Masjid al Nabawi umbrellas

12 June 2012

Detection for «Okaz» Vice President-General for the Grand Mosque, Dr Mohammed bin Nasser AlKhozim for starting the implementation of eight huge umbrellas and 42 medium and Mahbtin umbrella of aircraft within the expansion project of King Abdullah of yards North, currently being implemented according to a unique urban style. And between Sheikh AlKhozim that umbrellas eight will be size 53 in 53 meters, what would be the umbrellas other size 25 in 25 m, indicating that the project will contain four bridges connecting the expansion of King Abdullah, the first Saudi extension and bridge the fifth connecting the expansion of King Abdullah with the endeavor.

The Sheikh AlKhozim that projects are being completed over time will include the latest and finest electrical systems, mechanical, and will be consistent with the architectural style of the current of the Grand Mosque, also include the building expansion and squares surrounding and bridges the stomach to empty the crowds and associated Bmassatab scalable, and meet the expansion of all requirements, equipment and services required by the visitor, such as drinking fountains and modern systems for waste disposal and security surveillance systems.

Also include spending on the shading of the squares of Foreign Affairs and associated with enlargement of the first Saudi and endeavor through bridges multiple to find a communication kinetic safe in terms of organizing the movement of crowds, and provides an integrated system of elements of vertical movement, and includes escalators and fixed and elevators, which takes into account more precise criteria for sustainability through the provision of energy consumption and natural resources so that the adoption of best air conditioning and lighting systems that take into account, and will accommodate the expansion after the completion of more than 1.5 million worshipers almost.

And AlKhozim that enlargement combined functional requirements in terms of increased capacity, abundance and diversity of paper services and excellence in aesthetics, operational, and will take place this expansion giant quantum leap in the level and availability of services, which took into account this expansion all the requirements of all users according to the highest standards of sustainability, and provides chapels ideal of integrated services and an environment ripe for full-time for worship by providing the perfect all the requirements of chapels direct and indirect according to the highest international standards, including sound systems, lighting and timing that are being selected and implemented methodology and professional manner, according to surveys and experiments and simulation to reach the best decisions the design and implementation.

According to Vice President-General for the Grand Mosque that the expansion will provide for all the chapels of all services necessary Kervv and the Koran, and drinking fountains and places Almidat store shoes according to a homogeneous distribution of systematic and consistent with recurrent requirements for each service and behavior of users.

And it has been studied flows of pedestrian traffic and the worshipers and their association with expansions of past and dish up the quest from the external areas and public transport to be implemented in the northern side of the first ring until access to the dish of the day by simulating the movement of crowds in the entry and exit and evacuation according to the system component of the horizontal motion of in bridges, corridors and external areas and elements of the vertical movement of the elevators and escalators and fixed slopes for people with special needs, and will be linked to components of the Movement system of integrated comprehensive guidance to denote the places and services in all parts of the Grand Mosque.

He said that the expansion include a station integrated services are being implemented on an area of ​​75 thousand m 2, including air conditioning systems of advanced eco-friendly, water tanks and disposal systems and regulations of the synagogues, Central, also includes expansion of the implementation of over 15 thousand toilets will be distributed the way that serves all users with ease accessible from all sites, in addition to four tunnels for pedestrians are being implemented within the expansion project to link the area and Aotaibih Jarwal and Mount Kaaba Balsahat North to enable pedestrians to walk in a suitable environment to get to campus.

http://www.okaz.com.sa/new/Issues/20...0612509997.htm

The 19th-century pieces of embroidered Al-Kaaba Kiswa, exhibited
at Qubbat Afandina, are to given to the Ministry of State for Antiquities

Monday 18 Jun 2012

Three months after the theft of two pieces of a 19th-century embroidered Al-Kaaba Kiswa (the Kaaba cover) from the mausoleum of Khedive Tawfik in Cairo's eastern cemetery, the Ministry of Religious Endowments (Awkaf) decided to hand the other exhibited pieces over to the Ministry of State for Antiquities.

These pieces are embroidered with calligraphy in gold and silver thread, similar to those that were traditionally sent by the Egyptian monarchy to cover the Kaaba in Saudi Arabia. They currently hang on the walls of the mausoleum.

Antiquities State Minister Mohamed Ibrahim told Ahram Online that although these pieces were not registered on Egypt’s list of antiquities, the antiquities ministry had agreed to receive them, per the request of Religious Endowments Minister Mohamed El-Qousi.

The pieces, he explained, would be restored, documented and put on Egypt’s antiquities list before being put on display in the Tapestry Museum located on Mediaeval Cairo's Al-Muizz Street.
Ibrahim has also assigned an archaeological committee led by Nabila Habib, the head of administration for Islamic Art, to inspect all archaeological monuments under the supervision of Ministry.

Two pieces of Al-Kaaba Kiswa remain missing, with little clue who stole them.

The Qubbat Afandina in a neo-Mamluk style dome built in 1894 by Khedive Abbas Helmi in memory of his father, Khedive Tawfik.

The Islamic monument is registered on Egypt antiquities list but the stolen pieces, as well as the other objects on display inside, are not.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsCont...ntiquitie.aspx

Ataturk Stadium in Diyarbakir will be convert in Turkey's largest mosque.

