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Medina, or Al-Madinah al-Munawwarah, is a holy city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, famous as the city of the Prophet Muhammad and home to the Prophet's Mosque, Quba Mosque and Mount Uhud. It was here, in the oasis then called Yathrib, that the Prophet settled after the Hijra from Mecca in 622 and was buried, and millions of pilgrims come every year to pray in his mosque.
The city spreads across a volcanic plain ringed by dark mountains, with Mount Uhud to the north and palm groves that still recall the old oasis. At its centre Al-Masjid an-Nabawi, with its Green Dome and courtyard umbrellas, is surrounded by hotels, while the historic mosques of Quba and al-Qiblatayn, the Al-Baqi cemetery and the battlefields of Uhud and the Trench lie within easy reach.
Most visits are devotional and often combined with Umrah or Hajj in Mecca, linked by the Haramain high-speed railway. Only Muslims may enter the Prophet's Mosque and its central precinct, while the Ottoman railway station and its museum show another side of the city. Winter brings the most comfortable weather.
Al-Masjid an-Nabawi, the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, was first built by the Prophet Muhammad beside his home in 622 and has grown into one of the largest mosques in the world. His tomb lies beneath the Green Dome, giant umbrellas shade its courtyards, and only Muslims may enter.
Quba Mosque, on the southern edge of Medina, stands on the site of the first mosque of Islam, founded by the Prophet when he arrived from Mecca. The present white building with four minarets was designed by Egyptian architect Abdel-Wahed El-Wakil in the 1980s, and only Muslims may enter.
Masjid al-Qiblatayn in northwest Medina marks the place where, according to tradition, the direction of prayer changed during a prayer from Jerusalem to Mecca, giving it the name Mosque of the Two Qiblas. The current building, with twin minarets and domes, dates from a 1980s rebuilding.
Masjid al-Ghamamah, southwest of the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, marks where the Prophet is said to have led prayers for Eid and for rain; its name means Mosque of the Cloud. The present Ottoman-era building, with dark stone walls and white domes, stands near the mosques of Abu Bakr and Ali.
Al-Baqi Cemetery, just southeast of the Prophet's Mosque, is Medina's oldest Islamic cemetery and the burial place of many of the Prophet's family members and companions, including the third caliph Uthman ibn Affan. The graves are simple, unmarked mounds of earth, and visiting times are set locally.
The Seven Mosques of Medina, at the foot of Mount Sala in the west of the city, are small historic mosques linked to the Battle of the Trench in 627, when Medina was defended by a ditch across its open northern side. Some of the old buildings remain, alongside a large modern mosque built nearby.
Masjid al-Ijabah, a short walk north of Al-Baqi Cemetery in Medina, stands where the Prophet is said to have prayed and asked God for three things, two of which were granted, giving it the name Mosque of the Answer. Its slender minaret makes it easy to spot on a walk around the old centre.
The Hejaz Railway Station in Medina was the southern terminus of the Ottoman Hejaz Railway, opened in 1908 to carry pilgrims from Damascus. Its restored stone buildings house a museum on the city's history, with old locomotives and carriages outside from a line abandoned after the First World War.
Mount Uhud is the long reddish ridge on the northern edge of Medina that gave its name to the Battle of Uhud in 625, fought on the plain at its foot. A hadith describes it as a mountain that loves us and that we love, and its rugged slopes look most dramatic in the low light of late afternoon.
Sayyid al-Shuhada Mosque stands at the foot of Mount Uhud in Medina beside the enclosed cemetery of the Muslims who fell in the Battle of Uhud, among them the Prophet's uncle Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib, known as the Master of Martyrs. Pilgrims pray for them before climbing the hill opposite.
Jabal al-Rumah, the Archers' Hill facing Mount Uhud in Medina, is where the Prophet stationed his archers during the Battle of Uhud; those who left their posts changed the course of the fighting. A short climb gives a clear view over the martyrs' cemetery, the battlefield and the mountain.
The King Fahd Glorious Quran Printing Complex on the northwestern outskirts of Medina has printed hundreds of millions of copies of the Quran since it opened in the 1980s, with translations into many languages. Guided visits for pilgrims follow the careful stages of checking, printing and binding.
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