The hills sarrounding Mecca Mukkarrama are all taller than the whole city of Mecca.............elevation on the ground is not important as it is in our hearts.
The hills sarrounding Mecca Mukkarrama are all taller than the whole city of Mecca.............elevation on the ground is not important as it is in our hearts.
exactly
my point was this,
an earthquake can destroy mecca in a few instances
would your faith be destroyed by that?
no? then dont worry about buildings overshading the mecca
Plus Rasul Allah (PBUH) himself used to spend many days at a time in Ghaar Hira......................from where you can see the Holy Kaba................
all the points aside, how do you justify having a grander building, at whatever scale, around the site that 1 billion people around the world consider holy?
once upon a time it was the object of the people who run that country to make the Ka'ba the grandest building in that area. now it's the stores and hotels around it that are supposed to be grander. Makkah isn't supposed to be a tourist site. It doesn't really need the tallest building, or the building that has the most marble in it to attract consumers. because consumers are what the pilgrims are now, in the eyes of the coorporate sponsors.
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Even if the grandest buildings around kaba, people only worship the kaba and not those buildings... no matter how grand they maybe built.
Some folks still want to see makkah and area around it as it was back in 8th century, well times are changing and as more and more people make their way to kaba, more and more space is required to accommodate them.
We should be focused on LEARNING from history rather than preserving it... how many people die of stampedes on hajj? Less space + More people = dead people
Dil na-umeed tou nahi nakaam he tou hai
Lumbi hai gham ki shaam magar shaam hee tou hai
so what if the tallest building is there. All I can comment is once the person step into that area you totally forget about anything else in the world. Its like magic and all your eyes and heart praise is the ka'ba and the feeling of being there can't be put into words - at least I can't. Interior of that mosque day by day they are making it beautiful with floors made outta marbles and gold calligraphy everywhere but you will rarely find ppl sitting there and enjoying the material part.
I read somewhere about some sufi/buzurg aashiq e Rusool PBUH.. who when visited medina.. used to walk bare feet everywhere and used to walk so close to the walls of the streets that his skin and clothes would scratch, when someone asked him why he walked this way. his answer was .. because i simply can not place my filthy feet to the sacred places where The Prophet PBUH might have walked.. so this doesnt mean that this is how you are supposed to walk in the streets of medina.. it is just the level of dedication and affection that drives you..
Cheese Cake.. Melted Dark chocolate Raspberriesss Apricots
There is a growing shadow being cast over Islam's holiest site. Only a few metres from the walls of the Grand Mosque in Mecca skyscrapers are reaching further into the sky, slowly blocking out the light. These enormous and garish newcomers now dwarf the elegant black granite of the Kaaba, the focal point of the four million Muslims' annual Haj pilgrimage.
The tower blocks are the latest and largest evidence of the destruction of Islamic heritage that has wiped almost all of the historic city from the physical landscape. As revealed in The Independent last August, the historic cities of Mecca and Medina are under an unprecedented assault from religious zealots and their commercial backers.
Writing in response to the article, Prince Turki al-Faisal said that Saudi Arabia was spending more than $19bn (pounds 11bn) preserving and maintaining these two holy sites. "[We are aware] how important the preservation of this heritage is, not just to us but to the millions of Muslims from around the world who visit the two holy mosques every year. It is hardly something we are going to allow to be destroyed."
This rebuttal sits at odds with a series of previously unseen photographs, published today, that document the demolition of key archaeological sites and their replacement with skyscrapers.
Saudi religious authorities have overseen a decades-long demolition campaign that has cleared the way for developers to embark on a building spree of multi-storey hotels, restaurants, shopping centres and luxury apartment blocks on a scale unseen outside Dubai. The driving force behind this historical demolition is Wahhabism - the austere state faith that the House of Saud brought with it when Ibn Saud conquered the Arabian peninsula in the 1920s.
The Wahhabis live in fanatical fear that places of historical or religious interest could give rise to alternative forms of pilgrimage or worship. Their obsession with combating idolatry has seen them flatten all evidence of a past that does not agree with their interpretation of Islam.
