Mecca and Medina, Sacred Sites or Development Engines?

Mecca and Medina, Sacred Sites or Development Engines? by Atef Alshehri T he ongoing transformation of Mecca and Medina is a deeply contested issue. As Islam’s holiest sites, their spiritual significance implies a certain propriety of urban form prescribed by their history. Yet the current drastic changes engineered by private and state actors in Saudi Arabia represent Mecca’s skyline has completely changed from quaintly traditional a dangerously widening houses pictured in this image to developments scattered across the gap with their heritage mountainous topography. This urban growth in Mecca, as well as in with economics as the Medina, has not only created fragmented cities but also come at a driving force. This high social cost. rupture with the cities’ sacred nature is the outcome of such factors as state and private enterprise actions, permanent and transient population growth, economic competition, and development challenges in the desert kingdom. As a result, the urban heritage erosion has not only left fragmented cities behind but has also come at a high social cost. The Imprint of History As the primary loci of religious veneration for the entire Islamic world, Mecca and Medina are multiethnic cities attracting Muslims from all over the world. In pre-modern history, they were the reci- MIDDLE EAST QUARTERLY Spring 2019 pients of cycles of patronage, from the Umayyads in the seventh century all the way to the Ottomans at the beginning of the twentieth century. Presiding over Mecca and Medina throughout Islamic history has been a decisive element for legitimizing political Alshehri: Mecca and Medina / 1 authority y. Even to oday, and thee Indian Oceean to Saudi Arabia A consiiders Syria and the M MediterAs a shrin ne, access too Mecca Mecca itts religious capraneann; the otherr went has alw ways transceended ital, a no otion sometiimes east annd west from m Iraq, poliitical realms. challengeed in the comc Iran, aand Central A Asia to plex po olitics of the Abyssiinia and eeastern Afrrica. Middle East. E Tehran n has occasionally called d for the holy shrinees to be deeclared interrAs a shrinee, access to Mecca has always national territories, especially e att times when n trannscended poolitical realm ms. In this sense, its politiccal tensions with Riyadh h heightened d. therre has been continuous pressure onn Saudi Politiciziing the tw wo cities is i just on ne Araabia to accoommodate m more pilgrim ms. The indicatorr of their deelicate religio ous status as a steeep rise in thhe number oof pilgrims started Islam’s sanctum s san nctorum where past and d withh a little oover 100,000 pilgrims in the present, divine and mundane meet m in on ne earlly 1950s to almost a m million pilgriims by place. 19775.1 In 20112, the num mber of piilgrims Overr the past two decadees, howeverr, excceeded threee million.2 T The steady inncrease both citiees have und dergone a massive m spree cann be attribuuted to seveeral factors.. Most of urban n developmeent, expansio on, and land d impportantly, aafter Worldd War II, many acquisitio on that has completely c changed c theiir Muuslim states gained inndependence; their characterr. In a typicaal post-oil bo oom fashion n, resppective poppulations inncreased, annd the this dev velopment spree s has been b characcdem mand for access to the Mecca pilgrrimage terized by diminiishing statee spending g, sitees rose. Thhis trend ccorrespondedd with increased d privatization, and pop pulation con nunpprecedented ease of acccess providded by centration n in large cities. With h franchisess, inteernational aiir travel thatt boomed inn Saudi brand lab bels, and in nternational hotel chain ns Araabia by the end of the 11970s. Yet tthe anreplacing g traditionall manifestattions of orrnuaal sharp incrrease in pilgrrims did nott match dinary liife and cau using severee damage to o the pace of M Mecca’s urbaan developm ment or cultural heritage reesources, th he historicaal infrrastructure ccapacity. identity of both cities has been n challenged d. Although pilgrimagee has susstained This is becoming b a contested c isssue in public Meecca’s growtth for centurries, it is a ddoubleand scho olarly circlees, considerring the un nedgged sword. Similar to private enteerprise, preceden nted scale an nd the insenssitivity of th he statte initiativees to upggrade the city’s urban traansformation n. infrrastructure ccapacity toook a heavy ttoll on the quality of urban spacee. For instannce, in ordder to ease crowd movvement, an urban Mecca: M City y of Pilgrim mage junggle of highw ways, tunnells, and bridgges cut acrooss Mecca ffrom all direections, turniing the Meccca is both a global and a local city. It I is the biirthplace of Islam and home to th he religion’ss holiest shrrine, the Kaaaba, as welll 1 Addil Bushnak, “The Hajj Transsportation Systtem,” in as the sitte for the Mu uslim annuaal pilgrimagee, Ziauddin Sarrdar and Zaki B Badawi, eds., H Hajj the Hajjj. Historicaally, it waas the mosst Studies (Lonndon: Croom H Helm, 1978). ppp. 87116. importan nt trading center c of western w and d central Arabia A being g at the jun nction of two o 2 Piilgrimage Statiistics Report, G General Authorrity of major ro outes. One went south h