Each year, millions of people
apply for visas to make the pilgrimage and the Saudi govern- ment manages the allocation so that around two million people converge on Makkah. Applications for the Hajj and Umrah visas must be submitted through authorised agencies, tourist companies, or charitable organisations, certifi ed in the visitor’s country of origin. An approval letter, issued by the Saudi Ministry of Hajj, is required to confi rm that the authorised agent, tour company or Hajj group meets the necessary require- ments regarding their pilgrims. While the Hajj is associ-
ated with the life of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), the ritual of pilgrimage to Makkah is consid- ered by Muslims to stretch back to the time of Ibrahim and Isma’il – prominent fi gures in Islam.
THE KA’ABA According to Islamic tradition, the imposing black Ka’aba is 43 feet high with sides measuring 36.2 feet and 42.2 feet and was built by the Prophet Ibrahim and his son Isma’il under instruction from Allah.
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Quite simply, the word Ka’aba
means ‘cube’ and it is a marble- lined chamber made with black basalt from the surrounding mountains. It is usually draped in the Kiswah, a cloth of black silk decorated with gold embroidery, while inside the Ka’aba the fl oor and walls are marble, inlaid with tablets of Qur’anic inscriptions. At one corner of the Ka’aba there
is the Black Stone, which marks the starting point for the seven circum- ambulations of the Holy Mosque, which every Hajji or Umrah pilgrim must complete.
HOLY MOSQUE At the time of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), the Ka’aba stood in an open space, but by 685CE a fence had been built around it and, over time, houses standing in the immediate surround- ings were removed to create a larger area for the surrounding mosque. Al-Masjid Al-Haram (the Holy Mosque) underwent its fi rst renovation in 69CE and by 1570CE, Sultan Selim II had commissioned a second
renovation, which resulted in the replacement of the fl at roof with domes decorated with Islamic calligraphy, as well as the erec- tion of new support columns. The largest extension to the
Holy Mosque, which we see today, was carried out between 1989 and 2005 under the orders of the late King Fahd. It was a huge under- taking in a well-developed area frequented daily by worshippers. Work was carried out as unobtru- sively as possible in an effort to cause the minimum disruption to the movement of pilgrims and the normal life of the city. Renovations were designed to integrate with the existing structure seamlessly and included the King Fahd Gate, 14 additional side gates and two new minarets. When completed, this increased the total fl oor area to 366,168 square metres. A new northern extension
was started in 2011 with a target completion date of 2020 to add two new minarets (bringing the total to 11), an additional 400,000 square metres of fl oor space and a new gate named after King Abdullah.
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