“Spending on the Holy Places will be unlimited in accordance with their status in our hearts as Saudis and in the hearts of Muslims throughout the world.” (King Fahd)

Each year, in one of the great assemblies of humanity, some two million pilgrims gather in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to perform pilgrimage (Hajj).

The origin of this tradition goes back into the distant past, to pre-Islamic times, when God instructed the Prophet Abraham to build a house, the Kaaba, in Makkah and the Archangel Gabriel gave Abraham a Black Stone, thought to be a meteorite, which is set in the northeast corner of the Kaaba.

Towards the end of the fifth century, the Quraysh, a tribe which had settled in the Makkhan valley, took control of the Kaaba. The Quraysh prospered in trade and the prestige of the Kaaba brought many Arabs to the city on the annual Hajj. Yet, the Prophet Abraham’s message of the One God was gradually forgotten and pagan idolaters violated the sacred Kaaba. Only a few visionaries kept the faith, until the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, born circa 570 AD, returned from the hijrah in 629 AD to destroy the pagan idols in the Kaaba. The Mosque and the city then prospered as the center of Islam’s remarkable spread.