Examines the emergence of Medina as a holy city, focusing on the historical developments of the first three Islamic centuries.

Harry Munt is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Oriental Institute and Wolfson College at the University of Oxford.

Introduction; 1. Haram and him¿: sacred space in the pre-Islamic Hij¿z; 2. Muhammad and the Constitution of Medina: the declaration of Medina's haram; 3. Debating sanctity: the validity of Medina's haram; 4. The construction of a sacred topography; 5. Following in the Prophet's footsteps, visiting his grave: early Islamic pilgrimage to Medina; 6. The Prophet's inheritance: Medina's emergence as a holy city in the first-third/seventh-ninth centuries; Conclusion.