The Holy Mosque, Makkah Mukarramah is located in the middle of the city and statred out in an open circular plaza almost 2,000 square meters. After the floods had damaged Makkah Mukarramah in 688 A.D., the second successor of the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) Caliph Omar Bin Al Khatab had repaired the damages. He built a courtyard around the Ka'bah and also extended the area 500 square meters. His successor, Uthman Bin Affan extended the courtyard 646 square meters and 3,300 square meters was once again extended by Abdullah Bin Al Zubair. Abu Ja'far Al Mansour added 5,300 square meters in 754 A.D (Holy 1999).
Ka'bah 1297 AH 1880 AD

The total area of Makkah Mukarramah started at 2,000 square meters and went up to 17,000 square meters by 754 A.D. "When the Dar aal Nadhwa was encompassed within the Holy mosque by Mutadil Al Abbasi, another 1,300 square meters was added" (The Holy 1999). Finally in 918 Al-Muqtadri Al Abassi added an entrance hall that was 950 square meters, which increased the area around the Holy Mosque to 30,2000 square meters (The Holy 1999).

The King of Saudi Arabia King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz was also the "keeper" of the two holy mosques Makkah Makurrumah and Madinah. In 1985 he started on an expansion of Makkah Mukarramah. The plan was a seven years project to renew and enlarge the conveniences of the Makkah Mukarramah as well as Madinah. In 1992 the project of Makkah Mukkaramah was completed, costing over 70 billion Saudi riyals (18.66 billion dollars). The Holy Mosque can now at the present time accommodate more than 2 million worshippers at one time (the Holy 1999).
Makkah Mukarramah now

Author Haji N. Serpas December 9, 2002
hs1168@albany.edu