The Saudi portico in the Great Mosque of Mecca: Why did this designation spark controversy? What is the truth about replacing it with the Ottoman portico?

The Saudi Gallery is an old project to expand the circumambulation area around the Kaaba, but its name is considered modern.

On May 21, the General President for the Affairs of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque, Sheikh Abdul Rahman bin Abdulaziz Al-Sudais, announced the issuance of approval to launch the name “Saudi Gallery” on the building of the expansion project in the Grand Mosque.

Al-Sudais indicated that the aim of inaugurating the gallery is to provide wider spaces for sectarians and worshipers and to accommodate the increasing numbers of visitors and pilgrims.

Al-Sheikh added, “The Saudi portico will complement the Abbasid portico, with a larger area that the Grand Mosque has not seen before.”

According to the available information, the Saudi Riwaq:

The founding king, Abdulaziz Al Saud, ordered the planning of the inauguration of this gallery and an expansion of the mosque, so that work began during the reign of King Saud in 1955, and the construction and development of the gallery continued during the past decades until the era of King Salman.

The arcade is a term that refers to the wings that line the courtyard of the mosque, meaning that it is a building added to the sides of the mosque.

The Meccan mosque includes a group of corridors, including the Ottoman portico and the Abbasid portico.

Over the centuries, the mosque’s corridors witnessed many architectural shifts and expansions for aesthetic and organizational considerations related to ensuring the safety of worshipers.

And whenever new news spreads about these halls, the controversy around them expands across digital platforms.

The launch of the name “Saudi Arcade” on the expansion of the terminal sparked a wide interaction.

Saudi and Arab singers celebrated this expansion, and considered it an “important” step to increase the number of pilgrims and pilgrims and facilitate their movement.

Saudis also described the moment of hanging identification signs bearing the name “Saudi Arcade” on the corridors of the mosque as “historic.”

Tweeters believe that this designation is “deserved”, and some of them enumerate the projects that the Saudi state has supervised since its establishment to renovate and develop the Meccan Mosque.

On the other hand, tweeters expressed their rejection of the entire restoration and expansion process, as they prefer to preserve the architectural authenticity of the historical mosques without any new additions.

While other tweeters objected to the name, describing it as “strange and crude.”

There are also those who considered it an “unjustified step to involve religious symbols in politics.”

However, others responded to this by pointing out that most of the hallways were named after “different people and political periods in the history of Islam.”

Among the critics of the project were those who talked about removing “the naming of the Ottoman portico in the Grand Mosque and launching the Saudi portico instead,” which was denied by commentators and media professionals.

Saudi singers have indicated that the Ottoman gallery still exists with the same name.

Summoning the Ottoman gallery revived an old discussion that had been witnessed on social media in the same month of 2020.

The spotlight was greatly shed on the Ottoman portico in 2012, following the decision of the Saudi authorities to expand the Grand Mosque and remove this portico temporarily to restore it and return it to its previous place in 2015.

According to Turkish and Gulf means, the restoration work at that time was assigned to a specialized Turkish company, as it repaired about 2,750 historical pieces, including columns, domes and crowns.

In the debate about the new gallery, some called for changing the name of the Ottoman gallery, also known as the “Historic Gallery”, under the pretext that the Ottomans built it.

But others confirmed that the Ottoman gallery was named after the companion Othman bin Affan.

And by conducting a quick search, you will come across many detailed studies on the expansions and restorations that the Muslim caliphs and sultans carried out inside the Meccan mosque.

Caring for the sanctuary and the historic mosques was among their priorities, as it conferred great religious and political legitimacy on their rule.

Historical references indicate that the first expansion the mosque witnessed was during the reign of Caliph Omar bin Al-Khattab, followed by another during the era of Caliph Othman bin Affan.

Some recent scholars believe that the expansion carried out by Othman bin Affan witnessed the entrance of the corridors for the first time in the architecture of the Grand Mosque in Mecca.

Hence, Al-Riwaq was named after the third caliph, Othman bin Affan.

He was followed by the Abbasid Caliph al-Mahdi, with his expansion that remained unchanged for 810 years, until the Ottoman era, which witnessed many renovations and multiple expansions.

Away from the political debate over the corridors of the Grand Mosque, others called for taking into account the interests of pilgrims and those in i’tikaaf and setting aside differences, while others published maps explaining to the arriving pilgrims how to move between the mosque’s squares.