Medina Arabic: المدينة المنورة‎, al-Madīnah al-Munawwarah, “the radiant city”; or المدينة, al-Madīnah, “the city”). Madīnah, is a city in the Hejaz, and the capital of the Al Madinah Region of Saudi Arabia. The city contains al-Masjid an-Nabawi (“the Prophet’s Mosque”), which is the burial place of the last Islamic prophet Muhammad, and after Makkah is the second-holiest city in Islam.

Medina, which was previously known as Yathrib, was Prophet Muhammad’s destination after his Hijrah from Makkah, and became the capital of a rapidly increasing Muslim Empire. This Empire was first led by Prophet Muhammad’s leadership and then under the first four Rashidun caliphs Abu Bakr, Umar, Usman, and Ali. Madinah served as the power base of Islam in its first century was where the early Muslim community quickly developed. Madinah is home to the three oldest mosques, namely the Quba Mosque, al-Masjid an-Nabawi, and Masjid al-Qiblatayn (“the mosque of the two qiblas”). Muslims believe that the final surahs of the Quran were revealed to the Prophet in Medina, and are called Medinan surahs in contrast to the earlier Meccan surahs.

Non-Muslims are forbidden from entering the sacred core of Medina (but not the entire city) or the city center by the national government, similar to Makkah, especially areas designated for religious purposes such as Madinah Ziyarat.