Masjid al-Ghamama

Masjid al-Ghamama stands in central Madinah, about 500 metres west of the As-Salam door of the Prophet's Mosque, on the open plaza that now surrounds the Haram. It is one of the oldest prayer sites in the city.

According to Islamic tradition, this was the open ground, called the musalla, where the Prophet Muhammad led the Eid prayers and the prayer for rain, salat al-istisqa. The name Ghamama means cloud, and it is linked to the tradition that a cloud gathered to shade the Prophet while he prayed here. The site was later built over, and the mosque has been restored several times.

The present building dates from the Ottoman period. It is built of dark basalt stone with white plaster, and its roof is formed by a group of domes over the prayer hall, with a minaret at one corner. The arched entrance porch and the plain stone walls make it look quite different from the large modern buildings around it.

The mosque was closed to daily prayers for a period because of its closeness to the Prophet's Mosque, and it now holds the five daily prayers again, using its own internal sound system so it does not clash with the call from the Haram. Many visitors see it while walking between the Prophet's Mosque and other nearby sites. Nearby stand the small mosques associated with Abu Bakr and Ali ibn Abi Talib, which also mark places where Eid prayers were held.

It is easy to reach on foot from the Haram. Visitors should dress modestly and respect prayer times.

The first mosque here was built under the Umayyad caliph Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, between about 705 and 712 CE, while he was governor of Madinah. Sultan Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn Qalawun of the Mamluks renovated it in 1340, and Sharif Saifuddin Inal al-Ala'i restored it again in 1622. The appearance seen today comes largely from the rebuilding of 1859 under the Ottoman sultan Abdulmejid I, with later work under Abdul Hamid II and by the Saudi government.

The building has two parts. The entrance porch is 26 metres long and 4 metres wide, with five domes over it, and the prayer hall behind measures 30 by 15 metres under six domes, the largest of them over the mihrab. A single minaret rises at the corner.

The mosque stands on the open plaza at the edge of the Haram, so it is easy to include on a walk after the dawn or afternoon prayer.