Mawlid al-Nabīī (The birthplace of the Prophet (pbuh)) is the house of Abdullah bin ʿAbdul Muṭṭalib, where the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was born; This place was located in the city of Makkah in the neighborhood of Shiʿb Abi Ṭālib. In the second century of Hijra, Khaizran, the mother of Harūn al-Rashīd, bought that place and turned it into a mosque. Reports from the 6th century onwards indicate that an ornate marble monument for marking the birthplace of the Prophet (PBUH) was built in a part of the mosque. In the reconstruction it on 1009 AD, a large dome and minaret were built for this mosque.
The birthplace of the Prophet's Mosque was considered one of the blessed places in Mecca, and every year on the night of the birth of the Prophet (PBUH), the people of Mecca attended there. Reports from the 10th century have said the existence of a special and official ritual that was held on the 12th night of Rabīʿ al-awwal with the presence of the representative of the Ottoman government in Mecca (the supervisor of Masjid al-Haram). Due to the importance and fame of Mawlid al-Nabīī, this building has been rebuilt many times by order of sultans and nobles, but it was destroyed during the The House of Saud government like many blessed places and buildings in Mecca (in 1343 AH/ 1303 sh). In the year 1370 AH/1329 sh. In order to keep the memory of this place alive, a library was built in it, which is still there, and it is called “Makkah Al-Mukarrma Library”.
History
The house where prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was born, which was located at the location of Shiʿb Abi Ṭālib in a neighborhood called Sawq Al-Layl, has been called “Mawlid al-Nabīī (pbuh)” or the birthplace of the Prophet. In some historical sources, other places have been mentioned as the possible place of the Prophet’s birth, which is not approved by most historians of Mecca.[1]
until the third century
According to Azraqī in his book Akhbār Makka , who lived in the third century, Mawlid of the Prophet, i.e. the house where the Prophet was born, fell into the hands of ʿAqīl, son of Abū Ṭālib, after his emigration, and was passed on to ʿAqīl’s children until it was handed over to Muhammad bin Yūsuf. Thaqafī was sold and he added it to his house, which was known as the White House. When Khaizrān, the mother of Harūn al-Rashīd, performed Hajj in 171 A.H., she bought it and built a mosque in it where they pray. Azraqī states that the people of Mecca have not discord about the birthplace of the Prophet.[2] The same report was also given by Fākihī (245 AH), another old historian of the history of Mecca.[3]
Ibn Jubayr’s report (seventh century)
Ibn Jubayr (614 AH) visited this mosque in 579 and described it in his travelogue.[4]He considered the building to be a magnificent mosque that “opens on Mondays in the month of Rabiʿ al-Awwal, which is the month of the Prophet’s (PBUH) birth and birthday and all the people will come there on that day to obtain grace and blessings, and other holy places will also be opened on the same day, and it is always the Day of Resurrection in Mecca.”[5]
According to Ibn Jubayr, the Prophet’s birthplace in this mosque is built in the form of a pond with a width of three wajabs(0.675m), in the middle of which is a green marble with a width of two-thirds of a wajab(about 0.225m), which is said to be surrounded by silver. The Miḥrāb of the mosque is located in front of this place.[6] Fassi report (ninth century)
More than two centuries later, the Makkah historian Taqi al-Din Fasi (832 AH) gave a description of this place, which was respected and cherished by the people of Makkah, in the book Shafa al-Gharam. The building of the mosque is depicted as a square shape with two arched arches, which has a large angle in its southwest corner.[7Shafa Al-Gharam, vol. 1, p. 268] The report of the parents of Chalabi (11th century)
Two and a half centuries later, in 1081, Turkish travel writer Olya Chalabi saw Mauld al-Nabi and described it in his book. He has described this building as a large and beautiful mosque, which was a square building with a high dome covered with lead. Chalabi mentioned the decorations inside the mosque, including the precious carpet and the pulpit covered with silk cloth and gold. According to him, the Prophet’s birth place was a stone in a yellow hole on which the place of his body was imprinted.[8Al-Rahlah al-Hijaziyya, Olya Chalabi, pp. 255-256] The last descriptions of Mould al-Nabi building before its destruction
