The Mosque was rebuilt by the third Caliph, Uthman, in 649–50 AD, using stone to replace the early wooden structure, and the site was later expanded greatly by the Umayyad Caliph al-Walid in 707 AD. Much of the early structure was destroyed by the great fire of 1256 AD, however, and the oldest parts of the Mosque standing today reflect successive waves of Ottoman building work.

The expansion and development plans formulated by King Fahd for the Prophet’s Mosque in the Holy City of Madinah were just as ambitious as those for the Holy Mosque in Makkah. Before the expansion was implemented, although the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah received each year approximately the same number of worshippers, its area was little more than one tenth of the Holy Mosque in Makkah. King Faisal had added some areas for prayer on the western side of the Prophet’s Mosque where pilgrims could pray out of the glare of the sun but these arrangements were temporary and insufficient to meet the ever-growing need.

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