Location and area
Al-Madinah al-Munawwarah Region is one of the thirteen administrative regions of Saudi Arabia, in the west of the Kingdom. It covers 150,000 km², about 7.7% of the Kingdom's land, making it the third-largest region.
The city of al-Madinah, the regional capital, lies about 430 km north of Makkah and about 980 km from Riyadh, roughly 150 km in a straight line from the Red Sea coast. Its nearest port is Yanbu, about 220 km to the southwest. The city itself covers about 700 km².
Population
The 2022 Saudi Census counted 2,137,983 people in the region, about 6.68% of the national population, ranking it fourth of the thirteen regions, with a density of about 14.2 people per km².
Emirate and administration
The region has eight governorates and 96 centers. The four Category A governorates are Yanbu, AlUla, Mahd al-Dhahab and al-Hinakiyah; the four Category B governorates are Badr, Khaybar, al-Ais and Wadi al-Far'.
The governor is Prince Salman bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, appointed with the rank of minister by royal order on 12 December 2023 (1445 AH). The Al-Madinah Region Development Authority was established by royal decree in 2009 and named by a Council of Ministers decision; it is chaired by the governor, and its members include the Ministers of Finance and of Hajj and the Mayor of the region.
Taybah, the city of the Prophet
Before Islam the region was known for the founding of Yathrib and the tribes that migrated to it. After the Prophet Muhammad's migration it became known as Taybah and as al-Madinah al-Munawwarah, the starting point of Islam and the capital of the Islamic Caliphate.
It holds the Prophet's Mosque, where the Prophet lived and is buried, and Quba' Mosque, the first mosque built in Islam.
Mosques and historic sites
Beyond the Prophet's Mosque and Quba', the city's historic mosques include al-Qiblatain, al-Jumu'ah, al-Fath, al-Ghamamah, al-Ijabah, al-Shuhada, al-Khandaq and al-Miqat. The Seven Mosques stand on the western slope of Mount Sela.
The city holds the sites of the battles of Uhud and al-Khandaq. The Battle of Uhud was fought beside Mount Uhud in the third year of the Hijra (625 AD), and seventy Companions were martyred there; the Martyrs' Cemetery borders the mountain to the south. Several exhibitions and museums in the region present its history through multimedia and models.
Mountains, valleys and harrats
Mountains ring the city: Uhud, part of a range of interconnected peaks and made of red-tinged granite, with al-Rumat (Aynayn) beside it; Ayr, which forms the southern boundary; and Sela, which overlooks the city from the north. Others include al-Jamawat, Sulay' and An'am.
Valleys run through it. The best known is al-Aqiq, the Blessed Valley, which passes the city to Mount Ayr, turns west past Dhu al-Hulayfah, meets Wadi Bathan near al-Qiblatain and then joins Wadi Qanat at Zaghabah. Qanat, one of the largest, lies north of the city at the foot of al-Rumat. Ranuna and Mahzur are among the others.
Lava fields, the harrats, enclose the city: the eastern harrat, forming its eastern edge, includes Harrat Waqim, Harrat Bani Qurayzah and Harrat Zahrah; the western harrat, Harrat al-Wabrah, forms its western edge; and to the south lies Harrat Shawran, south of Quba' Mosque.
AlUla and Hegra
In AlUla Governorate lies Hegra (al-Hijr, Mada'in Salih), which in 2008 became the first site in the Kingdom inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. It is the largest conserved Nabataean site south of Petra in Jordan, with 111 monumental tombs, 94 of them with decorated facades, dating from the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD, along with some 50 pre-Nabataean inscriptions, cave drawings and wells that show Nabataean skill in water engineering. The inscribed property covers 1,621.2 ha, with a buffer zone of 1,659.34 ha. AlUla is among the oldest inhabited areas of the Kingdom and preserves remains and inscriptions from successive civilizations.
Mining and projects
Traces show that the Mahd al-Dhahab mine was worked about 3,000 years ago; modern production began in 1988. Its tunnels run for more than 60 km, vertical mining reaches 300 m, and an on-site plant recovers gold, silver and copper from the ore.
In August 2022 Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman unveiled the infrastructure and master plans of Rua Al Madinah, east of the Prophet's Mosque. The project aims to accommodate up to 30 million Umrah performers by 2030 on about 1.5 million m², with 47,000 hospitality units and about 63% of its area set aside for open and green spaces.
Transport, education and climate
Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz International Airport in al-Madinah has a capacity of 4.8 million passengers a year, and Prince Abdulmohsin bin Abdulaziz Airport in Yanbu 900,000. The city is home to the Islamic University of Madinah, which specializes in Islamic studies, and Taibah University, both with branches across the region.
The city's climate is hot. Rain falls mostly between November and January, averaging up to about 94 mm a year. Average relative humidity is about 13.6% in summer, 22.3% in spring, 23% in autumn and 37% in winter, and average wind speed is 5–8 knots. Cold winds blow from the northwestern mountains and hot, dry winds from the south, and air temperature rose by 1.7°C between 1959 and 2013.