Mullah Ebrahim Kazrooni, who had the opportunity to visit this house in 1315, writes: “On Friday, the 14th, we went to visit the Prophet (PBUH) at a place known as the birthplace of the Prophet (PBUH), and that place is located in Souq. Elleil We went inside and went down approximately fourteen steps. We entered a room named after the mosque. After that, we went to another room. There is a shrine in this room. The servant opened the door of the shrine. There is a pit inside this shrine. In the middle of it was a green stone, which was the birth place of Hazrat Khatami Marbat.” [9Mullah Ebrahim Kazrooni’s travel book, Iran’s Islamic heritage, fifth book, p. 366.] Mohammad Labib Betonuni who in 1909/1327 AH. He traveled to Makkah in his travelogue and drew the above plan from the plan of the Prophet’s building and described it as follows: “When you enter it, you first enter a 12-meter-long and 6-meter-wide playground, which is on the right wall. There is a door, after passing through it you will enter a space on which a dome is placed, in the middle of this space and under the dome leaning against the western wall, there is a wooden compartment inside which is a concave marble stone with a little It has sunk in. It can be seen. This place shows the birthplace of the prophet” [10Hijaz travel book, translated by Rahleh al-Hjazia Mohammad Libi Batnuni, p. 146] Renovations The building of Mould al-Nabi was the attention of princes and sultans and was renovated many times. The list of these renovations is as follows:
Year 576 Nasser Khalifa Abbasi Year 666, Malik Muzaffar, the ruler of Yemen Year 740, Malik Mujahid, the ruler of Yemen Year 758, Amir Sheikhun, one of the elders of Egypt Year 766, Malik Sha’ban, Sultan of Egypt Year 801, Malik Zahir Barquq, Sultan of Egypt[11Shafa Al-Gharam, Vol. 1, p. 270] In the Ottoman era
In 935 Sultan Suleiman Osmani In 1009, by the order of Sultan Mohammad Osmani under the supervision of Ghazanfar Agha. [12Manaeh al-Karam, vol. 3, p. 506.] In this reconstruction, a large dome and a minaret were built for this building, and endowments were determined by the Ottoman government for it, and a muezzin, servant, and imam were determined for the mosque. 13History of Makkah, The History of Fazla-e-Zalam, Volume 2, p. 15] In 1230, Muhammad Ali Pasha of Egypt ordered Sultan Mahmud Khan. The last repair is said to have been in the time of Abdul Majid Khan.[14Afada al-Anam, vol. 2, p. 71. Quoted from the Islamic works of Mecca and Medina, p. 185] Prophet’s (PBUH) birthday celebration in Mould al-Nabi Mosque
In the 6th century, Ibn Jubeir reported the presence of the people of Mecca in the Prophet’s Mosque on Monday in the month of Rabi al-Awwal on the occasion of the celebration of the Prophet’s birthday. [5] There are reports of the celebration of the birth of the Prophet in this place in the following centuries.
Muhammad bin Ahmad Nahrwali (A.D. 990) gave a detailed report about the ritual of the Prophet’s birthday in the 10th century. According to him, every year on the twelfth night of Rabi al-Awwal, after Maghrib prayer, the jurists, nobles, elders and people, while carrying many candles and torches, gather before the supervisor of Masjid al-Haram and the judges of the four religions, and from Masjid al-Haram to Souq Al-Il and Makan They go to Mould al-Nabi and enter it and gather near the birthplace of the Prophet (PBUH). A sermon is read there, and after that, people come to Masjid al-Haram, and some officials of Masjid al-Haram are given robes, and the Isha prayer is held, and the ceremony ends.[15Kitab Al-Alam Ba-Alam Baitullah Al-Haram, p. 422] More than a century later, a travel writer who went on Hajj in 1105-1106 narrated the same report of Nahrwali and described this event as a big gathering in which many Bedouins and residents of other cities (except Mecca) participated. 16]Al-Haqiqah and Al-Majaz, Vol. 3, pp. 354-355 Demolition of the building and construction of the library
In the Al Saud government, the building of Mauld al-Nabi, like many old buildings in Mecca, was destroyed in the year 1343 AH under the pretext that people were looking for blessings on it [17Al-Tarihiyyah and Al-Athriyyah teachers of Makkah, p. 294].
Later, due to the fact that there was no grave to be visited in this place, some people tried to get permission to rebuild it. In 1370, permission was issued to build a library in this place.
The capital of the construction of the building was paid by Fatemeh, daughter of Yusuf Qattan, and her brother Sheikh Abbas Qattan (1370 AD) supervised the construction of the building, and after his death, his sons finished the construction of the building. In this way, “Makkah Al Mukarma School” was built in this place. [18Al-Tarikh Al-Quwaym, pp. 171-173; School of Makkah al-Mukarma Qidama and Haditha, p. 80]