Monday, August 10, 2026 Search My Trip EnglishChinese
World news · travel · culture
Taiwan The Taiwan Times
Taiwan's window to the world

Hira

Jabal al-Nour (Jabal an-Nūr, lit. 'Mountain of the Light' or 'Hill of the Illumination') is a mountain near Mecca in the Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia. The mountain houses the grotto or cave of Hira (Ghar-i-Hira, lit. 'Cave of Hira'), which holds tremendous significance for Muslims throughout the world, as it is here where the Islamic prophet Muhammad received his first revelation of the Quran, which consisted of the first five ayat of Surah Al-Alaq from the angel Jibra'il. It is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Mecca. The mountain itself is barely 640 m (2, 100 ft) tall; nonetheless one to two hours are needed to make the strenuous hike to the cave. There are 1750 steps to the top which can take anywhere between half an hour and three hours.

Cave data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).

Other notable caves worldwide

  1. Mammoth Cave · Australia686 km
  2. Sistema Sac Actun · Mexico119.2 m
  3. Lechuguilla Cave · United States489 m
  4. Optymistychna Cave · Ukraine20 m
  5. Veryovkina Cave · Georgia2,212 m
  6. Krubera Cave · Georgia2,199 m
  7. Sarma cave · Georgia1,830 m
  8. Clearwater Cave · Malaysia109 km