Al Astar

Adel Al Quraishi’s photographs of the central Ka’ba of the Great Mosque in Mecca in its annual undraped state are a remarkable documentation of the epicenter of Islam.

The Mosque in Mecca, arranged around the central Ka’ba, is the holiest site in Islam. Mecca is the birthplace of the Prophet Mohammed and now accommodates as many as tens of thousands of pilgrims in a single day. Pilgrims travel there from across the world in the annual Hajj, a key point in Islamic spiritual life. The Ka’ba is...