For centuries, they have resonated throughout the Grand Mosque in Mecca — the soul-stirring and soothing voices of muezzins calling the faithful to prayer and imams leading prayers five times a day.
Dr. Mansour Al-Dajani, a researcher of Mecca's history, recently told Arab News that the first noon call to prayer at the Grand Mosque was made from the roof of the sacred Kaaba by the Prophet Muhammad's companion Bilal bin Rabah. This was by order of the Prophet on the day of the conquest of Mecca in 630 (8 AH).
«The Grand Mosque was as large as the Mataf (the circumambulation area around the Kaaba in Mecca) at that time, and it had neither walls nor a minaret. Minarets first appeared in 754 (137 AH) during the reign of the Abbasid caliph Abu Ja'far al-Mansur, who built the first minaret, known as Bab al-Umra, at the western corner on the northern side of the Grand Mosque.».
The minaret was a tall tower adjacent to or attached to the mosque. It was an integral part of the mosque and was designed so that the call to prayer could be heard loudly and clearly throughout the city.
He explained: «This minaret and those built after it were used for reciting the call to prayer at the Grand Mosque. The chief muezzin would begin the call to prayer from the Bab al-Umra minaret, then all the muezzins would follow him at the other minarets. After that, the Bab As-Salam minaret became the platform for the chief muezzin to call to prayer, and in the 16th century (10th century AH) the chief muezzin used the Zamzam dome to deliver the call to prayer.».
Loudspeakers at the Grand Mosque were first installed in 1947 during the reign of King Abdulaziz.
The late Meccan historian and writer Professor Ahmed Ali Asad Allah al-Qazemi stated in his memoirs «Daily Events in Mecca» that in 1947, Sheikh Abd az-Zahir Abu as-Sam, imam and preacher of the Grand Mosque, asked the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, Abdullah bin Sulaiman Al-Hamdan, to provide loudspeakers and a microphone.
He wrote that in that year, speakers at the Grand Mosque were used for Friday and holiday sermons, which fell on the same day. The sermon was usually delivered by the son of Sheikh Abu as-Sam, Abdul Rahman, and only a few worshippers in the mosque could hear it. However, on Friday, October 31, 1947, Sheikh Abu as-Sam delivered the Friday sermon with a microphone, which was heard by thousands of worshippers at the Grand Mosque.
In 1957, the speaker's location was changed when the first expansion of the Mataf at the Grand Mosque took place. In 1963, the speakers were placed in a separate private building called Almuqbaria, from which the call to prayer is made and where the muezzin sings or repeats in response to the imam's prayers.
Recently, the Agency for Projects and Engineering Studies at the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques made additional changes to the Almuqbaria building to ensure operational efficiency during Ramadan 2023.
Engl. Mohammed al-Wakdani, deputy secretary of the agency, said that Almuqbaria in its new form took into account the architectural changes of the Grand Mosque in terms of color and style.
It allows for greater purity of sound and amplifies the voices of the muezzins. There are also audio and television hardware and studios, special reception rooms for muezzins and deputies, and rooms for public services. The Mataf and the Kaaba can be seen from the southern part of Almuqbaria.
Al-Wakdani added that Almuqbaria plays an important role in coordinating with the Radio and Television Authority in the live broadcast of «all rituals and religious events that are held at the Grand Mosque throughout the year, especially during the blessed Ramadan and the Hajj season.».