and north h, Statistics, Kiingdom of Sauddi Arabia, Riyaadh, 2016. through the t mountain nous Hejaz from Yemen n MIDDLE EAST E QUARTE ERLY Spring g 2019 Alshehri: Mecca and Meedina / 2 once walkable city into an entangled maze of concrete and asphalt. Nowadays, it might be difficult to tell where Mecca actually begins or ends. Modern Mecca has also been subject to the development process found in Saudi Arabia as a whole. Since the oil boom of the mid-1970s, the urban growth of major Saudi cities, including Mecca, became acute. Large building and infrastructure projects and transport and road networks Adiputn Until the 1970s oil boom, Mecca’s urban growth maintained sprang up everywhere and strong links with its pre-modern heritage. However, outside of the swallowed the delicate, hisGrand Mosque, most of the historic city of Mecca has been toric urban fabric. This acdemolished to allow for infrastructure and commercial celerated cycle of physical developments sponsored by state and private actors. change moved much faster than parallel social and cultural processes. with its pre-modern heritage. In fact, most of This rupture between the place and its Mecca’s built heritage can be generally memory is a development side effect, which attributed to the Ottoman era, including the Mecca shares with other cities as the rush for Grand Mosque, which was extensively rebuilt modernization during the oil boom years during the reign of Sultan Suleiman the generated no effective preservation policies. Magnificent in the sixteenth century. Today, Most historic centers of major Saudi cities only the domed arcade that surrounds the whether in Riyadh, Jeddah, or Dammam Kaaba still exists from that era. Outside the were not treated as loci of preservation. The Grand Mosque, however, most of the historic pressures of rapid development coupled with city of Mecca has been demolished to allow for the availability of vast financial resources infrastructure and commercial developments made it possible to simply raze the old cities sponsored by state and private actors. and recreate them. On a regional level, the Mecca has to reconcile two opposing same trend can be seen in other Arabian Gulf challenges—demographic growth (both seacities, such as Dubai, Doha, or Kuwait. sonal and permanent) and its topographical limitations. On top of the annual pilgrimage, the number of international visitors who Mecca: Over-scaled Development perform the lesser pilgrimage throughout the Mecca today bears the name of the old year (umra) is expected to increase from the city, but the image holds no likeness. Until current six million per year to fifteen million the beginning of the 1970s oil boom, the city’s urban growth maintained strong links MIDDLE EAST QUARTERLY Spring 2019 Alshehri: Mecca and Medina / 3 visitors annually by 2020.3 Furthermore, Mecca’s permanent population has risen to almost two million as a result of internal migration over the past two decades, in addition to the undocumented population of migrant workers and visitors who overstay their visas. The rising population numbers are faced with a naturally confined space. Historically, Mecca was a linear tract stretching along the dry valley of Ibrahim Formerly, Medina was an agrarian settlement. The city’s (Abraham) with the Kaaba as its distinctive historical hallmark was as a charitable, educational, anchor. When the urban fabric had and scholarly center. But current development is the antithesis to expand, it did so by stretching of Medina’s historical legacy with business enterprises horizontally along the valley or replacing nonprofit endowments. gradually climbing the surrounding mountain slopes. This process continued for centuries archipelago.” The towers create isolated, until it took an acute turn in modern times. vertical, and detached spaces with their own Return on investment per development unit gates, lobbies, and receptions. This is an became the new determinant of how the city inversion of the longstanding urban order, is shaped. Hence, the outrageously overwhich is horizontal, connected, accessible, scaled developments such as the infamous and welcoming. clock tower that hovers like a giant over the Kaaba, or the upcoming state-sponsored Medina: City vs. Mosque hotel, the largest in the world with some ten thousand rooms. Islamic tradition holds that the prophet Not only has most of the built heritage Muhammad founded Medina in the seventh disappeared, but the surrounding natural century following his migration from Mecca. landscape has been drastically altered. Entire Formerly, Medina was an agrarian settlement mountains were crushed to build high-end known at the time as Yathrib. The present commercial and residential towers, offering core area around the Prophet’s Mosque (al“rooms with a view” towards the Kaaba. The Masjid an-Nabawi) constitutes the entire city skyline has completely changed from historic walled city of Medina, approxthe quaint and harmonious constellation of imately 1.3 square kilometers in area. traditional Meccan houses to sporadic develDespite its small size, Medina’s most disopments scattered across the mountainous tinctive historical urban hallmark is its status topography, creating a labyrinthine “urban as an intellectual powerhouse with many endowed institutions (awqaf), including schools, libraries, and charitable residences 3 “The National Transformation Program 2020,” (ribat) for travelers, students, and scholars. