Medina

Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah, also known as al-Madinah an-Nabawiyyah and Taybah and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib, is the capital and administrative centre of Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia. It is one of the oldest and most important places in Islamic history. The second holiest city in Islam, the population as of 2022 is 1,477,023, making it the fourth-most populous city in the country. Around 58.5% of the population are Saudi citizens and 41.5% are foreigners. Located at the core of the Medina Province in the western reaches of the country, the city is distributed over , of which constitutes the city's urban area, while the rest is occupied by the Hejaz Mountains, empty valleys, agricultural spaces and older dormant volcanoes.

Medina is generally considered to be the "cradle of Islamic culture and civilization". The city is considered to be the second-holiest of three key cities in Islamic tradition, with Mecca and Jerusalem serving as the holiest and third-holiest cities respectively. Al-Masjid al-Nabawi () is of exceptional importance in Islam and serves as burial site of the prophet Muhammad, by whom the mosque was built in 622 CE (first year of the Hijrah). Observant Muslims usually visit his tomb, or rawḍah, at least once in their lifetime during a pilgrimage known as Ziyarat, although this is not obligatory. The original name of the city before the advent of Islam was Yathrib (), and it is referred to by this name in Chapter 33 (Al-Aḥzāb, ) of the Quran. It was renamed to ' () after and later to ' () before being simplified and shortened to its modern name, ' (), from which the English-language spelling of "Medina" is derived. Saudi road signage uses ' and '''' interchangeably.