Al-Masjid Al-Haram is the greatest mosque in Islam and is located in the heart of the city of Mecca in the west of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with the Kaaba in the middle, which is the first house built for people on earth to worship God in it according to the Islamic faith, and this is the greatest and holiest spot on earth for Muslims. The Grand Mosque is the qiblah of Muslims in their prayers, and to it they make pilgrimages. It was called the Grand Mosque due to the sanctity of fighting in it since the victorious entry of the Prophet Muhammad to Makkah Al-Mukarramah. Muslims believe that prayer in it is equivalent to one hundred thousand prayers.
It is mentioned in the Qur’an: The first house that was set up for people is for the one at Bakkah, blessed and a guidance for the worlds (Surat Al Imran, verse 96)
In the past, before Islam and before the establishment of the Grand Mosque, the term doors were used to refer to the entrances located at the ends of the roads leading to the courtyard of the Kaaba, and they did not have a clear architectural form, and their entrances were known as Al-Fajaj. In the era of the Prophet, the doors of the Noble Sanctuary of Mecca continued to be described and named as they were in the pre-Islamic era. Among the events of the Prophet’s biography, the names of some of those doors were mentioned, such as: The Gate of the Mosque (Bab Bani Abd Shams, known as Bab Bani Shaybah and the Great Gate), and Bab Bani Makhzoum, Bab Bani Jamh, Bab Bani Sahem, and Bab Al Hanatin (The Tailors). Some researchers estimate the number of gates of the Grand Mosque in that period to be seven gates, two of them in the eastern side, three in the western side, and one in each of the north and south, and some of them acquired in the era of the Prophet Muhammad a special character because of its connection to hermitage.
During the era of Omar Ibn Al-Khattab, the doors had a specific architectural shape, after he ordered in the year 17 AH - 638 AD to surround the end with a short wall of less than a height, in which doors were opened in line with the doors that were before between the floors. During the reign of Othman bin Affan, specifically in the year 26 AH - 646 AD, the gates of the Great Mosque of Mecca witnessed an architectural development, as its area was increased and the corridors were added to it. In turn, it was necessary to build doors for the Grand Mosque with two pillars and roofed heights. After the era of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs, the Grand Mosque witnessed more than one expansion, the first of which was the building of Abdullah bin Al-Zubayr in the year 65 AH - 684 AD. There was a significant increase in the area of the Grand Mosque, which resulted in the construction of new doors instead of the old ones. This was followed by a number of expansions in the Umayyad, Abbasid and Ottoman eras to the modern Saudi era. As a result of these and expansions, the doors of the Grand Mosque were subjected to changes in their numbers and locations.
Currently, the number of doors of the Grand Mosque reaches 179 doors that lead to the Grand Mosque, its surface and vault, made of the finest types of wood, and clad with polished metal adjusted with copper ornaments, and it has been provided with digital indicative panels that light up in green if there is a possibility for worshipers to enter and illuminate in red once the capacity of the mosque is completed forbidden.
The five main doors of the Grand Mosque
King Abdul Aziz Gate, No. (1) in the Western Square.
Bab Al-Safa, No. (11) on the Mas'a side.
Bab Al-Fath, No. (45) in the North Square.
Gate of Umrah, No. (62) in the northern square.
King Fahd Gate, No. (79) in the Western Square.
It is one of the important doors in the Grand Mosque
On the left side of King Fahd Gate: (64, 70, 72, 74).
In the eastern square: (Bab al-Salam, Bab Ali, Bab al-Marwa).
In the northern square: (Bab al-Hudaybiyya, Bab al-Madina, Bab al-Quds, Bab al-Faruq).
Twenty gates of the total doors of the Grand Mosque have been allocated to people with special needs, including King Abdul Aziz Gate, New Ajyad Gate, Hanin Gate, Al-Safa Gate, Al-Marwa Gate, Al-Qarara Gate, Al-Fath Gate, Al-Madina Gate, Umrah Gate, 64th Gate, 74th Gate, 84th Gate, and 94th Gates. ), in addition to a number of stairs and bridges
Minarets
The first minaret in the Sacred Mosque was reconstructed by the Abbasid Caliph Abu Jaafar al-Mansur. It was a minaret in Bab al-Umrah during the mosque’s construction during his reign in the year 139 AH. The minister of the owner of Mosul renovated it in the year 551 AH. During the reign of Sultan Suleiman, where it was covered by a dome, when Suleiman rebuilt it, he made its head in the style of the Roman pulpits.
The era of the Caliph The construction of three minarets during the era of Caliph Muhammad al-Mahdi in the year 168 AH, one of them on Bab al-Salam and it was on two floors, then it was demolished during the time of al-Nasir Faraj bin Barquq in 810 AH, and the second on a gate that was demolished by Sultan Suleiman, and he restored it, the carved yellow stone, and made it its head In the style of the Roman minbars, and the third at the Farewell Gate (Hazoura minaret) and then it was rebuilt in the time of Ashraf Sha’ban, the owner of Egypt. It fell in the year 771 AH. It was built in the following year and renewed in 1072 AH in the Ottoman style, and it was known in the Ottoman era as the Farewell Minaret.
Then he taught the entrance a fifth minaret, a fifth minaret, a Wasab minaret, in the year 284 A.H., in the Mamluk style. Then a sixth minaret during the reign of Sultan Qaytbay. The minaret of the Qaytbay School between Bab Al-Nabi and Bab Al-Salam with three floors, topped by an Egyptian summit. It was built in the year 883 AH with the school. Then Sultan Suleiman built a seventh minaret in one of the four schools between Bab al-Salam and Bab. It is a high stone minaret of yellow stone, its head in the style of the Roman minbars.
Work began in 1375 and the lighthouses were reconstructed and poured, with a height of 89 meters, divided into five parts: the base, the second balcony, and the cover. As it was built in a modern style to fit with the modern architecture of the mosque, after that two minarets were added to the King Fahd Gate. Nine minarets, currently, four other minarets, welcome 13 minarets distributed on the main doors of the Great Mosque of Mecca, where they appear as prominent shoulders of them, in addition to some other doors and the corners.
Minarets of the main entrances
Two minarets at the door of King Abdul Aziz.
Two minarets on the door of King Fahd.
Two minarets on the gate of Umrah.
Two minarets on the door of the opening.
Minaret on the Gate of Serenity.
Minarets of modern expansion
Two minarets at the door of King Abdullah.
Minaret in the northeast corner.
Minaret in the northwest corner.