Jun 7, 2012

Turkey will convert the Ataturk Stadium in Diyarbakir, a southeastern city with a large Kurdish population, into the country’s largest mosque, Radikal newspaper reported.

The mosque will be built to accommodate 20,000 people and will by styled on the model of the Al-Masjid al-Nabawi mosque in Medina, Saudi Arabia, the Istanbul-based newspaper said, citing Diyarbakir provincial Governor Nimetullah Erdogmus.

Work on the mosque will begin after the state housing authority, known as TOKI, completes a new stadium for the city, Radikal said citing Erdogmus. The newspaper didn’t say when the work would be wrapped up.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-0...l-reports.html

Al-Asa Mosque

Jerusalem, 30 Rajab / 20 June (IINA)

The Haram Mosque in Makkah and the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah, the two holiest shrines in Islam, draw millions of pilgrims annually. However, Al Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest shrine, sees only a few thousand foreign worshippers a year.

The first two holy mosques are in Saudi Arabia, while Al-Aqsa stands on Israeli-occupied land that may be the most disputed religious spot on earth. Jews call the raised ground at the eastern edge of Jerusalem’s Old City the Temple Mount, while Muslims know it as the Noble Sanctuary. Both claim sovereignty over it. Muslims have kept up an informal boycott of the walled esplanade since Israel seized East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordanin a 1967 war, saying visits would amount to recognition of Jewish occupation of Palestinian territory. Palestinian and Jordanian officials now want to reverse that, according to a Reuters report.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged Muslims last February to resume the journeys toJerusalemto counter what he called Israel’s attempts to “Judaize” the city and in solidarity with the Palestinians. “Visiting a prisoner is an act of support and does not mean normalization with the warden,” he said.

Since then, several high-ranking Arab and Islamic leaders have turned up to pray at Al-Aqsa and – they hope – kick-start a new wave of pilgrimages. “Some Muslims haven’t visited Al-Aqsa Mosque since 1967, but this was a big mistake,” said Palestinian Religious Affairs Minister Mahmoud Al Habash. “We have now decided to correct our mistake.”

A senior Muslim official involved in the plan said one to two million foreign pilgrims could visit Al-Aqsa annually if access were free and unimpeded. “It would protect Al-Aqsa and also provide an enormous boost to the Palestinian economy,” he said. He asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Jerusalem was traditionally a stop for Muslims on overland routes to or from the annual Haj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. What they found was a tranquil esplanade with two jewels of Islamic architecture, an elegant mosque highlighted by arabesque stained glass windows and the octagonal Dome of the Rock clad in ornate tiles and topped by a gilded cupola.

 

Al-Aqsa Mosque

The Dome was built by Jerusalem’s Arab conquerors in 691 on the spot where Muslims say the Prophet Mohammad began his Night Journey to heaven. This is also where Judaism’s two Bible-era temples once stood, the first destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC and the second leveled by the Romans in 70 AD. The Western Wall, the last remnant of the second structure, is one of the most sacred sites in Judaism.

 

Dome of the Rock

The crowded plaza in front of the Western Wall and the calm park-like enclosure around the mosque and the Dome seem worlds apart. The one link from the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City is a shaky wooden ramp leading to the Mughrabi Gate, right next to the Western Wall. This is the main entry for non-Muslim visitors.

Muslims enter the compound from the Muslim Quarter through 10 other gates through the ancient walls, past check points manned by Israeli security forces. Palestinian authorities escort their guests through the Gate of the Tribes, at the opposite end of the compound from the ramp. So few foreign Muslims have visited the 35-acre compound in recent decades that many Arabs were surprised to hear the news in mid-April that Egypt’s Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, the second-highest religious authority in the Arab world’s most populous country, had gone to pray there.

Gomaa and Jordanian King Abdullah’s chief religious adviser, Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad, added an interfaith dimension to their tour by visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulcher at the invitation of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Two weeks before that, Habib Ali al Jifri, an influential Sufi preacher fromYemen, had toured it with Abdullah’s brother Prince Hashem. Their visit was less noticed, but after Gomaa turned up, a pattern seemed to emerge. Several Jordanian politicians and a Bahraini delegation have also made the pilgrimage to Al-Aqsa and Muslim officials said more high-level visits were expected, both from the Arab world and by Muslims from Europe andAsia.

In his appeal last February, Abbas condemned the expanding Jewish settlement of East Jerusalem, which Palestinians see as the capital of a hoped-for future state, and accusedIsraelof excavating near the disputed site with the aim of undermining Al-Aqsa itself. Mohammad Ahmad Husein, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem andPalestine, issued a fatwa approving the pilgrimages. But a split appeared almost immediately. Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, one of the world’s leading Islamic scholars, issued a fatwa (religious edict) against foreign Muslims visiting Jerusalem.

Hamas denounced the plan as “a gift to the (Israeli) occupation by legitimizing its presence”. The Egyptian parliament, dominated by conservatives after a post-Arab Spring election, called on Gomaa to resign. The mufti answered his critics via Twitter: “Visiting Jerusalem increases one’s feelings of rejection of occupation and injustice and helps strengthen the (Palestinian) cause.”

http://iina.me/wp_en/?p=1009230