Medina, also Medinat-en-Nabi (Arabic for “City of the Prophet”) and Medinat Rasul Allah (“City of the Apostle of God”), city in western Saudi Arabia, located in the Al Hijaz (Hejaz) Province. The city houses the remains of the Prophet Muhammad, who fled to Medina from Mecca in 622, an event that marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar. Medina is consequently one of the most sacred shrines of Islam. It is second only to Mecca among the holy places of Muslim pilgrimage. Muhammad's tomb is in the Mosque of the Prophet, located in the eastern section of the city. The mosque also contains the tombs of Muhammad's daughter Fatima and of Umar I, the second Orthodox caliph of the Muslim Empire.
In ancient times, Medina was known as Yathrib. The Alexandrian geographer Ptolemy referred to it as Lathrippa in the 2nd century AD. Medina was the capital of the Muslim world until 661, when the caliphate was transferred to Damascus. Later, Medina was successively controlled by the Egyptians and the Ottoman Turks. The latter were expelled in 1919 by the troops of Husein ibn Ali, first king of Al Hijaz. Husein's forces were defeated (1924) by Abdul Aziz ibn Saud, sultan of Najd. The city of Medina was incorporated into the kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. Population (1990 estimate) 500,050.
