'The circulated or encircled', Hejazi Arabic pronunciation: [atˤˈ tˤaː(j)ɪf]) is a city and governorate in the Province of Makkah in Saudi Arabia.

[4] The city was visited by the Islamic prophet Muhammad, sometime in the early 7th century, and was inhabited by the tribe of Banu Thaqif.

The city owes its popularity among tourists to its many mountain resorts and moderate climate, even during the harsh summers of Arabia.

[8] Taif is also very active in the manufacturing of traditional attar, and is known locally as "City of the Roses" (Arabic: مَدِيْنَة ٱلْوُرُوْد, romanized: Madīnat al-Wurūd).

[12] The etymology of the city's current name, Taʾif (Arabic: اَلطَّائِفُ), comes from the Arabic root ط و ف, which could translate to "wanderer", "roamer", or "circulator"; the latter of which is the basis of the word Ṭawāf (طَوَاف), which literally translates to "circulation" or "circumambulation", and is used in the context of the circumambulation of the Kaaba.

It has been suggested that Jewish tribes who were displaced in the wars of the Himyarite Kingdom by Ethiopian Christians settled near Ta'if.

Wheat, vines and fruit orchards were grown around Ta'if, and this is how the city earned its title "the Garden of the Hejaz.

[20] In the early 7th century C.E., Muhammad, who was born in Makkah, preached Islam to the inhabitants of Mecca and the Hijaz, and encountered resistance from many of the people there.

The Battle of Tabuk in 631 left Tā'if completely isolated, so members of Thaqīf arrived in Makkah to negotiate the conversion of the city to Islam.

The Ottoman sultan, Mahmud II, called upon the Wali of Egypt, Muhammad Ali, who launched an attack on the Hejaz and reconquered Ta'if in 1813.

In 1813, the Swiss traveler and orientalist Johann Ludwig Burckhardt visited Ta'if and left an eyewitness account of the city just after its recapture by the Muhammad Ali, with whom he obtained several interviews while he was there.

[24]The castle and military barracks in Ta'if were repaired by the Ottomans in 1843, a hükûmet konağı – mansion for government business – was built in 1869, and a post office was established sometime later.

That city had fallen and then in July, Abdullah, the eldest son of the Hashemite leader and Sharif of Mecca, Husayn ibn Ali, came with seventy men to Tā'if.

Whilst his activities in the area aroused the suspicion of Ahmed Bey, Ghalib Pasha was unconcerned by so small a force.

However, Hashemite guns were slowly brought up to Tā'if, and then the city held out a little longer; before finally surrendering on 22 September.

Tensions between the King of the Hejaz, Husayn ibn Ali, and Abdulaziz al-Saud, the Emir of Nejd and Hasa, soon broke out into violence.

For comparison, the surrounding mountains which separate Ta'if from nearby villages such as Al-Hada and Ash-Shafa, range in height anywhere from 2,000–3,500 m (6,600–11,500 ft).

[37] The Nuqbat al-Hamra' park near Al-Hada is a large nature preserve at an elevation of 2,100 metres (6,900 feet) above sea level.

[38][39][40][41] Ash-Shafā is a small village situated high up in the mountains at an elevation of 2,200 to 2,500 metres (7,200 to 8,200 feet) above sea level, rich in agricultural products.

[citation needed] Historically, Ta'if's economy depended on agriculture and the cultivation of roses, which were traded throughout Central Asia and Transoxiana.

[19] The distilled rose oil from the Rosa × damascena plant has been traditionally used as an attar in the Middle East, usually as a masculine fragrance, and due to its cultivation in Ta'if, it has gained the name "Ta'if rose", which in 2024 was included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

[44] On October 1, 2017, King Salman of Saudi Arabia inaugurated the "New Ta'if" project, a $3.9 billion project[45] aiming at establishing a new, international airport in the city, dubbed the Ta'if International Airport, renovation and modernization of the historic Souk 'Okaz,[46][47] establishment of the Oasis of Technology, which is expected to include an Antonov aircraft manufacturing and assembly plant, an industrial airport with a 3.5-km runway, a solar farm covering 25,000 square metres (270,000 sq ft) expected to produce 30 MW of electricity,[46][47] the Residential Suburb, which is expected to include 10,000 residential units,[46][47] the Industrial City, an 11-square-kilometre (4.2 sq mi) industrial city with a complex for heavy, medium and light industries along with a vocational training center,[46][47] and the University City, a 16-square-kilometre (6.2 sq mi) university projected to be built in the Saiysad National Park.

The expatriate minority in the city has brought several other games with them to Ta'if, including cricket, badminton and volleyball.

[53] In 2014 the Canadian Niagara College opened a campus in Taif with programs in tourism, hospitality, and business.

[57][55][58] As of 2023 it is unclear whether the campus in Taif is still active, with even the main website of Niagara College KSA having mixed information.

Shubra Palace is the regional museum of Ta'if, housed in a building built around 1900, which served as Ibn Saud's lodging in the 1930s,[69][70][71] and was also used as the Presidency of the Council of Ministers of Saudi Arabia during King Faisal's reign.

[citation needed] Due to Ta'if's location in the mountains, most major highways either bend around the city or avoid the region completely.

The only major highway in the Saudi Arabian network to pass through Ta'if is Highway 15 (known to locals as the Taif – Al-Hada Road) which arrives from Mecca in the west, bends around the mountains through Al-Hada, passes through the center of Ta'if, and travels to Abha and Khamis Mushait via Baha and Baljurashi.

Thu al-Isba' al-'Adwani was an Arabic poet and a man of wisdom from the Banu 'Adwan tribe that historically lived in the northern parts of Ta'if.