The width of one door of the Prophet’s Mosque is 3 meters and its height is 6 meters (Shutterstock)

The Prophet’s Mosque had 3 doors in its first building during the era of the Prophet - Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace - and with the development and expansion operations that took place in the mosque, its doors have now reached 100 doors.

The first of its old doors was closed when the qibla of Muslims turned to the Grand Mosque instead of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, since this door was facing the new qibla. It was replaced by a door in the northern wall, and the mosque also kept Bab Othman and Bab Atika.

The Atika Gate was named after a woman from Mecca, the daughter of Zaid bin Omar, from the tribe of Adi bin Kaab, who converted to Islam and immigrated to Medina. The door was named after her because it was located opposite her house. It was also called the Gate of Mercy, as stated in Sahih Al-Bukhari that a man entered the mosque asking the Messenger - may God bless him and grant him peace - May God bless him and grant him peace - supplication to send rain, so it rained for 7 days, then he entered on the second Friday asking for the rain to be removed for fear of drowning, so the clouds cleared, and he considered this a mercy for the servants, so he called it the door of mercy.

As for the door located on the eastern side, it was known as Bab Othman (now known as Bab Gabriel), and it was called Bab Gabriel, because the Messenger, may God bless him and grant him peace, met Gabriel in this place during the Battle of Banu Qurayza, and it was also known as Bab Othman because it was located opposite his house.

 The first doors of the mosque were closed after turning the qiblah towards the Grand Mosque (Shutterstock)

New doors

After the expansion of the mosque during the reign of Caliph Omar bin Al-Khattab - may God be pleased with him - the mosque had 6 doors, that is, 3 new doors were added to the doors that were in the walls of the mosque during the era of the Messenger, may God bless him and grant him peace, where he added a door on the northern side, and a door for women on the side. The eastern wall and Bab al-Salam in the western wall.

After that, the number of doors of the Prophet’s Mosque continued to increase during the expansions of the mosque throughout history, while retaining the names of the main doors, while distributing the new doors in a consistent manner around the mosque from its four sides, expansions, and roof.

The doors are a mixture of gilded copper and the best types of wood (Shutterstock)

Door specifications

The width of one door is 3 meters, its height is 6 meters, and its thickness is more than 13 centimetres. The weight of one door is one and a quarter tons. The door can be opened and closed with one hand because the door’s handle represents flexibility in the process of opening and closing.

These doors were made with more than 1,600 cubic meters of teak wood, and each door consumed more than 1,500 gilded, engraved pieces, collected in a circular mold containing the name (Muhammad, Messenger of God).

These doors were mixed between gilded copper in France and the best types of wood (teak) collected in the United States, then transported to the city of Barcelona in Spain, and placed in special ovens to dry them in a period not exceeding 5 months, then cut with saws equipped with a laser feature, and then poured. The copper pieces were then polished and polished before they took the final shape by coating them with gold, and attaching them to the doors. The doors were fastened using the old interlocking method without the use of nails.

Source: Al Jazeera + Saudi Press