Masjid al-Haram

Great Mosque of Mecca
The Sacred Mosque
Al-Masjid al-Haram from Abraj Al Bait
Location in Saudi Arabia
Basic information
Location	Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Geographic coordinates	21°25′19″N 39°49′34″E / 21.422°N 39.826°E / 21.422; 39.826Coordinates: 21°25′19″N 39°49′34″E / 21.422°N 39.826°E / 21.422; 39.826
Affiliation	Islam
Administration	Saudi Arabian government
Leadership	Imam(s): Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais Saud Al-Shuraim Abdullah Awad Al Juhany Saleh Al Talib Saleh Al Humaid Bandar Baleelah Usaamah Khayyat Khalid Al Ghmadi Maher Al Mueaqly Faisal Gazzawi
Website	www.gph.gov.sa
Architectural description
Architectural type	Mosque
Date established	Pre-Islamic era
Specifications
Capacity	900,000 worshippers (increased to 4,000,000 worshippers during the Hajj period)
Minaret(s)	9
Minaret height	89 m (292 ft)

The Great Mosque of Mecca (Arabic: المسجد الحرام‎‎, Masjid al-Ḥarām, lit. "the sacred mosque"), also called the Grand Mosque, is the largest mosque in the world and surrounds Islam's holiest place, the Kaaba, in the city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Muslims face in the Qibla (direction of the Kaaba) while performing Salat (obligatory daily prayers). One of the Five Pillars of Islam requires every Muslim to perform the Hajj pilgrimage, one of the largest annual gatherings of people in the world, at least once in his or her lifetime if able to do so, including Tawaf (circumambulation) of the Kaaba.

The Quran states that Abraham, together with his son Ishmael, raised the foundations of a house [Quran 2:127] that is identified by most commentators as the Kaaba. Allah had shown Abraham the exact site, very near to the Well of Zamzam, where Abraham and Ishmael began work on the Kaaba's construction in circa 2130 BCE. After Abraham had built the Kaaba, an angel brought to him the Black Stone, a celestial stone that, according to tradition, had fallen from Heaven on the nearby hill Abu Qubays. According to a saying attributed to Muhammad, the Black Stone had "descended from Paradise whiter than milk but the sins of the sons of Adam had made it black". The Black Stone is believed to be the only remnant of the original structure made by Abraham.

After placing the Black Stone in the Eastern corner of the Kaaba, Abraham received a revelation, in which Allah told the aged prophet that he should now go and proclaim the pilgrimage to mankind, so that men may come both from Arabia and from lands far away, on camel and on foot. Quran 22:27 Going by the dates attributed to the patriarchs, Ishmael is believed to have been born around 2150 BCE, with Isaac being born a hundred years later.