1. Makkah is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world.
The Zamzam well alone is believed to be around 4,000 years old.
2. The city was never the capital of any Islamic empire.
But Muslim rulers did regularly contribute to its upkeep.
3. Not all of Makkah falls within the Haram boundary.
There are many neighborhoods of the city, like Sharaya, which falls outside the Haram boundary.
4. The city used to be called Bakkah.
Nevertheless, some scholars suggest that Bakkah refers only to the Kaaba and the immediate areas surrounding it.
5. Apart from Bakkah, the Qur’an refers to the city as Umm Al Qura.
Umm Al Qura is Arabic for “Mother of All Settlements.”
