Question about Mecca
DougC
get an exact answer.
The question is two parts:
1) is there a great desire among followers of Islam to reside in Mecca,
and if so,
2) how is it decided who gets to live there?
All the followers in the world certainly can't live there; all the
followers in Saudi Arabia /alone/ can't even live there.
For a comparison, consider the Vatican of the Catholic church: some
places in it are usually open to visitors, but just anyone cannot decide
on their own to live there. Only the higher officers in that church have
any chance of getting offices or living quarters there. There's simply
not enough room for them all, even for just the priests in that region
of Italy.
I would think that there would be a certain level of prestige for a
follower to be able to claim the holy city as their home address, but I
don't really know.
If you already lived in Saudi Arabia and wanted to move to Mecca, is
there any process that is required beyond what you would normally need
to move to a different town?
~
Amro
> 1) is there a great desire among followers of Islam to reside in Mecca,
Islam revolves around the Koran
and you can take the Koran with you any where.
The obligation mentioned in the Koran is to visit
The honorable sanctuary in a pilgrimage. That
is feasible up to this point. But it is not feasible
to reside in Mecca.
Yusuf B Gursey
> The question is two parts:
> 1) is there a great desire among followers of Islam to reside in Mecca,
> and if so,
I found this article concerning residence in Makkah (Mecca):
http://truelife200vi.wordpress.com/2008/05/01/permanent-residence-in-makkah=
-mukarramah/
> 2) how is it decided who gets to live there?
I wonder too if there are some special regulations regarding residence
in Makkah.
I used to know a person who resided in the US but was born in Makkah,
and his father still resided in Makkah. alas, he has passed away, else
I would have asked him.
Yusuf B Gursey
> I posted this to a couple Islamic web forums once and didn't ever really
> get an exact answer.
>
> The question is two parts:
> 1) is there a great desire among followers of Islam to reside in Mecca,
> and if so,
the website I posted addresses the religious opinions regarding
residence in Mecca.
> 2) how is it decided who gets to live there?
>
> All the followers in the world certainly can't live there; all the
> followers in Saudi Arabia /alone/ can't even live there.
there are other considerations in choosing a place of residence, like
familiarity, availablity of jobs, the infrastructure, etc.
>
> For a comparison, consider the Vatican of the Catholic church: some
> places in it are usually open to visitors, but just anyone cannot decide
> on their own to live there. Only the higher officers in that church have
> any chance of getting offices or living quarters there. There's simply
> not enough room for them all, even for just the priests in that region
> of Italy.
>
the Vatican is really just a neighborhood of Rome, whereas Mecca is a
full fledged city in its own right. I addition to the old city there
are modern suburbs, and it has its own universities and other
insttutions as well.
> If you already lived in Saudi Arabia and wanted to move to Mecca, is
> there any process that is required beyond what you would normally need
> to move to a different town?
> ~
one has to be muslim just to enter it. as the following description
shows, evidently there are many immigrants in Mecca, so if there are
obstacles, they are not insurmountable to quite a few, as the
following sources describe Mecca as a very cosmopolitan city:
from Enc. Britannica, Macropaedia, "Mecca and Medina":
<<
Housing.
... Slum conditions can still be found in various parts of the city;
the slum inhabitants are mainly poor pilgrims who, unable to finance
their return home, remained in Mecca after arriving either for the
hajj or for a lesser pilgrimage known as the `umrah.
THE PEOPLE:
The population density in Mecca is high. Most of the people are
concentrated in the old city, while densities in the modern
residential areas are the lowest in the city.
During the month of pilgrimage, the city is swollen with between one
million and two million worshippers from other parts of the country
and from other Muslim nations.
Entrance to Mecca is permitted only to followers of Islam. It is,
however, one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world, containing
people from various countries throughout the world. People of the same
national origin tend to live in certain parts of the city.
>>
Enc. of Islam I "Mecca" (published c. 1936) says:
<<
... The character of Mecca as the metropolis of Islam is reflected in
the great variety of its population. Besides the original Meccan
nucleus we have numerous Arab elements -- among which Hadramis {from
the bulk of what is now southern Yemen} are particularly prominent in
account of their energy -- and colonies of foreigners from all part of
the Muslim world who out of worldly or religious motives taken up
their abode in the capital {this is peculiar, as the article refers to
conditions after the dissolution of the Kingdom of Hijaz, of which it
was briefly the capital after WWI}. Among these, special mention must
be made of those from the Malay Archipelago who are known collectively
as Djawa; with them it is exclusively religious motives that have
caused them to take up permanent residence in Mecca.
>>