Prophet's Mosque
The Prophet's Mosque is the second mosque built by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in Medina, after the Quba Mosque, as well as the second largest mosque and holiest site in Islam, after the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, in the Saudi region of the Hejaz. The mosque is located at the heart of Medina, and is a major site of pilgrimage that falls under the purview of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques
Muhammad himself was involved in the construction of the mosque. At the time, the mosque's land belonged to two young orphans, Sahl and Suhayl, and when they learned that Muhammad wished to acquire their land to build a mosque, they went to Muhammad and offered the land to him as a gift; Muhammad insisted on paying a price for the land because they were orphaned children. The price agreed upon was paid by Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, who thus became the endower or donor of the mosque, on behalf or in favor of Muhammad. al-Ansari also accommodated Muhammad upon his arrival at Medina in 622.
Originally an open-air building, the mosque served as a community center, a court of law, and a religious school. It contained a raised platform or pulpit for the people who taught the Quran and for Muhammad to give the Friday sermon. Subsequent Islamic rulers greatly expanded and decorated the mosque, naming its walls, doors and minarets after themselves and their forefathers. After an expansion during the reign of the Umayyad caliph al-Walid I, it now incorporates the final resting place of Muhammad and the first two Rashidun caliphs Abu Bakr and Umar. One of the most notable features of the site is the Green Dome in the south-east corner of the mosque, originally Aisha's house, where the tomb of Muhammad is located. Many pilgrims who perform the Hajj also go to Medina to visit the Green Dome.
In 1909, under the reign of Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II, it became the first place in the Arabian Peninsula to be provided with electrical lights. From the 14th century, the mosque was guarded by eunuchs, the last remaining guardians were photographed at the request of then-Prince Faisal bin Salman Al Saud, and in 2015, only five were left. It is generally open regardless of date or time, and has only been closed to visitors once in modern times, as Ramadan approached during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
History
Under Muhammad and the Rashidun (622–660 CE)
The mosque was built by Muhammad in 622 CE after his arrival in Medina. Riding a camel called Qaswa, he arrived at the place where this mosque was built, which was being used as a burial ground. Refusing to accept the land as a gift from the two orphans, Sahl and Suhayl, who owned the land, he bought the land which was paid for by Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, and it took seven months to complete the construction of the mosque. It measured. The roof which was supported by palm trunks was made of beaten clay and palm leaves. It was at a height of. The three doors of the mosque were the Bāb ar-Raḥmah to the south, Bāb Jibrīl to the west, and Bāb an-Nisāʾ to the east. At this time point in the history of the mosque, the wall of the qibla was facing north to Jerusalem, and the Suffah was along the northern wall. In the year 7 AH, after the Battle of Khaybar, the mosque was expanded to on each side, and three rows of columns were built beside the west wall, which became the place of praying. The mosque remained unaltered during the reign of Abu Bakr.Umar demolished all the houses around the mosque, except those of Muhammad's wives, to expand it. The new mosque's dimensions became. Sun-dried mud bricks were used to construct the walls of the enclosure. Besides strewing pebbles on the floor, the roof's height was increased to. Umar constructed three more gates for entrance. He also added Al-Buṭayḥah for people to recite poetry.
The third Rashidun caliph Uthman demolished the mosque in 649. Ten months were spent in building the new rectangular shaped mosque whose face was turned towards the Kaaba in Mecca. The new mosque measured. The number of gates as well as their names remained the same. The enclosure was made of stones laid in mortar. The palm trunk columns were replaced by stone columns which were joined by iron clamps. Teakwood was used in reconstructing the ceiling filza.
