Medina Province (Saudi Arabia)
The Medina Province is a province (minṭaqah) of Saudi Arabia on the country's western side along the Red Sea coast. It has an area of 151,990 km2 (58,680 sq mi) and a population of 2,132,679 subdivided into seven Muḥafaẓat (Governorates):
Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina, 2016
The Hejaz is a region that includes the majority of the west coast of Saudi Arabia, covering the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif and Baljurashi. It is thus known as the "Western Province", and it is bordered in the west by the Red Sea, in the north by Jordan, in the east by the Najd, and in the south by the Region of 'Asir. Its largest city is Jeddah, which is the second-largest city in Saudi Arabia, with Mecca and Medina, respectively, being the fourth- and fifth-largest cities in the country.
Islam's holiest site, that is Al-Masjid al-Haram, which surrounds the Kaaba (middle), in Mecca. Mecca is the city of Muhammad's birth and ancestry, and an annual point of pilgrimage for millions of Muslims.
Workers laying tracks for the Hejaz Railway near Tabuk, 1906
The city of Al-'Ula in 2012. The city's archaeological district is in the foreground, with the Hijaz Mountains in the background.
The rock-carved Qaṣr Al-Farīd at Al-Ḥijr (Hegra) or Madāʾin Ṣāliḥ ("Cities of Saleh")