The Holy Mosque is the Center, not only of Makkah, but of all of Islam. It houses the Kaba which is the holiest structure in Islam as it was originally constructed by Abraham. Because of the Kaba's significance the Holy Mosque is the only mosque in the world where prayer is directed inward.

When the the Saudi Arabian government came into power in 1932, only forty-eight thousand people could worship simultaneously at the Mosque. The government had to take it upon itself to expand the Holy Mosque to support the ever growing number of pilgrims due to increasingly affordable air travel and the multitudes of pilgrims that came along with that for the Hajj. Today it can comfortably allow two million people to worship simultaneously.

Saudi Arabia has made a concerted effort to maintain and expand this mosque and the Prophet's Mosque in Medina. In the decade from 1986-1996, the government spent $18.66 billion on the development of the two mosques and their environs. This type of commitment is necessary from a "government that believes that no man dies except of God's will" (Greg Noakes). Without government support, disasters would be a common occurrence. As it is, Hajj disasters are not unheard of.

Improvements began in 1955 when King Saud ordered the first expansion of the mosque in more then one thousand years. The capacity was increased from forty-eight thousand to one hundred and fifty thousand worshipers, who were greeted by 285 meter minarets surrounding the mosque. However, these additions soon could not make room for the increasing number of pilgrims and the mosque was expanded again in 1959. In 1981, a massive expansion project began that brought it to its current capacity of two million worshipers.

More images of the Mosque