Umayyad period (660–750)
In 706 or 707, the Umayyad caliph al-Walid I instructed his governor of Medina, the future caliph Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, to significantly enlarge the mosque. According to the architectural historian Robert Hillenbrand, the building of a large scale mosque in Medina, the original center of the caliphate, was an "acknowledgement" by al-Walid of "his own roots and those of Islam itself" and possibly an attempt to appease Medinan resentment at the loss of the city's political importance to Syria under the Umayyads.It took three years for the work to be completed. Raw materials were procured from the Byzantine Empire. Al-Walid lavished large sums for the mosque's reconstruction and supplied mosaics and Greek and Coptic craftsmen. The area of the mosque was increased from the area of Uthman's time, to. For the first time, porticoes were built in the mosque connecting the northern part of the structure to the sanctuary. The reconstruction preserved the location of the qibla wall, but Umar ordered the addition of a curved niche to it and this became the first concave mihrab in Islamic architecture. The renovated mosque was richly decorated with marble paneling and mosaics covering its walls. Later written accounts, such as that of Ibn Jubayr, described the mosaics as containing inscriptions and depicting landscapes with trees, suggesting that they resembled the style of contemporary Umayyad mosaics in the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and the Great Mosque of Damascus.
The mosque's redevelopment entailed the demolition of the living quarters of Muhammad's wives and the expansion of the structure to incorporate the graves of Muhammad, Abu Bakr and Umar. The vocal opposition to the demolition of Muhammad's home from local religious circles was dismissed by al-Walid. A wall was built to segregate the mosque and the houses of the wives of Muhammad. The mosque was reconstructed in a trapezoid shape with the length of the longer side being.
According to the 10th-century writer Ibn Rusta, minarets were also built for the first time during al-Walid's expansion as four towers were added to the mosque's corners. They may be the first minarets in Islamic architecture, though it is not clear exactly what purpose these towers served in this early period. At the time of Ibn Rusta's writing, only one of the original four towers remained standing. The southwest minaret was demolished in 716 on the orders of Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik.
Under subsequent Islamic states (750–1517)
The Abbasid caliph al-Mahdi extended the mosque to the north by. His name was also inscribed on the walls of the mosque. He also planned to remove six steps to the minbar, but abandoned this idea, fearing damage to the wooden platforms on which they were built. The project required the demolition of the two northern minarets of al-Walid's time but they were replaced by two new towers at the northern corners of the new expansion. According to an inscription of Ibn Qutaybah, the caliph al-Ma'mun did "unspecified work" on the mosque. Al-Mutawakkil lined the enclosure of Muhammad's tomb with marble.In 1269, the Mamluk sultan Baybars sent dozens of artisans led by the eunuch Emir Jamal al-Din Muhsin al-Salihi to rebuild the sanctuary, including enclosures around the tombs of Muhammad and of Fatima. The Mamluk sultan al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghuri built a dome of stone over his grave in 1476.
Ottoman period (1517–1805 and 1840–1919)
Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent rebuilt the east and west walls of the mosque, and added the northeastern minaret known as Süleymaniyye. He added a new altar called Ahnaf next to Muhammad's altar, Shafi'iyya, and placed a new steel-covered dome on the tomb of Muhammad. Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent wrote the names of the Ottoman sultans from Osman Ghazi to himself and revived the "Gate of Mercy" or the west gate. The pulpit that is used today was built under Sultan Murad III.In 1817, Sultan Mahmud II completed the construction of "the Purified Residence" on the southeast side of the mosque, and covered with a new dome. The dome was painted green in 1837, and has been known as the "Green Dome" ever since. Sultan Mahmud II's successor, Sultan Abdulmecid I, took thirteen years to rebuild the mosque, beginning in 1849. Red stone bricks were used as the main material in reconstruction of the mosque. The floor area of the mosque was increased by.
The entire mosque was reorganized except for the tomb of Muhammad, the three altars, the pulpit and the Suleymaniye minaret. On the walls, verses from the Quran were inscribed in Islamic calligraphy. On the northern side of the mosque, a madrasah was built for teaching the Qur'an. An ablution site was added to the north side. The prayer place on the south side was doubled in width, and covered with small domes. The interiors of the domes were decorated with verses from the Qur'an and couplets from the poem Kaside-i Bürde. The qibli wall was covered with polished tiles with lines inscribed from the Qur'an. The places of prayer and courtyard were paved with marble and red stone. The fifth minaret, Mecidiyye, was built to the west of the surrounded area. Following the "Desert Tiger" Fakhri Pasha's arrest by his own officers having resisted for 72 days after the end of the Siege of Medina on 10 January 1919, 550 years of Ottoman rule in the region came to an end.