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh. MIDDLE EAST QUARTERLY Spring 2019 Alshehri: Mecca and Medina / 4 Awq qaf documentts inwith the Propphet’s With W recent demolition n, Medina’s Mosquue at the ceenter— dicate th hat twenty-eeight core shift ted to an ex xclusive schools existed e in Meedina and sshifted the urban destinattion primariily for by the en nd of the Otto oman mobilitty experiencce from seasonal l visiting clie entele. to reign in January 1919, 1 pedestrrian-focused though th he actual num mber automoobile-focusedd. In is likely higher. Meedina the abbsence of public Ottoman court recorrds of the period p (1790 0trannsportation aalternatives, ttraffic into tthe city ghty-two reesidences fo or cennter intensifieed in the proxximity of thee sacred 1813) reegistered eig travelers. The city waall functioned d as an urban n sanc nctuary, increeasing congesstion and neggatively fortificatiion, which keept the physical and sociaal affeecting experieence of the P Prophet’s Moosque. characterr of the old d part distincct from sub bHistoric coontinuity off the city’s urban sequent expansions e outside o the old o wall. Thiis fabrric, with iits intricacyy and mixxed-use trend con ntinued throu ughout Medin na’s life untiil funnctions of ccommerce, education, philanthroopy, and ressidence, was replaced byy overthe old city c wall wass demolished d in the mid d1950s to o allow for automobilee access and scalled vacant sqquares all arround the Proophet’s urban exp pansion. Moosque, flankeed by hotells and comm mercial In th he past, the area develo oped over th he bloccks on all sides.5 As a result, thee inner centuries to serve ch haritable, edu ucational, and chaaracter of thee core area arround the Proophet’s scholarly purposes. With exteensive recen nt Moosque diminisshed along w with the oppoortunity on activities, the identity y of the corre for rich, sensoory experiennce for walkkers or demolitio shifted frrom a historiically accessiible space fo or onloookers who, instead, sim mply experiennce the a wide spectrum of community groups to an n Proophet’s Mossque standinng monumeentally, exclusivee destination n primarily for seasonaal totaally detachedd from the city’s urbann fabric visiting clientele. c Th he current sittuation is th he thatt used to be iintegral to it. The processs of pre-moodern urban change total inveersion of thee traditional regime with h business enterprises taking th he place of o wass communaal and increemental, in sharp nonprofitt endowmentts and causin ng outrageou us conntrast to how w the city iis shaped nnow by surges in i property costs, lim mited publiic cenntralized goveernmental aggencies. Therre is an accessibillity, and a co ore separated d from its own n opaaque, top-doown planniing processs with city.4 Th he result has been the antithesis of o alm most no coommunal innvolvement. Most Medina’ss historical legacy and a complette impportant plannning decisionns are enforcced but destructio on of its builtt heritage. not negotiated. IIn fact, the ccore area arouund the The economic and physiical schism ms Proophet’s Mosqque has em mptied of itss local between the core and a the rest of the city ty inhaabitants whoo had no otheer alternativee but to prompted d urban spraw wl in the dirrection of th he reloocate. When this author qqueried a num mber of newly planned p arteerial roads, eroding th he locaal Medina reesidents aboout their experience historical structure thaat evolved th hroughout th he of tthe city and its heritage, the responsees sugcenturies.. In particulaar, the introd duction of th he gestted a sense oof loss and diisenfranchiseement. ring road d systems iso olated the hiistoric core— — 4 Ananya Roy, “The 21st Century Metropolis: M New w Geog graphies of Theory,” Regiona al Studies, Jully 2009,, pp. 819-30. MIDDLE EAST E QUARTE ERLY Spring g 2019 5 Jaamel Akbar, “Gates as siigns of autonnomy in Muslim townns,” Muqarnass, Jan. 1993, ppp. 141-7. Alshehri: Mecca and Meedina / 5 relationship, which included the Prophet’s Mosque to the east, and the Ottoman train station to the west, which opened in 1908 as the terminus of the Hejaz railway. With the current reconfiguration of the core area, this once thriving urban market has been reduced to a parking lot and a street for vehicular traffic. Instead of serving multiple purposes, the historic The map of pre-modern Medina (dark tone) is superimposed on the marketplace lost its posipresent re-configured urban core encircled by the ring road. The Prophet’s Mosque is in the center with the footprint of the historic tion and eventually vanmarket and the train station to the left (yellow circles). The historic ished.6 The shifts and rupcontinuity of the city’s urban fabric has been replaced by over-scaled ture of historic urban nodes vacant squares all around the Prophet’s Mosque. sent the city into a state of flux and disarray. The entire historic urban structure became prone to reclamation, appropriation, and reconfiguration into a Medina’s Shifting Structure different form, which broke the city’s strong These