Irfan Ahmed al-Alawi, the chairman of the Islamic Heritage Foundation, set up to help protect the holy sites, says the case of the grave of Amina bint Wahb, the mother of the Prophet, found in 1998, is typical of what has happened. "It was bulldozed in Abwa and gasoline was poured on it. Even though thousands of petitions throughout the Muslim world were sent, nothing could stop this action."
Today there are fewer than 20 structures remaining in Mecca that date back to the time of the Prophet 1,400 years ago. The litany of this lost history includes the house of Khadijah, the wife of the Prophet, demolished to make way for public lavatories' the house of Abu Bakr, the Prophet's companion, now the site of the local Hilton hotel' the house of Ali-Oraid, the grandson of the Prophet, and the Mosque of abu-Qubais, now the location of the King's palace in Mecca.
Yet the same oil-rich dynasty that pumped money into the Taliban regime as they blew up the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan six years ago has so far avoided international criticism for similar acts of vandalism at home. Mai Yamani, author of The Cradle of Islam, said it was time for other Muslim governments to ignore the al-Sauds' oil wealth and clout and speak out. "What is alarming about this is that the world doesn't question the al-Sauds' custodianship of Islam's two holy places. These are the sites that are of such importance to over one billion Muslims and yet their destruction is being ignored," she said. "When the Prophet was insulted by Danish cartoonists thousands of people went into the streets to protest. The sites related to the Prophet are part of their heritage and religion but we see no concern from Muslims."
Lay people, and in some cases even US senators could be forgiven for thinking that the House of Saud has been the guardian of the two holy places for time immemorial. In fact, it is only 80 years since the tribal chieftain Ibn Saud occupied Mecca and Medina. The House of Saud has been bound to Wahhabism since the 18th century religious reformer Mohamed Ibn Abdul-Wahab signed a pact with Mohammed bin Saud in 1744. Wahab's warrior zealots helped to conquer a kingdom for the tribal chieftains. The House of Saud got its wealth and power, and the clerics got the vehicle of state they needed to spread their fundamentalist ideology around the world. The ruler of this fledgling kingdom needed the legitimacy afforded by declaring himself "custodian of the two holy places".
But that legitimacy has come at an enormous price for the diversity of Muslims who look to Mecca for guidance. Once in charge, the Wahhabists wasted little time in censoring the Haj. As early as 1929, Egyptian pilgrims were refused permission to celebrate the colourful Mahmal rites and more than 30 were killed. At the time Egypt severed diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia. Few governments have stood up to them since.
Instead, the homogenisation of Islam'sholiest sites was allowed to accelerate into a demolition campaign that now threatens the birthplace of the Prophet itself. The site survived the early reign of Ibn Saud 50 years ago when the architect for the planned library persuaded the absolute ruler to allow him to preserve the remains under the new structure. Saudi authorities now plan to "update" the site with a car park that would mean concreting over the remains.
"The al-Sauds need to rein in the Wahhabists now," warns Dr Yamani. "Mecca used to be a symbol of Muslim diversity and it needs to be again." But with oil prices and profits, at record highs, there is little sign the House of Saud is listening.
Sami Angawi, a Hijazi architect who has devoted his life to a largely doomed effort to preserve what remains of the history of the world's greatest pilgrimage sites, said that the final farewell to Mecca was imminent. "What we are witnessing are the last days of Mecca and Medina.
Grave of Prophet (pbuh)'s mother is a HOLY site? since when? When did she become HOLY in Islam?
Some muslims have become idol worshippers over the years. Tell the "righteous" that even the prophet is not holy and they'll call you corrupted.
Lest we not forget that Muslims worship one thing and one thing only - God. True muslims could care less if a gas station was built over a grave or if a lavatory was built near a special tree. We just dont care... even if that grave/stone/building belongs to a prophet's mother, sister, best friend, personal chef or hair dresser.
I think there are two ways to look at it and basically two view-points that need to be balanced.
Mekkah is a valley and, therefore, land space is limited. It is also the epicenter of muslim pilgrims from all over the world, so there is always an increasing need to make more hotels and accomodations to make the visit/pilgrimage a little easier on the muslims visiting Mekkah. It is, but natural, that to accomodate larger number of people, higher and higher (multi-storied) hotels/buildings will be built, because land space is limited. I don't see a problem with this approach. Any claim that no building should be taller than Masjid-al-Haraam needs to be examined carefully and not accepted without question. More importantly, it is a rather moot point now. Construction in Mekkah got passed that point many years ago (even before the recent high rise palace of the king).
