Looking at Islam's holy cities and their mosques

By Santi W.E. Soekanto

MECCA (JP): Moslems all over the world dream of going to the holy land, namely the holy cities of Medina and Mecca, on the haj or umrah pilgrimage.

Apart from their religious significance, the two holy cities and the two mosques inside them -- Masjid Nabawi (the Prophet's Mosque) and Masjid Al-Haram -- are a wonder to behold from architectural, historical and touristic points of view.

The following is a look at the holy cities and the mosques.

The radiant

The city of Medina is often called Al-Medina Al-Munawarrah, or the radiant. Located in the Hejaz, the western region of Saudi Arabia, it is about 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of the Red Sea and 215 miles (345 km) north of Mecca.

A fertile oasis, it produces economically significant crops such as dates and other fruits, vegetables and grains. It has expanded beyond its old city walls, and today it has several broad avenues lined with coffee houses, luxury shops and hotels.

Masjid Nabawi, the Prophet's Mosque, is called so because Muhammad called it "my mosque." It was built in the first year after his emigration, or Hijra, in 622 A.D., from Mecca to this oasis, which was still called Yathrib.

Situated just west of his house, the construction later expanded and covered his burial site as well. Today, his sweet- smelling tomb is located just under the Green Dome of the mosque.

The mosque has undergone renovation a number of times. In 1984, King Fahd ibn Abdul 'Aziz, who is known as the Khadimul Haramain, or the custodian of the two holy cities, led a groundbreaking ceremony for the grandest expansion of the mosque.

In 1985, dozens of hotels and shops on the surrounding plot of land were demolished to make way for the project. The old building was then expanded by an additional 82,000 square meters. The mosque's ground floor now measures 98,000 square meters in width and is able to accommodate 167,000 people. Up to 90,000 people can fit onto its 67,000-square-meter roof.

If all the vacant space around the mosque is used, 650,000 people can pray there during the "low season" and as many as one million during the haj season or the Ramadhan fasting month.

According to H. Ahmad Junaidi Halim, LC, a member of the Medina branch of the Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI), in his book Makkah, Madinah dan Sekitarnya (Mecca, Medina and Surroundings), the total width of the mosque today is 305,000 square meters. It is as wide as the city was when Muhammad first entered it.

Fresh air

The air inside the mosque is always fresh, not only because of its centralized air conditioning located in a 70,000 square meter site some seven kilometers west of the mosque, but because it has 27 large open spaces. Above each open space is a dome that opens and closes at certain hours.

The cooled air is distributed through underground pipes to marble pots at the foot of the mosque's 2,104 white marble pillars. Each of the mosque's 10 corners has a tower 104 meters high, decorated at the top with a copper crescent plated with pure gold. Each of crescent is said to be seven meters high and weigh 4.5 tons. The 10 towers also beam laser light toward Mecca.

Inside the mosque are 674 brass chandeliers, plated with gold imported from Italy; some of the chandeliers weigh 485 kilograms while the smallest weighs 125 kilograms.

Exactly at the middle of the mosque are two open spaces, each protected by a group of six giant umbrellas that are operated by a computer and open and close at certain hours.

The parking lot of the mosque can accommodate up to 4,500 cars. The mosque has 2,500 toilets, 6,800 taps where people perform ablution, as well as jars and jars of cooled Zamzam water for people to drink in 560 locations throughout the mosque.

Paradise

After the expansion project land prices in Medina skyrocketed. The city can now boasts some of the most expensive land in the world. In 1992, a square meter of land just north of the mosque was priced at US$67,000 compared with $26,000 per square meter for prime property in New York City, $30,000 in Paris and $35,000 in London.

In 1996, the price shot up to almost $86,000 per square meter. A Saudi Arabian contractor, Saudi Binladin Group, handled the expansion project with an investment of $8 billion.

All in all, the expansion has now made the Prophet Mosque a grand place of worship and a source of pride for many people. For many Moslems, however, the most important aspect of the mosque is its sacred places, including the Raudlah, the Prophet's mihrab (the chamber where he stood leading the prayer), the mimbar (pulpit), and his and his two closest disciples' tombs.

The Raudlah is a small space inside the mosque which the Prophet said was a piece of the "garden of the paradise". Moslems believe that saying their prayers here is like saying them in heaven. People jostle to be able to stand there and pray. So thick is the crowd that, sometimes, just when one is about to lift one's head after a bow, one finds someone else's bottom right overhead.

Holiest

Mecca -- or Makkah as the local Makkans pronounce it -- is the holiest city of Islam. This is the place where Prophet Muhammad was born, where animals may not be hunted, where a twig may not be broken, and where stones, rocks and pebbles are never to be removed.

The city is located in the western part of Saudi Arabia about 45 miles east of the port of Jeddah on the Red Sea.

Non-Moslems are forbidden to enter Mecca on penalty of death, but several non-Moslems have left records of visits in disguise, the first being Ludovico Bartema in 1503 and the most famous being Sir Richard Burton in 1853.

