A huge project is under way near the Kaaba, in the Grand Mosque, altering the skyline at Islam’s holiest site. The Abraj al Bait Mall will bring an amusement park ride, fast food and a lingerie shop to the neighborhood.
A definitely needed addition ... amusement park ride, fast food and lingerie ... How come the Committee for prevention of vice doesn't object to that?
The Abraj al Bait Mall — one of the largest in Saudi Arabia, outfitted with flat-panel monitors with advertisements and announcements, neon lights, an amusement park ride, fast-food restaurants and a lingerie shop — has been built directly across from Islam’s holiest site. Not everyone considers this progress.
Oh really???
When the project is completed in 2009, it will include the seventh tallest building in the world, its developers say, with a hospital, hotels and prayer halls.
Prayer halls? When the Ka'ba is right there?
So it is permissible to flatten the historical sites in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere because they are bid'a, but then what is that:
The building will house a total population of 65,000
The towers have a combined floor area of 1,500,000m² and a site area of 34,794m²
The building will cost an estimated US-$ 2 billion
The towers include:
- 6 residential towers (27-33F) 302,000m² 864 units
- 60F 5* 2,000 key hotel
- convention centre for 1,500 persons
- prayer hall for 3,800 persons
- 4 story parking for 780 cars and 10 busses
- 2 heliports
This complex directly across from the main gate of Makkah's mosque features as its centerpiece a hotel geared towards the profitable Muslim pilgrimage business. The hotel boasts direct views into the courtyard of the mosque itself.
Aside from the 5-star hotel itself, there are also apartments, a convention center, an intermodal transit station, and a 4-story shopping mall which features themed areas resembling traditional markets in different parts of the Arab world.
Construction is estimated to cost $1.6 billion US dollars and will be done by the Saudi Binladen Group.
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