http://hajjumrahexperts.com/cheap-umrah-packages-2016.html The original Prophet's Mosque was built by the Prophet himself, next to the house where he settled after his Hijrah (emigration) to Medina in 622 AD. It was an open-air building with a raised platform for the reading of the Quran.

1. By
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2. Masjid-e-Nabawi or the Prophet's Mosque is
a great mosque in Medina, Saudi Arabia. It
stands on the site of a mosque built by the
Prophet Muhammad himself next to his house
and contains his tomb. The Prophet's Mosque
is the second holiest mosque in the world
after al-Haram in Mecca. (Al-Aqsa in
Jerusalem comes in third.)

3.  The original Prophet's Mosque was built by
the Prophet himself, next to the house where
he settled after his Hijrah (emigration) to
Medina in 622 AD. It was an open-air
building with a raised platform for the
reading of the Qur'an.

4. A square enclosure of 30x35 meters, the
mosque was built with palm trunks and mud
walls and accessed through three doors: Bab
Rahmah to the south, Bab Jibril to the west
and Bab al-Nisa' to the east. The basic plan
of the building has since been adopted in the
building of other mosques throughout the
world.

5. Inside, the Prophet created a shaded area to
the south called the suffrah and aligned the
prayer space facing north towards
Jerusalem. When the qibla was changed to
Mekkah, the mosque was re-oriented to the
south.

6.  The mosque also served as a community
center, a court, and a religious school. Seven
years later (629 AD/7 AH), the mosque was
doubled in size to accommodate the
increasing number of Muslims.

7.  the Prophet's Mosque has a rectangular plan
on two floors with the Ottoman prayer hall
projecting to the south. The main prayer hall
occupies the entire first floor. The mosque
enclosure is 100 times bigger than the first
mosque built by the Prophet and can
accommodate more than half a
million worshippers.

8.  The Prophet's Mosque has a flat paved
roof topped with 24 domes on square bases.
Holes pierced into the base of each dome
illuminate the interior. The roof is also used
for prayer during peak times. The paved area
around the mosque is also used for prayer,
equipped with umbrella tents.

9. The north façade has three evenly spaced
porticos, while the east, west and south
façades have two. The walls are composed of
a series of windows topped by pointed arches
with black and white voussoirs. There are six
peripheral minarets attached to the new
extension, and four others frame the
Ottoman structure.

10. This shiny new Prophet's Mosque contains
the older mosque within it. The two sections
can be easily distinguished: the older section
has many colorful decorations and numerous
small pillars; the new section is in gleaming
white marble and is completely air-
conditioned.

11. The most notable feature of the Prophet's
Mosque is the green Dome of the Prophet,
which rises higher amongst the sea of white
domes. This is where the tomb of the
Prophet Muhammad is located; early Muslim
leaders Abu Bakr and Umar ibn al-
Khattab are buried in an adjacent area as
well.

12. At the heart of the mosque is a small area
called ar-Rawdah-an-Nabawiyah which
extends from the tomb of the Prophet to his
pulpit. All pilgrims attempt to visit and pray
in ar-Rawdah, for there is a tradition that
supplications and prayers uttered here are
never rejected.

13. Entrance into ar-Rawdah is not always
possible (especially during the Hajj), as the
tiny area can accommodate only a few
hundred people. Ar-Rawdah has two small
gateways manned by Saudi soldiers charged
with preventing overcrowding in the tiny
area.

14. The green fence at the tomb of
Muhammad is guarded by Wahhabi
volunteers, who prevent pilgrims from
touching the fence, which the Wahhabis
regard as idolatry. The structure
called Muhammad's pulpit is similarly
guarded. The current marble pulpit was
constructed by the Ottomans; the original
was much smaller and made of palm tree
wood.

15. The mosque is located in what was
traditionally the center of Medina, with
many hotels and old markets nearby. It is
a major pilgrimage site and many people
who perform the Hajj in Mekkah later come
to Medinah to visit the mosque

16.  The current mosque is more than 100 times
the size of the original building. This means
that the current mosque covers almost the
entire area of the old city itself.

17.  The majority of the old mosque, including
the original mimbar of the Prophet was
destroyed in a fire that swept through the
mosque centuries after the Prophet died
 The fire was so extensive that the roof and
even some of the walls of the room of the
Prophet ollapsed, revealing his resting place
for the first time in 600 years.

18.  Most mosques only have one mihrab, but the
Prophet's mosque has three. The current
mihrab is the one used nowadays for the
imam to lead prayers. The next mihrab is set
back and is called the Suleymaniye or Ahnaf
mihrab.

19.  Items belonging to the Prophet were housed
in his room or the room of Fatima which was
incorporated into his room after a major
expansion. When Madinah was under siege
during World War I, the Ottoman commander
had many priceless artifacts evacuated to
Istanbul, hidden in the clothes of women and
children.

20. Thanks