5-Endless Bliss Fifth Fascicle - Hakikat Kitabevi

shems, six or eight angled, and yellow-coloured. Masjîd-i-harâm
has an oblong form, its north wall is 164 metres long, south wall 146
metres long, east wall 106 metres long, and west wall 124 metres
long. In 1375 [1955 A.D.] Wahhâbîs extended these four walls, so
that Safâ and Merva were included in the Masjîd. Hence, the
mosque became one hundred and sixty thousand square meters.
The blessed mosque of Saint Sophia in Istanbul is 77 metres long
and 72 metres wide, and the blessed Sultanahmed (blue) mosque
is 72 metres long and 64 metres wide. Masjîd-i-harâm has nineteen
doors, of which four are on the east wall, three on the west wall, five
on the north wall and seven on the south wall. It has seven
minarets. During the time of the Ottomon Empire, the distance
between Mekka and the port of Jiddah was 75 km., between
Medina and Jiddah 424 km., and between Medina and Badr 150
km. The shortest road between Mekka and Medina is 335 km. The
coastal way whereby Rasûlullah migrated was 400 km. Mekka is
360 metres above the sea level. Medina is 160 kilometres inland
from the coast.
Before the time of Hadrat ’Umar (radiy-Allâhu ’anh), Masjîd-iharâm
did not have any walls. Around the Kâ’ba was a small
square sorrounded by houses. The Caliph ’Umar had some of the
houses demolished and had a one-metre-high wall built around the
Kâ’ba, and thus Masjîd-i-harâm was built. Masjîd-i-harâm was
restored various times. Today’s Masjîd-i-harâm, together with the
eleventh restoration of the Kâ’ba-i-mu’azzama, was built in 1045
hijri [1635 A.D.], during the time of Sultan Murâd Khan IV, the
seventeenth Ottoman Emperor. Now Wahhâbîs, on the pretext of
enlarging them, are demolishing and annihilating those historic
Islamic works, building in their place things that have only
materialistic value. At the cost of desecrating the Kâ’ba-imu’azzama,
they are building taller houses and hotels.
The Kâ’ba-i-mu’azzama is a cubical room built of stone in the
middle of Masjîd-i-harâm, and is 11.4 meters tall. Its north wall is
9.25 metres long, south wall 8.5 metres long, east wall 13.5 metres
long, and west wall 13.3 metres long. On the corner of the eastsouth
walls is the stone of Hajer-i-aswad, which is over one metre
above the ground. With so many hadjis having kissed it, its surface
is now rather concave. The Kâ’ba has a door on the east wall. 1.88
metres above the ground, the door is 1.7 metres wide and 2.6
metres high. Its inner side, as well as the floor, is covered with
coloured marble. Its minaret-like spiral staircase near the corner
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