Souq from life of Prophet Muhammad located in Makkah
Souq Habasha was located on the southern bank of Wadi Qanuna in Ardiyat, a coastal city in the Makkah region. It was held every year for eight days.
Habasha was a major Arab market during pre-Islamic, early Islamic eras
JEDDAH: A Saudi scientific team has located the site of an ancient souq in the Makkah region that served as one of the most important Arab markets during the pre-Islamic and early Islamic eras.
Dubbed Souq Habasha, the site was discovered in cooperation between the King Abdulaziz Foundation for Research and Archives, the Ministry of Culture and its Heritage Commission.
Souq Habasha was an ancient seasonal Arab market and one of the largest in the Tihamah region west of the Arabian Peninsula. The souq was held every year for eight days starting on the first day of Rajab in the Islamic calendar, and was annually held until the Islamic year 197 (813 A.D.).
Fahd Al-Samari, secretary-general of the foundation and head of the scientific committee of Souq Habasha, delivered a statement in a video that was published on Darah’s official Twitter account.
He said: “Documenting historical information must be within a specific methodology. Therefore, the department has entered a number of experiences in documentation, such as documenting the Okaz market, and some sites from the Prophet Muhammad’s biography in the Kingdom. The Habasha market will be an ancient historical and cultural asset for the Kingdom.â€
Abdullah Al-Zahrani, a member of the Souq Habasha scientific committee, said: “This collaboration project was made to locate the souq and it is a good example of joint cooperation between many parties as well as researchers, historians, geographers and prophet’s biography experts who will add a lot to verify this site.â€
Studies and research projects have attempted to trace the location of the market for more than 40 years, with field sites proposed by the committee finally being inspected last year.
Abdullah Al-Welaie, another member of the Souq Habasha scientific committee, said: “We worked on drawing complete caravan routes, including the coastal road, the Tihama road, peaks of the Sarawat Mountains, as well as the Elephant road. Four tracks were drawn on accurate maps that really helped determine the location of the market and were then handed over to historians.â€
Historians said that the market was mentioned in the biography of the Prophet Muhammad, who had taken part in the souq to trade before his mission.
The team conducted studies, verified sources and carried out an archaeological survey, following up discussions with qualified sources to determine the location of Souq Habasha.
Historical markets in the region were typically located in areas with an abundance of water, rainfall and grazing land. Accordingly, Souq Habasha was located on the southern bank of Wadi Qanuna in Ardiyat, a coastal city in the Makkah region.
It is positioned in the middle of a vast floodplain, bound by the Al-Durbat mountains to the east, Al-‘Irm mountains to the west stretching for five km, and Umm Al-Rimth mountains to the south, in a vast area where water sources and plant cover are prominent.
The market also passes through Al-Janad street, which served as one of the most important landmarks in determining the location of the souq.
Souq Habasha offers experts the chance to examine ancient economic, literary and cultural activity, with its integration into Okaz market — which has been revived — becoming a prominent cultural event in the Kingdom and providing benefits in the scientific, cultural and tourism fields.
RIYADH — Built some 13 centuries ago, representing one of the Kingdom’s oldest mosques in the Al-Baha region, the Al-Safa historical mosque will undergo a comprehensive renovation process under the second phase of the Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Project for the Development of Historical Mosques.
The renovation project will ensure preservation of the mosque’s unique Sarat style and its historical value while restoring its aesthetic elements and renewing its construction with natural materials including stone from the Sarawat Mountains and local wood used in ceilings, columns, windows, and doors.
Located in Baljurashi Governorate, the renovation process will keep unchanged the mosque’s footprint and its capacity. The mosque’s current area is 78 square meters, and it can accommodate 31 worshippers. The restoration will be executed as per a set of methods that preserve the mosque’s historical and design values.
Built nearly 1.350 years ago, the mosque is surrounded by adjacent buildings separated by narrow passages in the village in the high mountains, where there are many forms of construction, including stone buildings characterized by narrow openings.
