Photographs from Mecca in an Era of Mass- and Fast Mobility, Rukayyah Reichling (ESR 13) Mecca may be considered the geographical and spiritual centre of Islam. The city's sanctity stems from the presence of the sanctuary of the Ka'ba at its heart, which on nineteen different occasions in the Qur'an has been referred to as al-masjid al-haram. According to Islamic tradition, the Ka'ba, or baitullah, was originally built by the Prophet Abraham as the first place of worship to the One God. Its

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... tion determines the qibla, the direction of prayer for Muslims around the world. Places in and around Mecca, the "mother of cities", are furthermore the destination of the small and big Muslim pilgrimages. Considering the city's sanctity and that the paths of pilgrims from broad regions of the Islamic world meet in Mecca, it is little astonishing that in the early tradition of map-making, Muslim cartographers frequently placed Mecca at the geographical centre of the world. [...]