AHC: Makkah-Madinah holy city split

With a POD after the Shia-Sunni split, have both the sect adopt one of the holy cities as their holy city. Also both should maintain that the other city is the lesser holy city.

I don't see this happening. Both cities are for Muslims important because another is Mohammed's birth and home city and another is the prophet's death and burial city. And Mecca is bit holier. So there hardly is way that they would begin arguing about both is only holy city.

Lalli said:

I don't see this happening. Both cities are for Muslims important because another is Mohammed's birth and home city and another is the prophet's death and burial city. And Mecca is bit holier. So there hardly is way that they would begin arguing about both is only holy city.

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Both are holy cities, but the sects maintain that one city is more important than the other.

PulkitNahata said:

Both are holy cities, but the sects maintain that one city is more important than the other.

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I don't really think this is possible given that there's only one set of the holiest sites in Islam, and they're all in Mecca. I can't think of any reason anyone would view Medina as holier.

'Ezana said:

I don't really think this is possible given that there's only one set of the holiest sites in Islam, and they're all in Mecca. I can't think of any reason anyone would view Medina as holier.

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Medina isn't "holier" but it's still significant due to the Prophet's tomb being there and it was the first Muslim city. Muslims going to the Hajj (or umrah) may also visit Medina (usually the Nabawi and Quba Mosques), so if there's a split they'd have to confine their pilgrimage to just Mecca.

Also, considering the short distance of the two cities (when traffic jams during the Hajj was so bad, my dad and a bunch of other pilgrims walked halfway through!), I don't see any power allowing the other side to hold the other city for long, they'd sure to take both. That being said, defintiely the one holding Mecca gets the prestige (and the headache of managing the Hajj, hah!).

What's the geography look like between the two cities? Is any kind of long term split with a Shia state controlling one and a Sunni state controlling the other plausible?