Al-Safa Mosque is supported by two distinct columns of juniper trees, which the Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Project will redevelop, in addition to preserving the inscriptions on the mosque's columns and developing them with inscriptions of the staircase unit, in a step that will also revive the ancient architectural traditions of the Al-Baha region and highlight its ancient historical heritage.
It is said that the first person to build the Al-Safa Mosque was Sufyan Bin Auf Al-Ghamdi, and at the time, the mosque had a prominent social role, as it was considered a place for villagers to assemble and discuss their affairs and resolve their disputes between the Maghrib and Isha prayers.
The second phase of the project covered 30 historic mosques across the Kingdom's 13 regions, including six mosques in Riyadh, five mosques in Makkah, four mosques in Madinah, three in Asir, two in each of the Eastern Region, Al-Jouf, and Jazan, and one mosque in each of the Northern Borders Region, Tabuk, Al-Baha, Najran, Hail, and Al-Qassim.
This comes upon the completion of the first phase, which included the rehabilitation and restoration of 30 historical mosques in 10 regions.
The project aims to achieve a balance between ancient and modern construction standards in a way that gives the components of mosques an appropriate degree of sustainability and integrates the effects of development with a set of heritage and historical characteristics.
The renovation process is being carried out by Saudi companies specialized in heritage buildings, with an emphasis on involving Saudi engineers to ensure the preservation of the authentic urban identity of each mosque since its establishment.
The Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Project for the Development of Historical Mosques serves four strategic objectives: restoration of historical mosques for worship and prayer, restoration of the urban authenticity of historical mosques, highlighting the cultural dimension of Saudi Arabia, and enhancing the religious and cultural status of historical mosques.
The project also contributes to highlighting the cultural and civilizational extent of the Kingdom as one of the pillars of the Saudi Vision 2030 by preserving authentic urban characteristics and utilizing them to contribute to the development of modern mosque designs. — SPA
MAKKAH: They have been reverberating through the Grand Mosque in Makkah for centuries — the soulful and soothing voices of muezzins calling the believers, and imams leading prayers five times a day.
Dr. Mansour Al-Dajani, a researcher on the history of Makkah, told Arab News recently that the first call to prayer, at noon in the Grand Mosque, was delivered from the roof of the holy Kaaba by Prophet Muhammad’s companion Bilal bin Rabah. This was on the order of the prophet on the day of the conquest of Makkah in the year 630 (8 A.H.).
“The Grand Mosque was as large as the Mataf (area of circumambulation around Makkah’s Kaaba) at that time and had no wall surrounding it, nor a minaret. Minarets appeared for the first time in the year 754 (137 A.H.) during the reign of the Abbasid Caliph Abu Jafar Al-Mansour, who built the first minaret, known as Bab Al-Umrah, in the western corner from the northern side of the Grand Mosque.â€
The minaret was a tall tower attached or adjacent to the mosque. It was an integral part of the mosque and designed so the call to prayer could be heard loud and clear throughout the city.
He explained: “This minaret and the ones that were built after it were used to recite the call to prayer in the Grand Mosque. The chief muezzin would start the call to prayer from the minaret of Bab Al-Umrah, then all the muezzins would follow him on the other minarets. After that, the Bab Al-Salam minaret became the chief muezzin’s platform for the call to prayer, and in the 16th century (10th century A.H.), the chief muezzin used the dome of Zamzam to deliver the call to prayer.â€
Loudspeakers in the Grand Mosque were introduced for the first time in 1947 during the reign of King Abdulaziz.
The late Makkan historian and writer Prof. Ahmed Ali Asad Allah Al-Kazemi stated in his memoirs “The Daily Events in Makkah†that in 1947 Sheikh Abd Al-Zahir Abu Al-Samh, the imam and preacher of the Grand Mosque, asked Minister of Finance Abdullah bin Suleiman Al-Hamdan to provide loudspeakers and a microphone.
He wrote that in that year the speakers in the Grand Mosque were used for the Friday and Eid sermons, which fell on the same day. The sermon was usually delivered by Sheikh Abu Al-Samh’s son, Abdul Rahman, with only a few worshippers in the mosque able to hear. However, on Friday Oct. 31, 1947, Sheikh Abu Al-Samh delivered the Friday sermon with a microphone heard by thousands of worshippers in the Grand Mosque.
