In its long history Makkah has also been known as Bakkah.
In ancient times, Makkah was chiefly notable as a staging post on the trade route linking the spice producers of the east with Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean. Makkah lay about midway between Marib, one of the main cities, perhaps the capital, of the kingdom of Sheba (Yemen) and Petra (in Jordan), a city founded by Nabatean Arabs around the 6th century CE and which became a thriving center with commercial interests spreading into Syria.
Makkah is the holiest city on earth to Muslims. It is variously known as Makkah Al-Mukarramah, Umm Al-Qura (the origin of the Cities), Al Balad Al-Ameen (the Secure City), and Al-Balad Al-Haram (the Sacred City).
The religious significance of Makkah was established long before Islamic times. It was in Makkah that Allah commanded Ibrahim to leave Haajar and his young son Ishmael; it was in Makkah that Allah brought forth water from the Well of Zamzam which saved the life of Ishmael and his mother and then allowed Makkah to develop as a habitable place; it was in Makkah that Allah instructed Ibrahim to build "the House of God" (the Holy).
As a result, from earliest times, Makkah became a place of pilgrimage and, although as centuries passed the pure faith of the Prophet Ibrahim became corrupted by idolatry and paganism, Makkah retained its hold on the minds of men as a place where men should worship. When Makkah came under the control of the Quraysh tribe, it was a noted trading center, a place for pilgrimage and the site of festivals chiefly remarkable for intensely fought poetry competitions and the excessive behavior of the idolators.
The Prophet Muhammad (sallahu alayhi wa sallam) was born in Makkah in 570 CE. When, following revelations, Muhammad opposed the paganism of the Makkan establishment and began to spread the word of Islam, he was forced by the Makkans to leave the city. He went to Madinah which proved more receptive to his understanding of the will of God. In 630 CE, the Prophet Muhammad ((sallalahu alayhi wa sallam), ) returned to Makkah, taking the city without resistance and purging it of all elements of idolatry. He cleared the Kaaba of the 360 "gods" within, dedicating the Kaaba once more to the pure worship of the one and only God, and establishing Makkah as a place of pilgrimage for all Muslims.
From that time, the Holy City of Makkah has been the heart of the Muslim world. It grew in importance as Islam spread and, for the most part, retained a large degree of independence. When the seat of Muslim power moved to Damascus and then later to Iraq under the Abassid Caliphate, Makkah acknowledged each in turn. In 1269 CE, the Mamluk Sultans from Egypt asserted their power over Makkah. And in 1517 CE, the Turks under the Ottomans in Constantinople held sway over the Holy City. Nevertheless, throughout these great shifts in power in the region, the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad (sallahu alahyi wa sallam) remained the local rulers of Makkah. When the Ottoman Empire collapsed at the end of the First World War, Abdul Aziz Al Saud (Ibn Saud) came out of central Arabia, the Najd, and, armed with a deep commitment to the pure form of Islam, took control of Makkah, accepting guardianship of the Holy Sites as a prime responsibility of the Kingdom he founded, the modern state of Saudi Arabia.
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The Holy City of Madinah, which lies in the central Hijaz 447 kilometers north of the Holy City of Makkah, is 625 meters (2,050 feet) above sea level. Sited on a fertile oasis, it is bounded on three sides by hills which form part of the Hijaz mountain range. The highest of these hills, Mount Uhud, rises more than 2,000 meters above the oasis.
Madinah is the second holiest city in Islam. It was to Madinah that the Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu alayhi wa sallam) and his followers, faced by the hostility and persecution of the 
Makkan merchants, departed in 622 CE - and, when the citizens of Madinah asked the Prophet to live amongst them and to arbitrate in their affairs (an invitation taken to mean their rejection of polytheism and submission to the will of the one God, Allah), it was in Madinah that the Islamic era began.
Madinah is then the city of the Prophet. As the place in which the Holy Qur'an was compiled and from which the Prophet's companions administered the affairs of the Muslim community, it was the seat of the first Islamic state. From Madinah, armies, spreading the word of the Prophet, were dispatched to Egypt, Persia and Syria.
Madinah is also the place in which the Prophet, (sallalahu alayhi wa sallam), was buried.
Madinah is the Arabic word for "city". The full name of Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah means "Enlightened City". A visit to Madinah is not part of Umrah or Hajj but the deep affection in which the Prophet held the city and its intimate connection with the birth of Islam puts it on the itinerary of most pilgrims performing Hajj.
Read more about The City of the Prophet (sallahu alayhi wa sallam)
Mount Arafat which stands about 70 meters high, is a granite hill to the east of the Holy City of Makkah.
It was on Mount Arafat that Adam and Hawwah (Eve), separated for 200 years following their expulsion from the Garden of Eden, recognized each other and were reunited. Here too they were forgiven by Allah, the Merciful, for their transgression. And here, in present times, the pilgrim performing Hajj must spend an afternoon in a state of Ihram.
Muzdalifah is an open, level area near Mecca in Saudi Arabia associated with the Hajj. It lies just southeast of Mina on the route between Mina and Arafat. Each year on the 9th day of the Islamic month of Dhu al-Hijjah, Muslim pilgrims visit Muzdalifah in the evening, after an afternoon of prayer at Arafat. At Muzdalifah they collect pebbles which will be thrown in the stoning of the jamarat ritual in Mina during the next three or four days. The pilgrims spend the night before leaving for Mina the next morning (Eid ul-Adha).
Mina, which lies between the Holy City of Makkah and Muzdalifah, is now known as tent city. Here are the white pillars representing the devil at which the pilgrims cast the pebbles they gathered at Muzdalifah.
Al-Safa and Al-Marwah are two small hills now located in the Masjid al Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia between which Muslims travel back and forth seven times during the ritual pilgrimages of Hajj and Umrah. Safa is located approximately half a mile from the Kaaba. Marwah is located about 100 yards from the Kaaba. The distance between Safa and Marwah is approximately 450 meters, so that seven trips amount to roughly 3.15 kilometers. The two points and the path between them are now inside a long gallery that forms part of the Masjid.
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