The Exalted and Glorified One says, “Your Lord would never destroy the towns until He had sent to their mother-town a messenger” (Quran 28:59). The word um (mother) denotes the point of reference to which things are returned—the original source. Thus His statement, “They are the mother of the Book” (Quran 3:7), means the foundation to which the ambiguous verses are referred.

Likewise, Mecca—may Allah honor it—is the original point of reference for the people of the earth; Muslims across the globe turn back to it. For this reason it is called Umm al-Qurā, “the Mother of Cities,” meaning the ultimate reference point. Accordingly, Allah sent His Prophet ﷺ from Mecca because it is Umm al-Qurā. He remained there for thirteen years, forbidding the people of Mecca from shirk (polytheism) and summoning them to tawḥīd (monotheism), for the Meccans serve as an example to others. Therefore Mecca must remain, until the Day of Resurrection, a land of monotheism and a beacon for the call to Allah, and everything contrary to that must be kept far from it—shirk, bidʿah (religious innovations), and superstitions—for people are always looking to it. Whatever is practiced there spreads throughout the world: if it is good, goodness spreads; if it is the opposite, evil spreads.

Hence Mecca must be kept pure for all time, and for this reason the Exalted and Glorified One says: