Mecca: The Sacred City

Mecca is the heart of Islam: the birthplace of Muhammed, the direction towards which Muslims pray and the site which annually draws some three million pilgrims from all corners of the world. Yet Mecca’s importance goes beyond religion and what happens there continues to have a considerable influence on world events.

In this illuminating, lyrical and witty blend of history and memoir, Ziauddin Sardar unravels the significance of Mecca. Tracing its history from its origins as a ‘barren valley’ to its sudden emergence as the religious centre of a world empire, and interweaving stories of his own pilgrimages with those of others, he offers a unique insight into the conflict between heritage and modernity that has characterised the city’s history.

‘A major achievement and a hugely enjoyable and important study of one of the world’s great cities’ William Dalrymple, Observer

‘This is a captivating history and memoir, a hymn of love to a place sacred to the world’s Muslims’ Spectator

‘Authoritative … Sardar should be praised for his scholarly and well-researched history of Mecca’ Independent

‘Powerful and instructive … Few books celebrate life, with joy and sadness, quite like this one does’ New Statesman

‘The final chapter of the book – part history, part memoir and part incendiary polemic – is a devastating attack on Saudi greed, racism, intolerance, hypocrisy and rank commercialism’ The Times

‘A project of love and disenchantment – which tells Mecca’s story from pre-Islamic times until today’ Economist

ZIAUDDIN SARDAR was born in Pakistan and grew up in Hackney. A writer, broadcaster and cultural critic, he is one of the world’s foremost Muslim intellectuals and author of more than fifty books on Islam, science and contemporary culture, including the highly acclaimed Desperately Seeking Paradise. He has been listed by Prospect magazine as one of Britain’s top 100 intellectuals. Currently he is the Director of the Centre for Postnormal Policy and Futures Studies at East West University, Chicago; co-editor of the quarterly Critical Muslim; consulting editor of Futures, a monthly journal on policy, planning and futures studies; and Chair of the Muslim Institute in London.