There
were six mosques with minarets, sixty-seven small mosques without minarets, six
madrasas, two public libraries, one secondary and forty-three primary schools,
two covered bazaars, nine inns, nineteen tekkes, two public baths, twenty-five
[1] See article 15.
large stores, three
thousand shops, one hospital and forty fountains in Mecca when ’Abd al-Hamîd
Khân the Second was the Sultan. Large and comfortable guesthouses were built
for the pilgrims as well. A water-supply had been constructed from a distance
of three days’ way to ’Arafât in Hârun ar-Rashîd’s time; Mihr-u Mâh Sultân, the
daughter of Sultan Sulaimân Khân, extended this water-supply to Mecca. The
population of Mecca was about eighty thousand at that time.
Medina
is surrounded with a wall which is thirty meters high and has forty turrets and
four gates. The length and width of the Haram ash-Sharîf are 165 and 130 paces,
respectively. There is the gate Bâb as-Salâm ornamented with marble and gold
writings on the south west corner of the Haram ash-Sharîf. The Hujrat an-nabawî
is in the southeast corner of the Haram ash-Sharîf. Bâb as-Salâm is on the
right and the Hujrat as-Sa’âda is on the left when one stands in front of the
qibla wall facing the qibla. The Hujrat an-Nabawî is designed with very
precious ornaments all over it. Most of the houses in Medina are built of stone
and four -or five- storied like those in Mecca. Sultan Sulaimân Khân
(rahmat-Allâhi ’alaih) constructed the water-supply from Qubâ to Medina. The Mount
Uhud is to the north of the city at a distance of two hours’ way. There were
ten mosques, seventeen madrasas, one secondary and eleven primary schools,
twelve public libraries, eight tekkes, nine hundred and thirty-two shops and
stores, four inns, two public baths, one hundred and eight guesthouses in the
city. The population was twenty thousand.[1]
The
Wahhâbîs have been demolishing and annihilating the invaluable historical and
artistic works in the cities of Mecca and Medina.
As written in the
book Mir’ât al-Madîna, the Masjid ash-sharîf in Medina was built
by Rasûlullâh (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam) and as-Sahâbat al-kirâm in the
first year of the Hegira. When it was commanded that the qibla should be
changed from
[1] According to the atlas titled Mamlakat al-’Arabiyyat as-Su’ûdiyya, which was published in England in 1398 A.H. (1978), the distance through recently-constructed roads from Medina to Riyadh is 1011, to Taif is 535, to Jidda is 424, to Mecca is 442 and to Tebuk is 686 kilometers; from Mecca, it is 989 kilometers to Riyadh, 88 to Taif, 72 to Jidda, 1133 to Tebuk, 898 to Nejran and 1879 to Kuwait. The road from Mecca to Taif runs through Minâ, Muzdalifa and ’Arafât squares.
Quds (Jerusalem) to
the Ka’ba in the month of Rajab in the next year, the gate of the masjid on the
Meccan side was closed and a new gate on the opposite, that is, the Damascene
side, was opened. This gate is called ‘Bâb at-tawassul’ now. In Medina, salât was performed towards
Quds for about 16 months. In Mecca, salât had been performed formerly towards
the Ka’ba, and it had been commanded to perform it towards Quds a little before
the Hegira. While the qibla of the masjid was changed, the direction of the
qibla was determined by Rasûlullâh’s seeing the Ka’ba with his blessed eyes.
The place where Rasûlullah performed salât is between the minbar and the Hujrat as-Sa’âda, and it is closer to
the former. The copy of the Qur’ân al-karîm sent in a big wooden box by Hajjâj to
al-Madînat al-Munawwara was placed with this box on the right side of the
pillar which is in front of this place. The first mihrâb was placed here by
’Umar ibn ’Abd al-’Azîz. After the second fire, Masjid as-Sa’âda was repaired
and the present marble mihrâb was constructed in the year 888 A.H. But this
marble mihrâb was placed somewhat closer to the Hujrat as-Sa’âda. Formerly,
there was not a minbar in Masjid
an-Nabî, and
Rasûlullâh delievered the khutba standing, where a branch of a date tree
was erected later. And still later a minbar of four stairs was made, and Rasûlullâh stood on the third
stair. A curtain was hung at the door of the minbar during the time of Hadrat
Mu’âwiya. During the time of the Prophet, there were eight
pillars in Masjid an-Nabî. At the times when the religious necessity for the
enlargement of the masjid was concluded, the number of pillars added up to 327.
At the Rawdat al-mutahhara,
there
are three lines of pillars and in each line there are four pillars. Some of
these pillars are in the walls. The number of pillars in sight is 229. The
southern wall of the masjid faces the qibla. The bower where the As’hâb as-suffa used to reside is
outside the northern wall. In order not to lose this blessed place by time, its
base was raised half a meter from the level, and a wooden fence of half a meter
hight was put around it.
While
Masjid ash-sharîf was being constructed, a room for each of the two pure wives
of the Prophet was constructed (next to the masjid). The number of rooms became
nine later on. Their ceiling was one and a half meters high. They were on the
east, north or south of the masjid. Every room, including those of some
Sahâbîs, had two doors, one opening to the masjid and the other to the street. Rasûlullâh (sall-Allahu
’Alaihiwa sallam) stayed mostly at ’Â’isha’s (radî-Allâhu ’anhâ) room, whose
door to the masjid
was made of teak.
