Image Resource Bank

Image Gallery |  13 of 15

The Masjid al-Haram is located in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the virtual capital of the Muslim world, and at its midst stands the Ka’ba. The structure is a cube-shaped shrine that was originally built, according to the Muslim tradition, by the Prophet Abraham and his son Ishmael. The rituals performed at the Ka’ba are considered to be Abrahmic in origin, and millions of Muslims perform the annual pilgrimage to it and other holy sites in the area of Mecca, in following the Prophet Mohammad’s last pilgrimage rites. Mohammad was a Meccan who cleansed the Ka’ba and Pre-Islamic Arabia of idol worship by preaching his Islamic message.

 Masjid al-Nabawi, the Prophet’s Mosque

Name: Masjid al-Haram

Material: Marble, wood, stone

Size: Area Covered: 400,800 square meters (Over 4,300,000 square feet or 99 acres)

Date: Unknown; expanded over time

Place of Origin: Mecca, Saudi Arabia

Location: Mecca, Saudi Arabia

Source and Registration#:
Wikipedia (accessed April 30, 2010)

Wadad Kadi

Avalon Foundation Distinguished Service Professor of Islamic Studies, Emerita, Department of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations, University of Chicago