The Holy Prophet’s Masjid in Madina

The Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) came out from Makkah on 27th of Safar (SEP.10, 622
A.D.) in the first year of Hijrah and reached Quba after ten days. He stayed
there for four days and on 12th of Rabi-al-Awwal (Sep. 24) his Highness went to
Madinah. The Prophet (S.A.W.) announced that wherever his she-camel kneels down he will choose that place for building the mosque and his house. The place where his
she-camel knelt down is the Prophet’s mosque at present.

The Holy Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah

The Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) came out from Makkah on 27th of Safar (SEP.10, 622
A.D.) in the first year of Hijrah and reached Quba after ten days. He stayed
there for four days and on 12th of Rabi-al-Awwal (Sep. 24) his Highness went to
Madinah.

The Prophet (S.A.W.) announced that wherever his she-camel kneels down he will
choose that place for building the mosque and his house. The place where his
she-camel knelt down is the Prophet’s mosque at present.

The Prophet (S.A.W.) bought that land. At first it was a ruined place with some
date palms’ roots and a few number of graves. The Prophet (S.A.W.) ordered to
cut the roots and level the place and use the date palms’ trunks and fronds in
mosque’s building. The Prophet (S.A.W.) placed three doors for the mosque , the
southern door at the end of the mosque and Babul Rahmah (Al-Rahmah door) at the
west and the door of Gabriel at the east where he himself enters the mosque. The
mosque was as high as a man and its area was 1050 square meters , it means that
the north-south side was 70 zar (35 meters) and the east-west side was 60 zar
(30 meters) .The mosque was built of wood and sun-dried bricks and date palm’s
trunks covered its roof .The Prophet (S.A.W.) made a shady place at the end of
the mosque which was named Suffah , in which the strangers and Indigents took
shelter , and the people who lived there were called "habitants of Suffah".

Qiblah

The Muslims said their prayers at the Prophet’s Mosque toward the Holy Jerusalem
for sixteen months until verse No .144 form "Baqarah" Surah was revealed and due
to that the Qiblah was changed to Kaaba ."We have seen the turning of your face
to heaven and now verily we shall make you turn toward the inviolable place of
worship , then turn your face toward it ."

Pulpit

The first pulpit that was built for the Prophet (S.A.W.), was a platform made of
mud and without stairs so the new comers could recognize the Prophet (S.A.W.).
Who delivered his homilies on Friday and the other occasions. In the 7th year
A.H (628 A.D.) a new pulpit was made of wood.

Sacred Area

The merciful Prophet (S.A.W.) had defined the sacred place in a Hadith
(tradition) , when he said: The area between my house and my pulpit is one of
the Paradise gardens . The holy place is 22 meters long and 15 meters wide.
Later on a small part of the holy place was added to the environs of the
Prophet’s house.(Present shrine)

The Pillars

The pillars of the mosque are trunks of dates palms and their locations have not
been changed in various times of the mosque’s extensions. Among this pillars ,
eight pillars are famous because of some specialities.

1) Mokhlagheh pillar

2) Ghoreh pillar (Ayeshe or Mohajerin), the place for sitting the emigrants from
Makkah.

3) Tawbah pillar (Abu Lababeh) , the pillar where Abu Lababeh tied himself for
repentance.

4) Mohras pillar, the place where Imam Ali (A.S.) used to say his prayers.

5) Wufood pillar , the place where the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) used to receive
the missions of delegations.

6) Sarir pillar , the place where the Prophet (S.A.W.) performed his Etekaf (a
kind of worship) in there.

7) Morabah-tol-ghabr pillar

8) Tahajod pillar , the place for midnight prayer and incantations. After the
return of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) from Khybar war and with considering the
increasing of the Muslims population the Prophet (S.A.W.) felt that the mosque
was in need of some extensions, so by adding the adjacent land the measurement
of the mosque became twice as much.

Thus, the expansion of the Prophet’s house in north and south and east became
twice as much. In this manner , the mosque become as a rectangle of 136 Zar (68
m) long from south to north and 114 Zar (57 m) wide from east to west. During
the early time of Islam ultimate the area of mosque was 3876
meters .

The House of the Prophet (S.A.W.)

The house of the Prophet (S.A.W.) , which at present is his holy shrine , can be
measured in south (Qiblah) about 10 .75 Zar and in north (Sham) 10. 25 Zar , and
the east-west width is 6 .65 Zar. Ground Floor The ground floor of the mosque
which consists in the old mosque and the new expansion forms the most important
part of the Prophet ‘s mosque.

The Principal Space

The new expansion which all of it is for prayer is in the ground floor and the
eastern and western sections are identical. The internal section that joins two
sides sections, has formed in direction of old building. All over the praying
area is roofed except the open space (courtyards) which has movable roofs .All
the roofs are considered with dimensions of (6 by 6) meters or (18 by 18) meters
and the pillars that the load of the roof is upon them are 12m height. The
ground floor and the principal area are 14 m height that draw the horizon line
of the mosque building. The necessity of equal connection between the old
building and the new one caused some renovations in the old mosque. Among them
we could mention the covering of the open space (courtyard) with 12 electrical
shades in the form of old domes. This identical designs of (18 by 18) meters
have been performed in two open spaces with dimensions of (64 by 32) meters.