During the time of the Four Caliphs, as-Sahâbat al-kirâm competed with one
another for a place in one of the eight rooms for the Jum’a salât. Hadrat Fâtima’s
(radî-Allâhu ’anhâ) room was next to and on the north of Hadrat ’Â’isha’s room.
This room was later included in the Shabakat as-Sa’âda. Except the one
belonging to Abu Bakr, all the doors opening to the masjid were closed on the
order of Rasûlullâh five days before he passed away.
Abu
Bakr, the first Caliph (radî-Allâhu ’anh), endeavoured against the murtadds on
the Arabian Peninsula as his first job, and could not find time to enlarge
Masjid as-Sa’âda.
In
the seventeeth year of he Hegira, Hadrat ’Umar (radî-Allâhu ’anh) gathered
as-Sahâbat al-kirâm and reported to them the hadîth ash-sharîf, “Masjid ash-sharîf should be enlarged.” As-Sahâbat al-kirâm
unanimously accepted it and, demolishing the Damascene and west walls of the
masjid, enlarged it by fifteen meters. Many houses were bought and their plots
were added to the masjid. In the year 35, Hadrat ’Uthmân (radî-Allâhu ’anh),
consulting with the As’hâb
ash-shûrâ and
getting the unanimity of as-Sahâbat al-kirâm demolished the southern, northern
and western walls and enlarged the masjid ten meters in width and twenty meters
in length. Meanwhile, the rooms of Hadrat Hafsa, Talha ibn ’Abdullâh and ’Abbâs
were added to the masjid. On the written order of Caliph Walîd to his cousin
’Umar ibn ’Abd al-’Azîz, the Governor of Medina, the houses of the pure wives
of the Prophet and that of Fâtimat az-Zahrâ, which were on the north, were
demolished and their plots were added to the masjid in the year 87. Thus, Rasûlullâh’s (sall-Allâhu
’alaihi wa sallam) blessed tomb was included in the masjid. As-Sahâbat
al-kirâm, the four a’immat al-madhâhib and the Muslim ’ulamâ’ of fourteen
centuries did not say anything against this. It is written in the Sha’bân 1397
A.H. (1977) copy of the weekly periodical Ad-da’wa, which was prepared by a madrasa named Jâmi’at al-Islâmiyya in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia, “In the coming enlargement of Masjid an-Nabî, only the west side should
be widened and the great bid’a should be ended. The great bid’a is the
inclusion of the three graves in the masjid. The eastern wall should be brought
back to its former place, and the graves should be left outside the masjid.”
This assertion of the periodical is a disrespect against ijmâ’ al-Umma and
dissention from the Muslim community. That this is disbelief has been
unanimously reported
by the ’ulamâ’ of
the four madhhabs (rahimahum-Allâhu ta’âlâ).
We
wish that the Saudi Arabian government should not get involved in such an ugly
act and should not break the hearts of Muslims all over the world. Disrespect
to the Hujrat as-Sa’âda has been witnessed many times, but those who committed
it have been punished by Allâhu ta’âlâ even in this world, the examples of
which are very many. It is written at the end of Mir’ât al-Madina, “When the Governor
of the Hijâz, Hâlat Pasha, visited Medina in 1296 A.H. (1879), the head of the
servants at the Hujrat as-Sa’âda, Tahsin Agha, with a view of winning the
favour of the Pasha, said, ‘Let’s have the women of your house visit the Hujrat
as-sa’âda. This chance would not be met at other times.’ The Pasha, though
refrained from it at first, took the women of close and distant relations of
his house into the Shabakat as-Sa’âda at midnight upon the urging of the Agha.
Since there were unclean women without an ablution among them and because of
this disrespect towards Rasûlullâh (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam), a violent
earthquake occurred three times in Medina the next morning. People ran to and
fro in panic. When its cause was understood, the Pasha was disgraced and was let
out of Medina. A little later, he died and his family melted away. Similarly,
all those who have committed acts of disrespect to Rasûlullâh’s tomb have been
doomed and troubled.”
During
the time of Shams ad-dîn Effendi, the head of the servants at the Hujrat
as-Sa’âda and several vagabounds from Aleppo entered Masjid an-Nabî one night
with the view of taking away the blessed corpses of Hadrat Abu Bakr and Hadrat
‘Umar (radî-Allâhu ’anhumâ). But all of them sank into the earth and vanished.
This event is written in detail at the end of Mir’ât al-Madîna and in Riyâd an-nadara.
The
brigand named Artat, who was the ruler of the Karak castle and the villages on
the outskirts of Nabulus town near Damascus, wanted to take the Prophet’s corpse and had
small ships be constructed for the transportation in 578 A.H. (1183). He had
the ships come together in the Red Sea and sent them to Yanbû’, the seaport of
Medina, with 350 bandits. The Sharîfs of Medina heard of this and reported it
to Salâh ad-dîn al-Ayyûbî (rahmat-Allâhi ’alaih), who was in Harrân. Salâh
ad-dîn was grieved much by this news, and he sent an order to the Governor of
Egypt, Husâm ad-dîn Saif ad-dawla (rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ). Husâm ad-dîn sent
soldiers under the command of Lulu’, who
killed some of the
bandits near Medina and captured others, who were taken to Egypt. This event is
written in detail in Rawdat al-abrâr. Those who have attempted to commit
impudence towards Rasûlullâh during his life or after his death have
been severely punished by Allâhu ta’âlâ. And, one day, if the Saudis, following
their heretical beliefs and evil thoughts, dare to stage such a vile attempt,
they should know it well that that day will be the end of both their State and
madhhab, and that they will be remembered with damnation until the Last Day.