The Black Stone was taken by the Qarmatians in their 930 sack of this city.
One account claims that this city was once saved from attack by a divinely sent flock of birds carrying brimstone that bombarded the invading army. During a siege, a structure in this city was apocryphally damaged when the wooden structure covered with mattresses surrounding it caught on fire and fell on it. The Turkish government compared the demolition of the Ottoman-era Ajyad Fort in this city to the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan. A war elephant named Mahmud, part of an invading (*) Ethiopian army, supposedly refused to enter this city, leading the year of the birth of the most important resident of this city to be called the Year of the Elephant. The Black Stone was taken by the Qarmatians in their 930 sack of this city. This city was the capital of the short-lived Kingdom of Hejaz before being conquered by the forces of the newly forming Saudi state. For 10 points, name this holiest city in Islam.
One account claims that this city was once saved from attack by a divinely sent flock of birds carrying brimstone that bombarded the invading army.
Mecca or Makkah