1.
GV MECCA AND SURROUNDING COUNTRY
0.09

2.
LV PEOPLE IN STREET
0.15

3.
SV DITTO, PAN TO OLD TOWN WITH SHOPS ETC.
0.20

4.
GV PEOPLE OUTSIDE BUILDING
0.25

5.
LV TRAFFIC AND PEOPLE IN STREET
0.30

6.
LV MODERN BUILDING
0.35

7.
GV DITTO
0.40

8.
LV MODERN BUILDING AND SHOPS
0.44

9.
ANGLE SHOT..MODERN FLATS
0.49

10.
GV STREET SCENE
0.52

11.
ELEVATED VIEW..MODERN PART OF TOWN
0.59

12.
ELEVATED VIEW..BUSES AND TRAFFIC IN SQUARE
1.03

13.
LV OLD PART OF TOWN
1.07

14.
LV DITTO
1.12

15.
TRAVEL SHOT..ALONG STREET, SHOWS MODERN BUILDING
1.17

16.
TRAVEL SHOT..DITTO
1.22

17.
ANGLE SHOT..MODERN BUILDING
1.26

18.
LV DITTO
1.29



Initials AA/S/JH/ES


EDITORS: SEE ALSO PROD 3286/63 THE MECCA PILGRIMAGE (8 MAY 1963)

Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: MECCA - BIRTH-PLACE OF THE PROPHET MOHAMMED, FOUNDER OF ISLAM THE RELIGION OF THE MOSLEM - AND CAPITAL OF THE SAUDI ARABIAN PROVINCE OF HEJAZ.

IT LIES 45 MILES (73 KILOMETRES) DUE EAST OF JEDDAH, ITS SEA PORT ON THE RED SEA, WITH WHICH IT IS CONNECTED BY A TARMAC ROAD, BUILT DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR, ALONG THE ANCIENT PILGRIM CAMEL TRACK.

THE POPULATION OF MECCA IS NOT EASY TO MEASURE EXACTLY, DUE TO THE NOMADIC NATURE OF THE PEOPLE, BUT IT IS ESTIMATED AT A CONSTANT 250,000, SWELLED TO AT LEAST 500,000 DURING THE PILGRIMAGE IN THE MONTH OF RAMADAN - THE FIFTH MONTH OF THE MOSLEM YEAR.

MECCA'S IMPORTANCE LIES CHIEFLY AS THE CENTRE OF THE PILGRIMAGE. HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF MOSLEMS COME EVERY YEAR TO THE CITY, IT IS OBLIGATORY FOR EVERY MOSLEM TO ATTEND THE PILGRIMAGE ONCE IN HIS LIFE, PROVIDING HE IS CAPABLE OF PERFORMING IT. IT IS THE SAME PILGRIMAGE WHICH MOHAMMED IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE MADE IN 632 A.D., THE YEAR OF HIS DEATH.

MOHAMMED WAS BORN IN 570 A.D. AND WAS THE FOUNDER OF ISLAM. BY HIS CONSTANT PREACHING AND PROCLAIMING OF THE ONE AND ONLY DEITY ALLAH, HE GATHERED ROUND HIM A SMALL BAND OF FOLLOWERS. ALTHOUGH HE HAD TO FLEE FROM MECCA TO MEDINA IN 622, HE WAS ABLE TO RETURN EIGHT YEARS AFTER, AN ACKNOWLEDGED PROPHET. HE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SACRED BOOK OF ISLAM - THE KORAN - PRESENTED TO THE PEOPLE, BY HIM, AS A DIRECT REVELATION FROM THE ANGLE GABRIEL. SOME THEOLOGICAL CIRCLES CLAIM, HOWEVER, THAT THE KORAN CAN BE TRACED TO BIBLICAL AND RABBINICAL SOURCES.