Mecca lies in a narrow valley between two ranges of bare hills. The Ka'bah was built in a part of the valley known as "the hollow of Mecca," where a number of side valleys join the main valley.

Through some of these side valleys, roads run to Jeddah to the west, Medina to the north, Thaif to the east and Yemen to the south. After World War II, Mecca expanded along most of these roads.

Today, Mecca is a modern city. Its population was 350,000 in 1994. During the pilgrimage season the population often triples.

Mecca is the capital and administrative center of Mecca province. It has little industry, and the predominant economic activity is commerce.

This is the place where Indonesians and Malays from Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei don't have to be afraid of losing their way while shopping. Most of the traders speak Malay and Indonesian.

Tourism is of obvious importance to the city, and the annual pilgrimage provides a livelihood for many Makkans. Some are involved in housing and feeding the pilgrims. Others are mutawwif, or official guides who make travel arrangements as well as lead the pilgrims on religious rites.

Masjid

The core of the city, however, is of course the Holy Mosque, or Masjid Al-Haram. It is the site of the Ka'bah, the sacred cube-like building toward which Moslems throughout the world turn their faces when praying. Every Moslem who has the means is expected to make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in his or her lifetime.

The first permanent construction of the mosque was built by Caliph Umar ibn Al-Khattab in 638 A.D., according to Ahmad Junaidi Salim. Before that, the mosque was a vacant lot surrounding the Ka'bah. Umar, the Prophet's disciple, first bought land and houses to make way for the new construction.

The second expansion was made in 646 A.D. by yet another disciple, Caliph Ustman ibn Affan. Like Masjid Nabawi, Masjid Al- Haram underwent several expansions and renovations.

The most impressive and grandest expansion was initiated by King Fahd ibn Abdul 'Aziz in the early 1980s. Then, the mosque was "only" 151,000 square meters and was able to accommodate 313,000 people.

Today, the mosque is an impressive construction of 328,000 square meters in width. During low seasons, it accommodates 730,000 people; during the peak of Ramadhan or pilgrimage season, it can accommodate as many as one million Moslems.

The mosque is circular, encircling the Ka'bah. It has four main gates and 45 ordinary doors open 24 hours a day. It is easy for one to get lost among so many doors and rows of prayer mats.

Fortunately, every gate and door has a number. Pilgrims now say to one another, "Let's meet after the Dzuhur (midday) prayer under, say, gate 64."

Moslems believe that saying one prayer at this mosque is better than saying 100,000 prayers at other mosques. A multiplied heavenly reward is also expected here for such deeds as giving alms or telling beads in remembrance of Allah.

In addition to the Ka'bah, the mosque has four other important spots or monuments; they are the Maqam Ibrahim (literally the place where Abraham stood when building the Ka'bah); Hijr Ismail (the place where Ishmael and his mother were buried); the Zamzam well; and Mas'a (the long lanes where people perform the rite of sa'y -- running between the mounds of Safa and Marwa in emulation of Hagar's trip in search of water for baby Ishmael).

The cube

The Ka'bah is an Arabic name for just that: the cube-like building. It was built by Prophet Ibrahim and has been renovated several times.

Ever since the time of Ishmael, the Ka'bah has been covered with a kiswah, or curtain. Today's black cover was made by the Saudi Arabian government. Made of silk and weighing 670 kilograms, the cover is usually decorated with calligraphy written in gold spun thread.

A special factory with modern equipment and 240 workers in Mecca makes the kiswah. The Ka'bah is washed twice every year, on the first days of Dzul Hijjah and Sya'ban, two months in the Islamic calendar.

The cover is replaced once a year and the government has a budget of approximately US$4.5 million for one kiswah.

Moslems believe that just looking and admiring the Ka'bah, much less saying prayers outside or inside it, promises great heavenly rewards.

Previously, the Ka'bah had a gold door and gold eaves called Mizab. It has recently undergone some renovation; the three pillars inside it, for instance, are said to have been removed. Its gold door, however, remains.

The stone

At one corner of the Ka'bah is the black stone called Hajar Aswad. From this spot, pilgrims start the thawaf rite of encircling the Ka'bah counter-clockwise seven times.

Many Moslems feel their pilgrimage incomplete unless they kiss the stone at least once. The Prophet himself once did this, as did his disciples.

The act is not mandatory. Nevertheless, pilgrims jostle, often to the point of endangering their own safety, to kiss or rub the stone because they believe in a promised heavenly reward.

The stone itself was first put in the Ka'bah by Ibrahim. During one stage of history, when various tribesmen in Mecca were in conflict as to whom should replace the stone following a restoration of the Ka'bah, it was the young Muhammad who was chosen to solve the problem.

He asked that the stone be placed on a piece of cloth, and that representatives of each tribe carry one corner of the cloth in order to transport the stone. It was the Prophet himself who then took the stone and placed it on the outside wall of the Ka'bah.

In addition, there is also the Multazam. This is a corner near the gold door of the Ka'bah. Prophet Muhammad once said that all prayers said here will be answered by Allah.