The minarets of the Prophet's Mosque or beacons are part of the Prophet's Mosque in Al-Madinah al-Munawwarah. They are erected on the upper corners of the mosque, and are a reference landmark in cylindrical shape that can be seen from most residential neighborhoods. They contain laser devices that emit laser beams to determine the direction of the Qibla, and have a range of 50 km.
The Prophet's Mosque has ten minarets, four of which are attributed to the first Saudi expansion, and six for the second Saudi expansion. The depth of each minaret in the first expansion is 17 m, and their height is 70 m, while the height of the second expansion minarets is 104 m.
History of the Minarets
During the reign of Prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him, and his Rightly Guided Caliphs, the Prophet's Mosque did not have any minarets for the muezzins to proclaim the call to prayer. Caliph Bilal ibn Rabah used to call for the morning prayer from above the house of a woman from Beni Najjar (family of Najjar). High places were means for the muezzins to deliver their voices to the houses surrounding the mosque, which led Muslims to climb the roof of the highest neighboring houses and then to the roof of the Prophet's Mosque before building high minarets at various heights.
Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz was the first to build the minarets for the Prophet's Mosque when he was the prince of Medina during the reign of Caliph Al-Walid bin Abdul-Malik (706-709). He built a minaret in each corner of the mosque. Caliph Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik demolished one of them, as it overlooked the house of Marwan ibn al-Hakam, a house of Bani Umayya in Medina, where they stayed when they came to the city. The mosque remained with three minarets, each being 8 cubit long, which is equivalent to 4 m.
Names of the minarets
The southeastern minaret is the first minaret of the Prophet's Mosque. It is known as the main minaret, and bears this name until this day. It is the closest to the Green Dome, and is located in the southeast corner of the mosque. The second is the southwestern minaret, Bab as-Salam, which overlooked the house of Umayya in the city. This minaret was rebuilt in the thirteenth century AD and still exists today, and is periodically restored. The northeastern and northwestern minarets were demolished and rebuilt more than once throughout history, the last being during the first Saudi expansion. The western minaret is called Bab al-Rahma Minaret, and was built outside the mosque's wall in 1483 between Bab as-Salam and Bab al-Rahma. A stronger minaret was constructed instead during the first Saudi expansion.
Minarets of the Prophet's Mosque during Saudi expansions
The first Saudi expansion focused on renovating old minarets and building modern ones to replace worn and falling minarets. Thus, the northwestern and northeastern minarets were rebuilt. During the second Saudi expansion, six new minarets were built for the Prophet's Mosque, bringing the total number of minarets to ten. They were designed in harmony with the first Saudi expansion minarets, and were based on engineering systems that reflected the shape of the mosque's minarets.
The second Saudi expansion minarets are distributed on the corners of the buildings and prayer rooms of the mosque. Four minarets were constructed in the northern facade, one in the northeast corner, one in the northwest corner, one in the southeast corner, one on the southwest corner, and two in the middle of the north side above the central gate called King Fahd Gate.
Sections of the minarets
The minarets of the Prophet's Mosque are divided into five floors. The first is the base of the minaret. It is square shaped, and has a diameter of 5 m. It is also the same length as the Prophet's Mosque.
The second floor of the minarets is 2 m higher than the first, and shares the same width. The lower part of it is octagonal in shape. The third floor appears cylindrical with a diameter of 5 m and a height of 18 m. This floor is one of the solid parts that bear the weight of the upper parts.
The height of the fourth floor of the minarets reaches 15 m, with a diameter of 4.5 m, thus forming the neck of the minaret, while the height of the fifth floor reaches 15 m, with a diameter equal to the fourth floor. It starts in a cylindrical shape, and ends with a domed crown that carries the upper part which has a conical shape. It is topped by an onion dome that is a basis for the 24-karat gold-plated bronze crescent base, with a height of 6 m, and a weight of about 4.5 t.
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