INTRODUCTION

Will I see the whole world and  nally arrive at the Holy Places, and Cairo, and Damascus, and and ? Will I ever visit and touch the tomb of our Holy Prophet, who is being praised by all living beings?1

During the pre-Islamic period, Medina’s name was Yathrib. In the Qur"¯an it appears once, namely related to the “Battle of the Trench” (al-Khandaq) north of Medina in 627: “Behold! A party among them said: ‘Ye men of Yathrib! Ye cannot stand (the attack)! therefore go back!’ And a band of them ask for leave of the Prophet, saying, ‘Truly our houses are bare and exposed,’ though they were not exposed: they intended nothing but to run away” (Q 33:13). There are two things we learn from these verses about Medina at this time: that the city did not have a town wall; and that the new community’s solidarity was still fragile. In order to defend his new base against the Meccans’ attacks had the only at entrance ˙ to the town being barred by a trench. The remaining sides were blocked by mountains and impassable lava  elds. The Qur"¯annevertheless reports that some of Muhammad’s followers intended to ee from the battle. But the ˙ trench thwarted the Meccans’ stategy of overrunning the with their which greatly outnumbered their opponents. The Muslim victory in this battle led to a strengthening of the Prophet’s position. With the Muhammad’s migration from Mecca to Yathrib, the Muslims ˙ came to call the latter “Mad¯ınatan-nab¯ı”,The City of the Prophet, abbrevi- ated simply as “al-Mad¯ına”,the City, which later acquired the epitheton “al- Munawwara”, The Enlightened. In the Qur"¯anthe word “Mad¯ına”appears thirteen times without any reference to the Prophet’s place of residence, but the former Yathrib is implied in four instances. In each of those verses disaccord and weakness of convictions within the community are discussed (Q 9:120; 9:120; 33:60; 63:8). In connection with Medina, W. Montgomery Watt spoke of a time be- tween the earthquake of 1256 and the 19th century when little information is

1 Evliy¯aÇeleb¯ı,YKY, I, 11: Ay¯a¯ #Alemi¯ tem¯as¯a˙edüp¸ #ar˙z-ımukaddeseye ve Mısra¸ ve S¯ama¸ ˙ ve Mekke vü Med¯ıneyevarup ol mefh¯ar-imevc¯ud¯at ha˙zretleriniŋ rav˙za-imutahharasına yüz sürmek müyesser ola mı? ˘ ˙ ˙ 2 introduction recorded of Medina.2 The expansion of al-Masˇgidal-Nabaw¯ı(the Prophet’s ) and the city of Medina and the renovation of its environment, carried out by the Caliphs #Umar, #Uthm¯an,Wal¯ıdI, al-Mahd¯ıand Sult¯an ˙ Qaytb¯ay,brought about important changes in the city’s structure. Measures ˙ were taken to ensure a steady supply of water and a healthy environment, and to facilitate the ow of tra c within the city. Social and cultural build- ing complexes were added too. The Prophet’s Mosque was not afected by any change from the epoch of Qal¯aw¯un(r. 678–689/1279–1290) up to the reign of Qaytb¯ay(r. 872–901/1468–1496), who had the dome of the Prophet’s ˙ tomb restored and some renovations carried out on the Masˇgidal-Nabaw¯ı. On 13 Ramad¯an866 (11 June 1462) the minaret in the southeastern corner ˙ had been struck by lightning, which had caused great damage; except for the inner dome covering the Prophet’s tomb, two ceilings and the minbar (pul- pit) had caught  re, and a large number of columns had been damaged too. The bluk of the restoration and ornamentation of the Masˇgidal-Nabaw¯ıwas completed in 888 (1483), while some precision work and the renovation of the environments were  nished a year later. Qaytb¯aynext had a larger dome ˙ replace the existing structure covering the Huˇgratal-sa#¯ad¯at (the Prophet’s ˙ tomb); furthermore, on the B¯abal-sal¯amside of the Masˇgidal-Nabaw¯ıtwo more cupolas were constructed. A madrasa and barracks for the frontier guards were also added. The Ottoman Sultans continued developing Medina and the Prophet’s mosque. The city came under Ottoman rule in 1517, but the  rst building activity at the Masˇgidal-Nabaw¯ı dates from the reign of Q¯an¯un¯ı Sult¯an ˙ Suleym¯an(r. 926–974/1520–1566), known in the West as Suleyman the Mag- ni cent. In 938/1532 some repairs and restoration works were undertaken at the Masˇgidal-Nabaw¯ı. Afterwards, during the reigns of Sult¯anSel¯ım ˙ II (r. 974–982/1566–1574); Mur¯adIII (r. 982–1003/1574–1595); Mehmed III ˙ (r. 1003–1012/1595–1603); Ahmed I (r. 1012–1026/1603–1617); Mur¯adIV (r. ˙ 1032–1049/1623–1640); Mehmed IV (r. 1058–1099/1648–1687); Mustaf¯aII (r. ˙ ˙ ˙ 1106–1115/1695–1703); Ahmed III (r. 1115–1143/1703–1730); Mahm¯udI (r. 1143– ˙ ˙ 1168/1730–1754); ‘Osman III (r. 1168–1171/1754–1757); Abdulham¯ıdI (r. 1187– ˙ 1203/1774–1789); and Sel¯ımIII (r. 1203–1222/1789–1807) more restorations and renovations were realized and varied presents were sent to Medina. The largest Ottoman building activities at Masˇgidal-Nabaw¯ıwere carried out during the rule of Sult¯anAbdulmec¯ıdI (r. 1255–1277/1839–1881).3 During the ˙

2 ‘Med¯ına’ (W. Montgomery Watt), EI2, V (1986): 934; idem, Muhammed at Medina (Oxford, 1956). 3 M. H¯azz¯a" al-Sahr¯ı,ˇ al-Mas˘gidal-nabaw¯ıf¯ıal-taˇsr¯ıal-#Osm¯an¯ı unpublished PhD Thesis, Gami˘ "a al-Ummulkur¯a(Riyadh, 1987): 91–101. ¯ ˙