factors have collectively inties with centuries of urban legacy and tensified the rupture of the city’s basic tradition. structure. In particular, the core area has been Medina’s sacred value has never changed by the interior ring road that diminished. Revolving around particular circumscribes what used to be the historic city material expressions starting from the of Medina. The Prophet’s Mosque’s position Prophet’s Mosque, its religious importance was traditionally peripheral in relation to the has been historically manifested through old city but is now in the center of this new written and material tradition, as well as enclave. This shift of the mosque’s position to corresponding interest by community and pathe traffic and movement center of the area trons alike. But now the spiritual significance resulted in recurrent crises during peak hours is challenged by rapid and insensitive physical of traffic and prayer. change, which not only represents disAn important urban node of Medina is continuity with the past but also dissociates the location of the marketplace, known as alall these intangible values and memories Manakha. As a public space, it was one of the from their material witness. city’s most resilient elements throughout history. As Medina evolved, the marketplace continued to be the main urban space and 6 Muhammad Hussein, al-Madina al-Munawara: eventually the geographic center where all Bunyatuha wa-Tarkibuha al-Umrani al-Taqlidi major streets and thoroughfares converged. It (Riyadh: at-Turath, 2010), pp. 84-5. became the centerpiece in the tripartite spatial MIDDLE EAST QUARTERLY Spring 2019 Alshehri: Mecca and Medina / 6 Comm mercialized, Pola arized, and d Fra agmented As the value v of prop perties in the two cities c has rissen, local residentss have been driven out off the core arreas. Mecca and Mediina’s core areaas are two off the most expensive real estate e markets in i the world. As the valuee of propertiees in the two cities has risen, r local residents r hav ve been driv ven out of th he core areass, which hav ve been com mpletely com mmercialized and occupied by intern national hoteel chains and d commerciaal towers to o accommodaate paying cu ustomers. Th he colorful and a compact variety of usses and urban n activities found in trraditional citties has been n nreplaced by sterile, sprawling, and discon m of o repetitive commerciaal nected monotony tower blo ocks. The reaal danger is th he erosion no ot only of the t tangible built heritag ge but also of o the intang gible social and a communal memory of o the place.. As a result of th his spatial reshuffling, th he core areaas of Meccca and Med dina are now w extremely y contested spaces. Bo oth cities arre religious “sacred preecincts” (harram) where a oundary exissts to disting guish between n spatial bo the interior and exteriior of the saccred precinctt. This inviisible dividin ng line is sim milar to a city y wall that separates in ntramural from m extramuraal realms. The T anchor off the sacred precinct p is th he shrine, whether w the Kaaba in Mecca M or th he Prophet’ss Mosque in Medina. Hiistorically, alll urban deevelopment processes and a activitiees intensifieed gradually as they approached th he anchor off the sacred precinct. p The pre-modern n layers off both citiees interacted d to create homogenous h s urban space despite the demarrcation of the sacred d precinct. In contrast, the contem mporary urban n situation created a diisparity betw ween the corre and the periphery of o each city y. The fierce economicc competitiion to be as close as a possible to the ancho or of the saccred precincct produced d urban enclaves that haave very little to do with w the restt of the citiies. In both h, MIDDLE EAST E QUARTE ERLY Spring g 2019 this haas created hhighly polarizzed and fragmente d cities. Conclusion Ass places of unique spirritual signifficance, Meecca and M Medina stannd as materrial witness to the grow wth of Islaamic identiity, having been conntested arennas througghout histoory. There is a milllenarian sennse of entitleement to theese two citi es among Muslims, which trannscends moddern nation states. The continuity oof their urbban heritage came into qquestion begginning in the mid-1970s when ttheir urban forms starrted to unddergo unpreccedented chhanges. Reccently, these urban chhanges havee drasticaally increaseed in scale aand extent, inn ways thatt raise questtions about thhe social costs and proopriety. The mindsset behind the current urban trannsformationss treats botth cities as blank slattes where the cumulativee historical, social, andd physical llayers of thhe urban forrm are com mpletely negglected or seeverely threaatened. Thee reasons forr this lie prim marily withiin local andd regional ecconomic com mpetition as w well as devvelopmental challenges in Saudi A Arabia. Onee can only hhope that deespite this m massive devvelopment ppush, both ccities’ sentiimental attrraction will prove moore sustaineed and longgstanding. Atef Allshehri is aan architect, consultannt, and acaademic. His practice and researchh agenda is focused on the urbaan form and ment of citties in the developm Middle East and N North Africa with a primaary focus on region, w the Arabbian Peninsula. Alshehri: Mecca and Meedina / 7