Internal spaces

The ground floor has 27 open spaces with 27 sliding movable domes. The dimension
of each one is (18 by 18) meters and artistically located around the ground
floor.

The minarets

Apart from four principal minarets, another six ones were built in the mosque
that each one is 104 meters high and on the top of each one is a shining
crescent.

Underground floor

Underground floor measurements are equal to the ground floor’s and some of
industrial equipments are located at this place. The height of this floor is
four meters and the main pillars of the building that are in the depth of 20
meters have crossed inside of it.

All the roof of the Prophet’s mosque is left for praying and it has a capacity
of 90000 prayers. There are several ways for prayers to reach the mosque but in
order to prevent the clash between those who exit from principal doors and those
who go to the underground floor , they have built some exit doors beside the
principal entrance doors which related to the prayers on the ground floor .There
are 30 stairways and escalators to allow the prayers to go to the ground floor
and the underground floor, for the roof there is a covered balcony with the
width of six meters , and it could be seen all over the mosque.

The roof of the Mosque

The new project of the expansion of the holy shrine formation is based on
inspiration of everlasting traditions of Islamic architecture, for example , the
design of the courtyard’s tents is based on this method in such a way that it
can make a connection between the traditional idea of using the thin cloth for
covering the roof and keeping away the direct sun light from the tents.

Specialty of tents

Among the for mentioned tents, 12 of them are spread out upon two courtyards of
the mosque. The tents are 14 meters high in case of being spread out that is as
tall as the wall of the mosque and completely cover the courtyards of the
mosque. The flexible metal bars are placed inside each tent. The pillar of each
tent is covered with white marble and is automatically opens and closes the
tent. Each tent covers an area of (18 by17) meters. The diameter of each tent is
near 14 m and the weight of each tent is 10 tons .In summer at daytime the white
cover of the tents spread out until its
shadow covers all over the courtyard, this cover is removed at nights and the
night pleasing breeze flows in.

Movable domes

The main role of these domes is covering the courtyards at different climate
conditions and regulating the inside air of the mosque. In summer with the first
beam of the sunlight these domes move gently and completely cover the courtyard
and provide a pleasant shadow and help the air – conditioning system. When the
night comes the domes return back to their first place and the ceilings open to
let the hot air exit to the night’s cold sky and in winter this action happens
vice versa .

The Minarets

The minarets are the principal sign of each mosque from the beginning and are
employed as a fundamental element in the Prophet’s mosque at new expansion of
it. In this way six new minarets were built with the height of 104 meters and
have became as a beautiful symbol .In the expanded section of the mosque 2104
pillars are established and on the top of them there are arches that cover the
praying space .Each pillar is the pedestal of four arches that form the porches
and ceilings. The arches are covered by pieces of industrial granite in blue ,
gray and white color. At the joint point of arch and ceiling the pictures of
flowery works could be seen and the diameter of each pillar at the ground is 64
cm and the height of each one is 13 meters.

Entrances and doors

There are seven big entrances around the mosque and each one has pillars and
portals. These doors are in the north , east and west and for each one there is
a separate entrance and exit. The length and width of the doors are (6 by 3)
meters. The doors are made of thick wood with a thickness of fifteen cm and are
covered by a layer of copper. At the middle of each door there is a big circle
and is imprinted by the name of Muhammad (S.A.W.) and there is a smaller circle
in it that is imprinted by the name of Rasul-Allah, and there are some other
identical doors in the north and west of the Qiblah of the mosque. The doors in
ground floor are as follows: Seven big entrances, each one with five, 3 by 6
doors and fourteen side doors with the same size .Two entrances are placed at
the back of the building and each one has three doors with the same dimensions.
Two entrances, the entrance of Bab-ol-Rahmeh (with two doors) and the other one
Bab-ol-Nesa (with two doors) and twelve small two post-doors which are connected
to six escalators and to the stone-step of the fourteen mentioned doors .There
are two outer sloping entrances at the underground floor with six stairs to out
and one stair to the mosque.

Walls, Ceilings and Stone-Pavements

Ceilings are made of industrial granite and they are mostly in square shapes ,
small and big. The length of the big one is six meters. The outer walls are all
covered by natural granite and a little industrial granite is used for external
appearance, and the walls are faced with marble .The green brick (western and
Arabic brick) with golden cover is used on the top of entrances to beautify the
appearance , and the gilded tiles are seen in frames and walls up to height of
three meters have been covered by local granite and in the upper appearance the
black granite is used. Due to the importance of the seven entrances and the
necessity of being visible , the floor of entrance halls are covered with white
marble and an octagonal star in the middle of it.

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