Prophets Mosque (2 results)

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. Original colour illustrated wraps 17x24cm. Printed by Madinah Printing and Publishing Company, Jeddah. 64pp Arabic text with several colour photos. Very good. Very rare with Worldcat locating 1 copy to the National Library of the Kingdom of Morocco. It revises an earlier 1990 edition found in Arabic and French. Until King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud moved production to Mecca in 1926, the complex and ornately embroidered cloths draped over the Kaaba (Kiswah) and made for other related items used in the Holy Cities had been manufactured in Egypt. The first Saudi-made cloth appeared in 1927. This was highly symbolic, with the Saudi authorities bringing an end to the traditional Mahmal procession from Cairo at the same time, considered an unwelcome and outdated representation of Ottoman authority. This opens with a statement by General President Muhammad bin Abdullah Al-Sabil, and chapters on the history of the Kaaba and Kiswah. Subsequent chapters describe the cloth in detail, and its stages of production including dyeing, weaving, design (calligraphy), printing, manual embroidery, laboratory materials, assembly, and delivery to the Holy Custodian. There is also a history and present description of the Kiswah Factory, its other products, production rates, achievements of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, the Kaaba door curtain presented to the UN, and exhibitions held around the world. Photos capture the production process, and cloth details in close-up.

An attractive poster showing King Fahd bin Abdulaziz's expansion of the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, launched in 1984 and completed ten years later. King Fahd's expansion project included both the Holy Mosque in Mecca and the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, and was the largest since since their establishment in the seventh century. The evocative images include: prayer in the new extension at Medina before its completion, King Fahd laying the foundation stone for the expansion project, a view of the construction project, and a large constructed model of the proposed new design of the mosque. The Prophet's Mosque was expanded on three sides and surrounded by a vast outer courtyard paved with marble. The new structure had 27 inner courtyards with concrete domes, and an air conditioning system. The movement of more than one million worshippers was eased with new gates, escalators, and walkways. Meanwhile, a similar expansion project was being implemented in Mecca. One of the main points of the project there was improving the transportation infrastructure to accommodate the two million pilgrims who perform Hajj every year. This included the construction of the Hajj Terminal at the King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, as well as port facilities to accommodate the pilgrims coming by sea, besides a network of highways connecting Mecca, Medina, and Jeddah. At the time of the establishment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932, the Holy Mosque could accommodate 48,000 worshippers. The complex was to double in size, and prayer sites were established on the roof, allowing as many as 1,500,000 worshippers to pray at one time. A large air conditioning plant was built and special tiles that dissipate the heat were used to cover the prayer grounds in the open areas. The building work was undertaken by the Saudi Binladin Group founded by Sheikh Mohammed Awad bin Laden. He secured royal commissions from King Abdulaziz al Saud, and by the late 1940s Bin Laden held the position as the "king's favoured builder" (Coll). The company was led by Sheikh Mohammed's son Salem in the 1908s. Steve Coll, The Bin Ladens: the Story of a Family and its Fortune, 2008. Poster (548 x 803 mm), printed in colour on thin card stock, mounted and framed (705 x 953 mm). Minor creases to extremities. A very good example of a fragile publication.