The Masjid al-Haram: Balancing Tradition and Renewal at the Heart of Islam

The following article presents a brief history of some of the building campaigns undertaken at the Masjid al-Haram in Makkah al-Mukarramah (the Great Mosque in Mecca) during the past sixteen centuries, with a particular focus on Mimar Sinan's still-extant sixteenth-century Ottoman arcade within the mosque's central courtyard.¹ It compares a selection of historic and contemporary responses to the appropriation of land, destruction, and rebuilding undertaken by successive Muslim rulers in and around the sanctuary, before attempting to ascertain recurrent themes and issues that have characterized this dialogue over the past 1600 years.