The Haj must be big business. How else to explain tearing down the oldest Mosque with a cornerstone set by Mohammed himself. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your tea, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
This stamp perplexes me. Here on the stamp is a Mosque, perhaps the earliest one, that dates from 622 AD. To have survived into the twentieth century means it made it through many different periods. Protecting the Holy Sites is perhaps the top charge of the Saudi Royal line. Yet it was torn down shortly afterward to build something much bigger to accommodate the many Muslims that make the Haj.
The stamp today is issue A98 a 50 Halalas stamp issued by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1977. It was part of a 2 stamp issue in 20h and 50h denominations displaying the Quba Mosque in Medina. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.
The Quba Mosque was completed in 622 AD. While the great Mosques in Mecca and Jerusalem are older, they are associated with the Prophets in Islam notably Abraham. The Mosque In Medina had it’s cornerstone laid by Mohammed himself after he emigrated to Medina from Mecca.
The Haj is now big business. Although Medina is not an official part of the Haj, there has long been a tradition of a following trip to Medina including the Quba Mosque. The numbers making the Haj went up dramatically until recently. The annual numbers went from 300,000 a year in the 1960s to over 3 million about five years ago. For what it’s worth the numbers have begun to trend down lately falling below 2 million in 2017.
With the oil boom and the increase in Haj numbers the decision was taken to expand the Quda Mosque. Noted Egyptian architect Abdel-Wahed El-Wakil was brought in to renovate a much larger structure. It was supposed to incorporate much of the old structure but in the end the old building was taken down. There seems no mention of whether Mohammed’s cornerstone is still in place. See Below.
The Mosque has a mention in the Koran as a place that was founded on Duty to Allah wherein are men who love to purify themselves. Allah loves the purifier. I am of course not qualified to pass judgement on the decision to tear down the Mosque and expand it. As a non Muslim I think of it more in a historical sense. From that limited perspective, it seems a harsh thing to do.
Well my drink is empty and so I will open the discussion in the below comment section. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.