Allah, the Almighty said: Sanctify My House for those who compass it round, or stand up, or bow, or prostrate themselves (therein in prayer) Surah Al-Hajj 26.
Since the beginning of the Islamic religion, the Great Mosque of Makkah has received a great deal of attention from Muslims and their rulers, as those responsible for this Holy Region are in charge of serving pilgrims. In the present day, Saudi Arabia seeks to serve the visitors of the Great Mosque of Makkah while providing facilities and paying great attention to detail in order to ensure the comfort and safety of anyone wishing to visit the Great Mosque of Makkah. With Shaza Makkah Hotel, learn more about the Kingdom’s efforts to ensure the comfort of pilgrims visiting the Great Mosque of Makkah:
Expansion
Around 100 years ago, expansion projects began from the era of the founder to the former kings’, May God have mercy on them. Today, the Kingdom is seeking to increase the capacity of the number of pilgrims to 30 million by 2030 in line with the Saudi Vision goals. Around two-thirds of area will be added in comparison with the Great Mosque of Makkah’s previous area. It is estimated that the total area of the Great Mosque of Makkah will reach about one million five hundred thousand square metres. Expansion work is underway, most notably the King Abdullah Expansion, many of which have been completed, while the prayer hall located on the northwestern side is still under implementation. Upon completion, Shaza Makkah Hotel guests will have easy access to the Great Mosque due to its direct view of this prayer hall from the Mosque.
Prayer carpets
With the current expansion, we can say that the length of prayer carpets used as floor coverings for rooms and halls in religious buildings exceed the distance between Makkah and Jeddah if placed successively. There are currently 40,000 carpets that are intensively maintained in order to ensure their cleanliness and purity so that pilgrims can pray on them. Dust is removed and rosewater perfume is sprayed daily on the carpets, which are cleaned regularly in several phases. In the first phase, workers will remove dust from carpets as they will put each carpet inside a machine to suck dust. In the second phase, they are cleaned with water and shampoo and re-rinsed with pure water in a special machine, then, they are placed in machines to completely squeeze out excess water.
Not only are carpets dried in mechanical drying machines but also ventilated in open air, and they are finally stored in warehouses equipped with 15,000 carpets ready to go to the Mosque at any time when required.
Great Mosque of Makkah’s flooring
The marble covering the floor of the Great Mosque of Makkah may look ordinary, but in fact, it was carefully selected, and was imported from the mountains of Greece specifically for the two Holy Mosques. Installation of marble tiles was done meticulously and is always towards the qibla in order to make it easy for pilgrims to know the direction of qibla in the Great Mosque of Makkah since Kaaba shrine and the direction of the marble tiles are built around it. The marble tiles are 5 cm thick and have several physical properties; they absorb humidity through fine pores during the night, and bring it out during the hot days. For their maintenance, the Great Mosque of Makkah was divided into several areas and a special team was assigned to each one in order to refine, polish and take care of them regularly and immediately.
How to hear the Adhan (call to prayer), Prayer and Khutbah (sermon)
There is 0 percent risk of error in the sound system at the Great Mosque of Makkah as it relies on four sound systems, each of which functions independently, so if one fails, the second one is activated immediately. Therefore, there is no way that the voice of the Imam or Muezzin lowers or stops. There are 50 employees working on the sound system management at the Great Mosque in Makkah, which is one of the world’s most powerful sound systems. You can clearly hear the Adhan as well as the Imam’s speeches and lectures while inside the prayer halls of the Great Mosque of Makkah or in its courtyards through 6000 earphones. Interpretation service is provided for Friday Sermon to non-Arabic speakers visiting the Great Mosque of Makkah through earphones plugged in their phone so they can listen to the translated Sermon.
A pure and clean Mosque
The best time to clean public places is often outside of working hours. What about the place that receives worshippers and pilgrims around the clock and never closes its doors? 1800 workers clean the Great Mosque of Makkah daily under the supervision of the Department of Cleaning and Furnishing at the Great Mosque of Makkah. They take care of the cleanliness of the floor, walls, doors and even the chandelier suspended from the ceiling and every part of the Great Mosque. They clean the Mataf daily four times a day in a quick 30-minute process only using organic water with no added chemicals in order to ensure the health of pilgrims and worshippers. The Department of Cleaning and Furnishing at the Great Mosque of Makkah has 40 electric cars equipped with cleaning wipers, in addition to 60 machines for cleaning the courtyards. 2000 garbage containers were distributed inside and outside the Great Mosque of Makkah.
