an economy based on the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, and cereals and on pottery making. The city is famous for its date palms, the fruits of which are processed and packaged for export at a plant built in 1953. Roads link Medina with Jiddah, Mecca, and Yanbu' al-Bahr (Medina's port on the Red Sea); another road extends north through the Hejaz and connects Medina to Jordan. Al-Jiladain airport nearby provides transportation to Saudi Arabian centres and has links to Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. Pop. (1980 est.) 290,000. Arabic Al-Madinah, formally Al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (The Luminous City), or Madinat Rasul Allah (City of the Messenger of God [i.e., Muhammad]), ancient Yathrib, city located in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, about 100 miles (160 kilometres) inland from the Red Sea and 275 miles from Mecca by road. With Mecca, it is one of Islam's two holiest cities. Medina is celebrated as the place from which Muhammad conquered all of Arabia after his flight from Mecca (AD 622), and a pilgrimage is made to his tomb in the city's chief mosque. Only Muslims are allowed to enter the city. district (borough), county of Isle of Wight, England, with an area of 45 square miles (117 square km). It comprises the northeastern portion of the island and includes the towns of Newport, Cowes, and Ryde. Newport is the administrative centre for the island and is important for its manufacturing and service industries. Cowes has long been associated with shipbuilding and is famous for its yachting competitions. Ryde is the island's principal tourist town. With less than one-third of the area of the island county, Medina includes more than half of its total population. The rest of the island constitutes the South Wight district. Pop. (1991 prelim.) 70,100. Additional reading Literature about Medina is available mainly in Arabic, and writings on Medina often include coverage of Mecca as well. For pre-Islamic and early Islamic times, see A.I. al-Sharif, Makkah wa-al-Madinah (1965). For the Middle Ages, see Ibn Jubayr, The Travels of Ibn Jubayr. . . , written in the 12th century, trans. by R.J.C. Broadhurst (1952); and Ibn Batuta, Travels, A.D. 13251354 , written in the 14th century, trans. by H.A.R. Gibb (1958). Other English-language accounts include John L. Burckhardt, Travels in Arabia (1829); Sir Richard Burton, Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah, 5th ed., 3 vol. (1906); Eldon Rutter, The Holy Cities of Arabia (1928); J.B. Philby, A Pilgrim in Arabia (1946); John Sabini, Armies in the Sand: The Struggle for Mecca and Medina (1981).; and M.s. Makki, Medina, Saudi Arabia: A Geographic Analysis of the City and Region (1982). For statistics, see the Statistical Yearbook (annual), published by the Central Department of Statistics, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Ass'ad Sulaiman Abdo Sir John Bagot Glubb