Saudi Arabia to Raze Prophet Mohammad’s Tomb to Build Larger Mosque

­mosque 2Work on the Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina, is planned to start as soon  as the annual Hajj pilgrimage comes to a close at the end of November. 

“After the Hajj this year, in one months’ time, the bulldozers will move in and will start to demolish the last part of Mecca, the grand mosque which is at least 1,000 years old,” Dr. Irfan Alawi of the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation, told RT.

After the reconstruction, the mosque is expected to become the world’s largest building, with a capacity for 1.6 million people.

And  while the need to expand does exist as more pilgrims are flocking to  holy sites every year, nothing has been said on how the project will  affect the surroundings of the mosque, also historic sites.

Concerns  are growing that the expansion of Masjid an-Nabawi will come at the  price of three of the world’s oldest mosques nearby, which hold the  tombs of Prophet Mohammed and two of his closest companions, Abu Bakr  and Umar. The expansion project which will cost 25 billion SAR (more  than US $6 billion) reportedly requires razing holy sites, as old as the  seventh century.

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