This book allows both Muslims and those unfamiliar with the Islamic faith complete access to the holiest sites of one of the world's major religions, practiced by a quarter of the world's population but often misunderstood in the West.
Photographer Ali Kazuyoshi Namachi, a Muslim convert from Japan, garnered the full support of Saudi Arabian authorities—rarely given—to shoot in cities where photography is strictly controlled, and non-Muslims are not allowed.
An expansive work of photojournalism, Mecca the Blessed, Medina the Radiant includes:
Text by Seyyed Hossein Nasr, one of the most highly regarded scholars of Islam, enhances the stunning Islamic holy city photographs to illuminate many aspects of Islamic belief that have remained enigmatic to non-Muslims—until now.