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The Two Holy Deprivations
The two holy mosques have a great impact on the hearts of Muslims, as they are the two most holy places on the face of the earth, and the status occupied by the two holy shrines in the hearts of Muslims came from their history of Islamic events and glories that left a clear and imprint in the forehead of Islamic history.
Sacred Mosque
The Sacred Mosque is considered the greatest mosque in Islamic history, as it mediates Mecca in the western part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the Sacred Mosque embraces in its heart the first house built on the surface of the earth which is the Kaaba.
The Sacred Mosque takes the characteristic of the holiest and greatest spot in Muslims, and one of the things that gives it the most importance is that the direction to which Muslims go in their prayers, and their destination in the Hajj season, and the name of the Sacred Mosque came from the prohibition of fighting inside it from the moment the Messenger of God, peace and blessings of God be upon him, triumphed over him.
Prophet’s Mosque
The Prophet’s Mosque takes several names, including the Prophet’s Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque, and is included among the major mosques worldwide, and comes second in terms of sanctity in Islam.
This mosque was built in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, and that was in the first year of migration after the Quba Mosque, where expansions were made over this mosque throughout history, starting with the rightly caliphs, then the Umayyads, the Abbasids, then the Ottomans, but during the era of the Saudi state the mosque underwent the largest expansion In history, and that was during the year 1994 AD.
The expansion of the Two Holy Mosques
The expansion of the Grand Mosque
The first expansion that took place on the area of the Grand Mosque was during the reign of the Caliph Al-Rashid Omar bin Al-Khattab, where he ordered the expansion of the mosque by about five hundred and sixty m 2, and that was in the seventeenth year of migration, and during the period of the succession of Al-Faruq was demolished after the flow of a sweeping torrent to it.
In the twenty-sixth year, the Commander of the Faithful, Othman bin Affan, issued an order to expand the mosque until its area extends to 4,390 square meters. The expansion included the demolition of some homes close to and surrounding the mosque, thanks to Ibn Affan, may God be pleased with him, for the construction of the covered corridors and marble columns.
But during the Umayyad period, a huge fire broke out in the place, and Ibn Al-Zubayr expanded the place in the sixtieth year of migration, and was followed by another expansion during the reign of Al-Walid bin Abdul Malik also in the year 91 AH after the place was subjected to torrential torrents.
Expansions continued in the Sacred Mosque. In the Abbasid state, Abu Ja`far al-Mansur made an expansion of the place during the period between 137-140 AH. He set up the lighthouse in the northern and western parts, and issued an order to cover the stone of Ismail in marble. The expansions destroyed the house of the symposium, established six doors for the mosque and covered the roof with teak wood. In the year 306 AH, Muqtadir came to God and increased the area of the Sacred Mosque by adding the area of Darin, and established the door of Ibrahim.
The period of the Saudi state witnessed great expansion in the Grand Mosque starting from the era of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud, where he performed a complete maintenance of the mosque and repaired it, from restoring, painting and repairing the Zamzam dome, and providing a service to worshipers by protecting them from the burning sun by installing umbrellas and tiling with stone In the area between Safa and Marwah, the last of which was in the year 1373 AH.
It was represented by the introduction of electric lighting to the Sacred Mosque and the installation of electric fans to reduce the temperature of the air on its worshipers, but during the reign of King Saud bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, the beginning of the expansion project in 1375 AH, as it became thanks to this expansion can accommodate fifty thousand worshipers, and the expansion period lasted a period She is ten years old.
On the twenty-third of Sha`ban in the year 1375 AH, the foundation stone for this expansion was laid, and it included a number of projects including the opening of the Mawari Street for Al-Safa, the construction of three floors and basements, the addition of candlesticks, a plate of fire and the four shrines, and then witnessed expansions during the reign of King Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, then during the reign of King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, it included three axes, including the expansion of the Great Mosque of Mecca to become two million worshipers, and the second axis includes the outer courtyards, which includes toilets, corridors and tunnels.
The expansion of the Prophet’s Mosque
It was built in the first year of immigration during the era of the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, and its area at that time amounted to 1.050 m 2, and in the seventh year of migration he underwent the first expansion during the era of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him also and its area was up to 2.475 m 2 and this came after the Battle of Khaybar.
In the seventeenth year of immigration, the caliph Al-Rashid Omar bin Al-Khattab made the second expansion on the mosque until its area reached 3.575 m 2, and the expansion continued even during the reign of Caliph Uthman Ibn Affan, then during the period of the Umayyad rule the Prophet’s rooms were added to the mosque, and that was by order of the caliph The Umayyad al-Walid bin Abdul Malik during the rule of Omar bin Abdul Aziz, and the hollow mihrabs and minarets were created, as the first time was for that.
Expansions continued during the Abbasid, Mamluk, Ottoman and Saudi states, and during this period the mosque suffered a fire twice, the first was in the year 654 AD at the end of the rule of the Abbasid state, the era of the caliph Al-Musta’s Allah, and the period of expansion extended until the beginning of the rule of the Mamluk state during the reign of Zahir Baybars.
The second fire was during the era of the Ottoman Empire in the era of Qaitbay in the year 888 of migration, but as for the expansions that occurred in it during the era of the Saudi state, this was during two periods during the period of King Abdulaziz Al Saud in the period between 1372-1375 for migration and at a financial cost estimated at fifty million Real, and the second in the year 1406 to 1414 AH, during the reign of King Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the largest expansion in history, with the area of the Prophet’s Mosque reaching 98.327 sq.m.
