Speaking to Al-Madinah Arabic daily, Fouad Muhammad Omar Tawfik said such a measure was essential to meet the requirements of the growing number of pilgrims and worshippers who come to Makkah every year.
Tawfik’s statement comes after Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah recently launched the largest expansion of the Grand Mosque in history to increase the mosque's capacity to more than 2.5 million worshippers. The project will cost SR80 billion.
He described the expansions of the Grand Mosque, the masaa (the running course between Safa and Marwa) and the Jamrat (stoning area in Mina) as strategic moves to facilitate the movement of pilgrims and help them perform their rituals easily and comfortably.
“We have to take into account the possibility of a huge influx of pilgrims coming to the holy places in Makkah for Haj and Umrah in the coming years. We have to find suitable solutions to deal with such huge crowds of pilgrims and think of new ideas to break up these huge crowds of worshippers,” he said.
Tawfik continued: “We know that Allah has made the whole Makkah Haram (a sacred place) and did not specify that the Grand Mosque has the only boundaries for the Haram. You know that there were several houses and other buildings before they made way for the mosque in its current form.”
The key point that the whole Makkah is the Haram gives the government a lot of flexibility to find solutions to prevent overcrowding.
“This means wherever you pray in Makkah is the Haram. We can also pray taraweeh in Makkah mosques other than the Grand Mosque,” he said.
Tawfik proposed that the Grand Mosque be allocated for pilgrims who come for Haj and Umrah, which includes tawaf (circumambulation around the Holy Kaaba) and saie (running or walking between Safa and Marwa) as the two rituals cannot be done in any other place in Makkah. He said the main objective of his proposal was to avoid overcrowding at the Grand Mosque and not to prevent taraweeh and qiyamullail from taking place there.
“At present there are five principal road systems and two important areas — Sharaie and Misfala — and both are inside the Haram area. There are seven prime locations in this area. In my opinion we have to build seven big mosques in these locations with each mosque housing at least 200,000 worshippers at a time,” he said.
The former mayor added: “The seven mosques should be constructed following the same architectural style of the Grand Mosque, and brought under the Presidency of the Two Holy Mosques.”
Tawfik also proposed the implementation of new health, water and electricity projects for Makkah people so that the existing facilities could be utilized by pilgrims only.
Saleh Al-Hosain, head of the presidency, praised experts at Saudi universities for preparing the best, environmentally-friendly designs for the new Haram expansion while incorporating high safety standards.
“As King Abdullah wished, the whole Islamic world will be proud of the new expansion project,” Al-Hosain said.
The new project, covering 400,000 sq. meters in the northwest and northeast of the mosque, is the project of the century, said Sheikh Muhammad Al-Khuzaim, vice president of the presidency. Al-Khuzaim disclosed plans to expand the mataf and provide air-conditioning for all parts of the Grand Mosque, adding that the two schemes would be carried out alongside the new expansion project.