In 1957, the speaker’s location was changed when the first expansion of the Mataf in the Grand Mosque took place. In 1963, the speakers were placed in a separate, private building, called Almukbariya, from which the call to prayer is performed, and where the muezzin chants or repeats in response to the imam’s prayers.
Recently further changes were made in the Almukbariya building by the Projects and Engineering Studies Agency at the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques, to ensure operational efficiency for Ramadan 2023.
Eng. Mohammed Al-Waqdani, undersecretary of the agency, said the Almukbariya in its new form took into account the architectural changes in the Grand Mosque in terms of color and style.
It allows for greater sound clarity, to amplify the voices of the muezzins. There are also sound and television control rooms and studios, special waiting offices for muezzins and alternates, and rooms for public services. The Mataf and Kaaba can be seen from the southern part of the Almukbariya.
Al-Waqdani added that the Almukbariya plays an important role, in coordination with the Radio and Television Authority, in the live broadcast of “of all rituals and religious events that are held in the Grand Mosque throughout the year, especially during the blessed Ramadan and Hajj season.â€
Khawkhat Abo Bakr is a standing witness for fulfilling the promise of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to his companion –Abo Bakr
The Prophet's Mosque is wealthy in many historical signs which contain Islamic inscriptions, that show the beautiful side of the Islamic construction. one of those historical markers is Khokhat Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him).
Khawkhat is a small door that looks like a large window which is between two houses. Furthermore, it is located between the house of Abu Bakr and the Prophet's Mosque -precisely in the west after the last pillar of the old Mosque boundary-.
In the Prophet’s Mosque there was three Kawkhas, Khawkhat of Ali ibn Abi Talib, Khawkhat of Khattabs, and Khawkhat Abu Bakr Al Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with them), which is still open till now. Indeed, the Prophet (may Allah's praise and peace be upon him) has commanded in his sermon before his death in 11 AH that to kept it open. Narrated Abu Sa'id Al-Khudri: Allah's Messenger (may Allah's praise and peace be upon him) sat on the pulpit and said: Allah has given one of His Slaves the choice of receiving the splendor and luxury of the worldly life whatever he likes or accept the good (of the Hereafter) which is with Allah.
So he has chosen that good which is with Allah. On that, Abu Bakr wept and said to the Messenger of Allah: Our fathers and mothers be sacrificed for you [an Arabic expression which explains love]. We became surprised at this. The people said: Look at this Shaikh [old man]! Allah's Messenger (may Allah's praise and peace be upon him) talks about a Slave of Allah to whom He has given the option to choose either the splendor of this worldly life or the good which is with Allah, while he says: Our fathers and mothers be a sacrificed for you. But it was Allah's Messenger (may Allah's praise and peace be upon him) who had been given an option, and Abu Bakr knew Him better than we. Allah's Messenger (may Allah's praise and peace be upon him) added, No doubt, I am indebted to Abu Bakr more than to anybody else regarding both his companionship and his wealth. Furthermore, if I had to take a Khalil from my followers, I would certainly have taken Abu Bakr, but the fraternity of Islam. Sufficient. Let no door (i.e., Khoukha) of the Mosque remain open, except [Khawkhat] Abu Bakr's door.
How not, he is considered as the closest friend to the Prophet (may Allah's praise and peace be upon him). He was His companion in his emigration, And he is the greatest believer of this nation in faith and belief.
Did you know; The Tahajjud prayer during the last 10 days of Ramadan 50 years ago did not exist in this way today. People used to pray it individually until Imam of Haram Sheikh Abdullah Al-Khulaify (رØمه الله) gathered people in Masjid Al Haram and prayed with them togetherduring the reign of King Faisal, so the number of people increased until what we see today of crowding in the Two Holy Mosques during the final third of the night behind one Imam.
This cannot be undone and I am sure it will be greatly appreciated.
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