Travel in Al Madinah - Saudi Arabia - History

Madinah, Pronounced as mind, Arabic Medinat an-Nabi [city of the Prophet] or Madinat Rasul Allah [city of the apostle of Allah], city (1993 pop. 608,226) lays in the west part of Saudi Arabia. Before the flight (Hegira) of Muhammad from Mecca to the city in 622, Medina was called Yathrib. Muhammad quickly gained control of Medina, successfully defended it against attacks from Mecca, and used it as the base for converting and conquering Arabia. Medina grew rapidly until 661, when the Umayyad dynasty transferred the capital of the caliphate to Damascus.

Thereafter Medina was reduced to the rank of a provincial town, ruled by governors appointed by the distant caliphs. Local warfare drained the city's prosperity. It came under the sway of the Ottoman Turks in 1517. The Wahhabis captured it in 1804, but Muhammad Ali retook it for the Turks in 1812. In World War I the forces of Husayn ibn Ali, who revolted against Turkey, captured Medina. In 1924 it fell to Ibn Saud, Husayn's rival, after a 15-month siege.

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