Expansion of Masjid al Haram and Masjid e Nabawi - AskIslamPedia

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EXPANSION OF MASJID AL HARAM AND MASJID E NABAWI

Masjid al Haram and Masjid e Nabawi are the two sacred Masajids in Islam. Both are situated in Saudi Arabia. Al-Masjid al-Haram was the first house of worship ordained for mankind on Earth. A great number of books and booklets exist, in nearly all languages of the world, about the rituals to be performed in Makkah and Madinah. Some of these books describe in detail the various tasks and activities of Hajj and Umrah.

Table of Contents
Qur’aan Hadith Virtues of Makkah Al- Mukarramah Virtues of Madinah At- Tayibba Current news The expansion project in brief Directives and Standards for the design Area for expansion References

Qur’aan

Makkah is that city about which almighty Allah says; Verily, the first House (of worship) appointed for mankind was that at Bakkah (former name of Makkah), full of blessing, and guidance for al-Alameen (the mankind and Jinns). In it are manifest signs (for example), the Maqaam (place) of Ibraheem (Abraham); whosoever enters it, he attains security.” (Surah al-Imran 3:96-97)

“I swear by this City of Makkah. And thou art a freeman of this City”(Surah Balad 90:1-2)

“By the Fig And the Olive. And by the Mount of Sinai. And by this city (Makkah) of security “ (Surah Teen 95:1-3)

Hadith

Ibn Az-Zubair (R) narrated that the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه و سلم said: "Offering prayer in my masjid (in Madinah) is better than one thousand prayers elsewhere, same for those offered prayer in al-Masjid al-Haram (in Makkah). And prayer offered in al-Masjid al-Haram is better than prayer offered in my masjid by one hundred prayers." Related by Ahmad and Ibn Hibban graded it as Sahih. Bulugh al-Maram 779

Virtues of Makkah Al Mukarramah

Makkah is the city where the most sacred Masjid is located. Prayers in Masjid Al Haram are rewarded 100,000 times more than the prayers in other masjids.

Another Blessing of Masjid al-Haraam is the al-Hajr-al-Aswad (the Black Stone), from where the Tawaaf (circumambulation) initiates and ends. Hajr-al-Aswad is a stone of Paradise and it was as the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: “The black stone descended from Paradise whiter than milk, but the sins of the descendants of Adam made it black.” (Musnad Ahmad and at-Tirmidhee no: 2577)

Virtues of Madinah At-Tayyiba

Narrated by Anas (May Allah be pleased with him) : The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, "Medina is a sanctuary from that place to that. Its trees should not be cut and no heresy should be innovated nor any sin should be committed in it, and whoever innovates in it a heresy or commits sins (bad deeds), then he will incur the curse of Allah, the angels, and all the people." (Bukhari, Volume 3: Number 91)

Narrated Zaid bin Aslam from his father (May Allah be pleased with them), Umar (May Allah be pleased with him) said, O Allah! Grant me martyrdom in Your cause, and let my death be in the city of Your Apostle (peace be upon him)." (Bukhari, Volume 3:114)

Current news

The proposition of a project to increase the capacity of the mataf (Place of Tawaf around Kaba) was shown to King Abdullah in Ramadhan 1432 Hijri who directed to start implementing it.

A vast expansion project for the mataf, (the circumambulation space around the Kaaba), is currently under way. The new mataf when completed, after three years, In-sha-Allaah will accommodate 130,000 pilgrims in an hour, while the current mataf capacity withstands 52,000 pilgrims. The area behind the Ottoman structure will be demolished and re-built with 1 basement, 3 floors and a roof, all without pillars and all for Tawaf only. This album includes pictures of the old Mataf, the proposals, the approved design and the construction pictures.

The expansion project in brief

1- The project will be implemented in one phase (3 years starts from Muharram 1434 / December 2012).

2- The expansion will add 1,300,000 m^2 to the existing 400,000 m^2 (or around 2 million worshipers)

3- The project will be associated with heavy works to upgrade and modernize the central Madina area.

Proposed plan for Masjid e Haram:-

Proposed plan for Masjid-e-Nabawi:-

Directives and Standards for the design

-Fragmentation of Human blocks and their distribution on different floors and controlling them from outside the building of Masjid-al-Haram.

-Preseving the old Haram and main gates with minarets as much as possible and rebuilding the First Saudi Expansion taking into account the future vertical expansion.

-Linking the Mataf and Mas'aa floors on the same level.

-Specifying separate floors for people with special needs and the elderly to perform Tawaf and linking them with Mas'aa floors.

-Integration of systems and services, taking into account the future demands like shading and automated tawaf.

Area for expansion

The total area built for the expansion (including expansion building, the bridges, the service building and the outdoor premises): 709.460 square meters.

Area of the expansion building: 331.400 square meters.

Area of the service building: 321.400 square meters (approximately equal to the area of the expansion building).

Built-up area of bridges: 56.660 square meters.

The capacity of worshipers in the whole expansion: 871.200 worshipers. The capacity of worshipers in the a expansion building: 297,400 worshipers. The capacity of worshipers in the terraces: 187.500 worshipers. The capacity worshipers in the outdoor premises: 315.400 worshipers. The capacity worshipers in the Bridges: 71.200 worshipers.

The number of gates of the expansion building: 54 gates, a main gate in the north and a main gate in the south.

Height of the main dome (from the roof of the building to the top of the dome): 21 meters.

The number of bridges unloading crowds from the terraces building to the expansion: 16 Bridge. Number of large umbrellas (53 m * 53 m, height: 30 m): 9 umbrellas Number of small umbrellas (28 m * 18 m, height: 21 m): 24 umbrellas.

The number of service elevators in the expansion building (for ordinary and disabled people): 16 elevator.

The total number of abolution centers in the basement of the expansion building: 3.120.

The total number of toilets in the basement of the expansion building: 1.380. The total number of toilets in the terrace building: 5700