The second is the issue of preserving history. Whether its holy or not, there are some places that have a historical importance and interest. Egypt, Israel and Iraq are full of historical places that are preserved for ages, so modern day folks can appreciate the history of a place. Mekkah is full of these types of historical places. There is a reasonable argument that some or most of those should be preserved.
Now the kicker is that preserving all historical houses/buildings go against the idea that more hotels/accomodations/sky-scrappers need to be built to make travel easier for pilgrims.
This makes it a planning quagmire. There's got to be a better middle ground. These decisions should be taken on a case-by-case basis and ramifications should be considered carefully.
"Let your friends underestimate your virtues. Let your enemies overestimate your faults." - Godfather.
I am sure at some point in future , the number of Hajies coming to the Kaaba will be so big that they will have to build hanging ramps way above kaaba to allow people to do tawaf a kaaba.
I am a man with a plan. A plan to live a simple , fulfilling life.
Well, After reading your ignorant comment I wanted to remind you few things. When you pray five times a day in each Prayer we recite Daroud for Prophet(PBUH) if you read the translation you will realize that we are praying for the family of Abraham and the family of the Prophet(PBUH) so you think Prophet(PBUH)’s mother is not holy? A women who bore a Prophet does not deserve some respect? Her grave existed during the time of Prophet(PBUH) then to all the other caliphs and it survive for over 1400 years, Why they didn't demolished long time ago? If you still don't understand my point, Then take your own family to your family grave yard, Bulldoze your family members grave pour some gasoline and take a s****t on them and see how your family react, You may use your holy and unholy idea with them.
The whole world protect there identity and respect their heritage Preserving the history is not idol worshipping, I work in New York City, Land is very expensive and hard to find yet you will find small cemeteries in between the high rises and those graves have no one to visit there names are blurred out some dated back to 1700 and there is no one who has any interest in them but they are protected respected and still maintained.
God can protect his own city... He doesnt need the security of Man. And im sure if he didnt want this all to be happening, it wouldnt have... there must be a bigger plan...
I dont like the idea of them building something too extravagantly grand with suites like kings palaces, kinda like the building in the image in the first post. Thats just waste of space.
You have to admit though that space is tight and the number of pilgrims doesn't decrease every year. Keeping that in mind, i like the idea of a large multi-storey compound designed only to house pilgrims. Instead of apartments, you have cramped suites (like in a dorm) designed to house two, max three people. If you have a floor like something in the illustration below, you can easily have about 76 suites on each floor.
(I've left space for stairs, elevators, windows, electrical wiring, plumbing etc too)
SO, with a min of 2 people per suite, we have 152 people per floor. A 50 storey building like this can then house a minimum of 7600 pilgrims. Compare that to the same space being used to house pilgrims in tents i.e. ~ 100 pilgrims.
And that ends todays class on haji space management.
Zindagi kay parchay kay sub sawal lazim hain, sub sawal mushkil hain.
Some folks still want to see makkah and area around it as it was back in 8th century, well times are changing and as more and more people make their way to kaba, more and more space is required to accommodate them.
We should be focused on LEARNING from history rather than preserving it... how many people die of stampedes on hajj? Less space + More people = dead people
Well if you have been to Mecca you would know that there IS space in the city other than just along the boundaries of Kaaba. I wish they could make buildings as high as they wish to but just a few kms away. It will definitely make the space less congested and less stampede and more alive people.
And about the history thingie, well if you do not PRESERVE it then how can you LEARN from it?
Some muslims have become idol worshippers over the years. Tell the "righteous" that even the prophet is not holy and they'll call you corrupted.
Lest we not forget that Muslims worship one thing and one thing only - God. True muslims could care less if a gas station was built over a grave or if a lavatory was built near a special tree. We just dont care... even if that grave/stone/building belongs to a prophet's mother, sister, best friend, personal chef or hair dresser.
So where does it say that to believe in the unity of Allah you have to think that the Prophet (SAW) is unholy or you must disrespect holy places. Respect of a holy place or monument doesn't mean you are worshiping it. Don't confuse things and don't judge people, let this task to be with Allah.
