I spend 4 years living in Makkah. Back then the Masjid Al-Haram had a certain majesty to it as it was the tallest structure around.
Now with this ugly grotesque building surrounding it takes away from this very special place.
In the West, you have things like zoning laws in which you can't build certain structures near certain areas.
No building taller than the Khana Kabah minarets should have been allowed.
If the Saudis wanted to create this Clock Tower, they should have build it somewhere else.
You don't see Skyscrapers in the Vatican, or skyscrapers near any other religious site.
Imagine how would you feel if the Israelis decide to build a massive skyscraper near the Temple Mount.
Actually you are making lot of sense since now you have mentioned Vatican. I don't know what is in arabs minds that they are building clock tower, a huge sky scrapper and yet non muslims are not even allowed in Makkah.
Yes as mentioned before, the Saudis are trying to move the 'gmt' time to Makkah, which according to them is teh centre of the world, hence one of teh reasons why they created that clock tower.
I disagree with that tower, as I do not think anything should be taller than the minarets.
The clock was made by a german company and is 6 times taller than big ben, and the tallest building in the world to house a clock. It can be seen 14 kms away at night, and the day I left they put the words 'Allah' on the top.
i will post my pics in a bit
Saudi have money when they come to realize the will make the minarets of kaba taller than this clock tower. Who can stop them from doing that ?
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Saudi have money when they come to realize the will make the minarets of kaba taller than this clock tower
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Shouldn't the best way of showing devotion to God is to spend money to improve the living standards of fellow human beings, rather than spending it on building and rebuilding Clocktowers/Minarets ?
This logic can be applied to anything spent by them. All I see is criticsm for the sake of criticizing.
They should make parking lots around Kaaba, small tents for people to stay and should not spend money on anything there…just spend all on improving lives of ‘fellow human being’.
And what kind of logic is there to compare that to Vatican?
Just becase of being counter part of another religious sect, does not mean Saudis officials must follow what Italy/Vatican does or does not do.
There is no comparison between the two anyway by any other standard.
Vatican reperesents a sect of Christianity. Vatican does not represent whole christianity as the center.
Anyone who thinks the importance and sanctity/respect of the Kaaba an its Minars will be redced by any taller building in the vicinity must not be making a whole lot of sense here.
Diwana, its not just about aesthetics or height of buildings, but the development in the immediate area could create other issues, in terms of future growth and facilities, logistics, traffic. They have not always done the best with city planning.
My dad's company did quite a bit of planning and expansion work for haram sharif and the concerns about options for future needs getting limited due to major structures just yards away are an issue. There has to be plenty of open area around there for crowd, emergency and logistics type of things, there is a reason why many places with large gatherings are planned in a way with open spaces around them.
from what I know, it can not continue and needs to have better zoning and open space plans there
Diwana, its not just about aesthetics or height of buildings, but the development in the immediate area could create other issues, in terms of future growth and facilities, logistics, traffic. They have not always done the best with city planning.
My dad's company did quite a bit of planning and expansion work for haram sharif and the concerns about options for future needs getting limited due to major structures just yards away are an issue. There has to be plenty of open area around there for crowd, emergency and logistics type of things, there is a reason why many places with large gatherings are planned in a way with open spaces around them.
from what I know, it can not continue and needs to have better zoning and open space plans there
I understand. I was having a discussion with someone along the same line earlier this year who had been involved in construction in the area and acc. to this person, in few years all we see there may be abolished even the five star hotels may be demolished. Saudis have plenty of money and can do it and have done it in past. Acc. to this person, nothing beyound a certain limit (perhaps the structure built during very ealy days around kaaba) is for permanent existence.
^ you got a point coz whenever someone questions a bride on this forum, he gets told “if u can afford it, u should wear fancy clothes, nothing wrong in it”
Alhamdulilah I have been going to that place every yr for past 20-30 years and I have seen it changed from a small city to now a more commercialized center. I have always seen construction happening some where for some reason whether it's expansion or to provide facilities for the zayirin.
I think the difference is between ours and Arab's thinking, I mean for them the concept of respect is little different. Have you seen how they treat Quran just like any another book not like us who always try to keep away the holy Quran from unnecessary contact. Similarly when it's time for prayers we wonder on things like whether the place to pray is good or not, are we done with other businesses are not, the clothes we are praying in are proper or not etc. are proper or not, they just go and pray. I mean they don't fuss about all these things, its just the way think.
I am not trying to justify what they did or in any way I agree to that, I am just saying that deep down they are still centuries old badu's
All I see is criticsm for the sake of criticizing.
coz whenever someone questions a bride on this forum, he gets told “if u can afford it, u should wear fancy clothes, nothing wrong in it”