^{Night View Of Kaba tulah picture from my phone gallery}

Masjid ul Haram is the most sacred mosque of Muslims and the biggest mosque in the world. It is situated in Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 in the province of Mecca. It has great importance for Muslims. This mosque surrounded the Kaba tul Allah or Khana Khaba. It's the cube-shaped building that is considered the main point of Islamic worship; all Muslims do their worship with their faces towards the Kaaba tul Allah.

For performing the Hajj and Umrah millions of pilgrims visit Masjid al-Haram annually , so this mosque has great importance in Islam.

History :

Masjid al-Haram, is considered one of the oldest mosques in Islam . Its history dates back to the creation of the earth, with the Quran mentioning that the mosque was built before the creation of mankind, mirroring the place of worship for angels, al-Baytu l-Ma’mur.

As Masjid ul Haram surrounds the Kaaba, so its expansion and development under goes in several time and still a continuous process with different caliph ,sultan and rulers contributing its expansion and renewal work. In history the major development occurred in these timescales.

Era of Ibrahim and Ismaeel:

kaba tul Allah was built in 638 AD by prophet Ibrahim with his son and made it the worship place for Muslims.

Era of Muhammad (peace be upon him):

7th century:

Umar ibn al-Khattab 2nd caliph constructed walls around the Kaaba.

8th century:

Al-Walid extended the prayer hall and replaced the old wooden columns them with marble .

Era of Ottoman:

1571:

Sultan Selim II started to renovate the mosque, after his work new addition of domes and new support marbel columns were made in expansion .

1629 :

After damage of Masjid ul Haram from heavy rains and flash floods,Sultan Murad IV renovated the mosque . New expansion occurred too with mentainance of mosque.

Era of Saudi kings:

Expansion work is going on till now, here we briefly discuss about it.

1st Saudi Expansion:

First Saudi Expansion was done 1955 and 1973, during this most of Turkish construction was demolished. During this work new minarets were added, celling was refurbished, floor is replaced with stones and marble.

2nd Saudi Expansion:

Second expansion was done by king Faha between 1982-1988. A new wing added to the mosque, out door pryer area was made to accommodate more pilgrims. New minarets, dombes added , 6 large pryer halls were added to the mosqe where disabled persons can be moved ,they made ramp for wheelchairs.

3rd Saudi Expansion:

King Abdullah Inb Abdulaziz announced new expansion of this mosque in 2008, US$10.6 billion was allocated for the expansion project. It involving the expropriation of land to the north and northwest of the mosque covering 300,000 m2. Expansion work stopped for few year and now it still going on.

Alhumdulilah I have visited 5times and when I visited every time New expansion and renewal work is under process.

Architecture Of Masjid Ul Haram:

Masjid ul Haram , the Great Mosque is both the largest mosque in the world, and the most expensive building in the world. It has capacity of 3.0 million pilgrims to visit snd pryer at a time. It has several gates to enter into the mosque. It has 13 Minaret with height of 139 m (456 ft), total area of mosque is 356,000 square metres (88 acres) and still expansion process is going on.

Key Feature Of Masjid ul Haram:

Kaaba :
It is a cube-shaped building made up of stones, is the holiest site in Islam. It is approximately 15 m high with sides measuring 12 m × 10.5 m wide. The floor inside Kaaba is made of marble . The floor of the interior stands about 2 m above the ground area where tawaf is performed so for entrance inside kaba they used stairs . Normally it closes for all but for cleaning it opens and you may watch inside kaba from outside.

Mataaf:
The open area surrounding the Kaaba where pilgrims perform tawaf. Its a lage space where 105000 pilgrims can pryers together.
Maqam Ibrahim :
Ibrahim prophet made kaba this stone work as lift so he put stones to make wall of kaba. His foot's imprint are still there during expansion of Kaaba they tried to replace them but cant so it kept in a crystal dome next to the Kaaba and its called Maqam Ibrahim.
ZamZam Well :
This is a well inside mosque . It started for Ismaeel prophet before making of kaba and still providing water . We Muslims considered it blessed and holy water.

Hills of Safa and Marwa :
Saffa and Marwa are two hills connected by a gallery in mosque after second saudi expansion, where pilgrims perform the ritual of Saee. Before expansion it was not in the mosque and it was open.

This mosque has great architecture with all modern technology, and its expansion and renovation are done to keep in mind that it provides more comfort and convenience to pilgrims. A huge crowd can be accommodated with comfort. A great security staff and cleaning staff keep the mosque clean all the time.

Location:

Google map location)
What3words location

Steem-atlas

Expenses Of Umra For One Person:

I'm sharing the expenses of last Umrah, last year in jully 2024.

Expenses	in PKR	in Steem
Visa fees	40k PkR	851 Steem
Air ticket economy class	145000 PKR	3085 Steem
Hotel for 20nights	100000 PKR	2127 Steem
Transportation	12000 PKR	255

Recommendations:

^{A beautiful memory from my last Umrah}
Only Muslims can enter Makkah and all Muslims should visit this place if they have resources. Its the best place to visit where you can find your inner peace and spiritual revival. In Islam hajj is mandatory once a life for all Muslims. So millions of people visit this place for hajj during the month of hajj and for umrah through out the year.

Alhamdulillah I have visited this place for Umrah and Hajj too. I wish I could go there again and again. One more thing: I have performed Umrah twice from my Steemit earnings, and it's the biggest blessing from my Allah that it could happen. Every Muslim has desire to visit this place and I believe if you have true desire for visit Allah will make it possible even you are not rich. This visit will be great blessing from Allah if you get this opportunity.

I have set 10% beneficiary to @steem-atlas for supporting this project.

Support @pennsif and @pennsif.witness for the growth of this creative platform. Vote for @pennsif.witness here

Reference for history