Gurudwara Pehli Patshahi (Mecca)
Mecca long an important city of Arabia is located on an ancient trade route, southeast of the city of Jeddah on the Red Sea, where Muslims say that Eve decended to earth when expelled from the Garden of Eden. The city which in antiquity had an ancient structure filled with idols of the local religions as well of those of the traders who passed through the town is located in an area which has little water or rainfall, but has always been blessed by a spring of sweet water that travelers and traders could depend on. The ancient shrine, which has been rebuilt many times is said to have been built first by Hazrat Ibrahim (Abraham). It was here that Hagaar (also Hajar), the mother of the baby Ishmael came after their being cast out by Abraham per the wishes of Sarah who God had blessed with children at an advanced age. Hagaar, as was common under the laws and custom of those days had, as the maid of Sara, mothered a child with Abraham because Sara was barren.
It was at this site where Hagaar, there are several versions of the story, found the spring which saved their lives. The spring's continued abundance of water has since assured the city's existence. The spring has come to be known as Zam Zam , the source of water that saved the first child and mother of the Arab race.
This is the city of the Prophet Hazrat Mohammed who revealed the Muslim religion. It is Islam's holiest city and home to the Kaaba and the Grand mosque. It is the destination of the annual Hajj (pilgrimage) of Islam. It was from here that the Prophet departed taking shelter in Medina (lit. the city), until the Religion grew strong enough to win several battles with the forces of Mecca; eventually returning to Mecca and cleaning its shrine of its many idols. The Prophet Mohammed died in Medina suddenly and was hastily buried, with one of his followers declaring himself as the new religion's leader (Caliph). This has been the seemingly endless cause of wars between the religion's differing sects to this day.
In 1924 the city came under the rule of the Sa'udi's and is today the capital of Saudi Arabia's Makkah Province.
Guru Nanak Dev and his companion Bhai Mardana, himself a life long muslim, visited Mecca during one of his travels, in 1519.
Non-Muslims are not allowed to participate in the Hajj and must have special permission to enter Mecca, in the nineteenth the world traveler Sir Richard Burton disguised himself as a Muslim and documented his visit to the Islamic Holy City. There are several sites on the internet that publish his record of that trip.
