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MOSQUE OF THE PROPHET ﷺ (AL-MASJID AN-NABAWI)
Al-Masjid an-Nabawi · The Green Dome.
The Beating Heart of Islam
There are on this earth three mosques to which the Prophet ﷺ permitted travel. One in Mecca, around the Kaaba. One in Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa. And one here, in Medina. His mosque. His home. His tomb.
As you approach the Green Dome and see this millennium-old dome rising above the palms, something tightens in your chest. You know that behind this dome rests the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. With his two most loyal companions: Abu Bakr and Umar (رضي الله عنهما). Three men side by side, awaiting resurrection.
It is here, near his tomb, that people come to send greetings to the Prophet ﷺ; and by his own word, he returns the greeting of whoever greets him (see below).
The Birth of a Mosque
Monday of Rabi' al-Awwal in the year 1 of the Hijra. The Prophet ﷺ has just arrived in Medina. The she-camel Al-Qaswa, free of its bridle, walks through the alleys. It finally stops on a piece of land belonging to two young orphans of Banu Najjar — Sahl and Suhayl ibn 'Amr. The Prophet ﷺ buys this land at its fair price.
The companions build. The Prophet ﷺ carries the bricks with them. The roof is made of palm trunks, the ground is packed earth. No marble. No gold. Just prophetic simplicity.
It is here that the Prophet ﷺ will pray for ten years. It is here that he will teach. That he will judge. That he will weep. That he will laugh. It is here, in an adjacent room — that of our mother 'Aisha (رضي الله عنها) — that he will take his last breath.
Authentic Hadiths
"A prayer in my mosque is better than a thousand prayers in any other mosque, except for the Sacred Mosque in Mecca." (Sahih al-Bukhari no. 1190)
"One should not undertake a journey except to three mosques: the Sacred Mosque, my mosque, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque." (Sahih al-Bukhari no. 1189)
"Between my house and my minbar lies one of the gardens of Paradise (Ar-Rawdah)." (Sahih al-Bukhari no. 1195)
"Whoever greets me, Allah restores my soul so that I may return his greeting." (Sunan Abu Dawud no. 2041)
Ar-Rawdah — The Garden of Paradise
Between the room where the Prophet ﷺ is buried and the former location of his minbar, there is a space of about 22 meters by 15 meters. This very ground is the garden of Paradise on Earth. When you pray there, you are praying in a fragment of Paradise advanced on this earth.
The Green Dome
The first dome over the burial chamber was built in the Mamluk period, under Sultan Qalawun (678 AH / 1279). The current dome dates from the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II (1818), and it was painted green for the first time in 1837.
Under this dome, in the original chamber of Aisha, three bodies rest:
- The Messenger of Allah ﷺ
- Abu Bakr As-Siddiq (رضي الله عنه) beside him
- Umar ibn al-Khattab (رضي الله عنه) next to Abu Bakr
Practical Information
Capacity: 1.5 million worshippers · Area: 384,000 m² · Minarets: 10 · Doors: 41 · Open 24/7 · Coordinates: 24.4683° N, 39.6108° E