Building over Makkah's history

Some of Islam's historic sites in Makkah, possibly including a home of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), are under threat from Saudi real estate developers.

Sami Angawi, an expert on the region's Islamic architecture, said 1,400-year-old buildings from the early Islamic period risk being demolished to make way for high rise towers for Muslims flocking to perform the annual pilgrimage to Islam's holiest city.

Angawi, who founded the Haj Research Centre in 1975 to study and preserve Makkah and Madinah's rich history, claims to have identified a home of the Prophet Mohammad. But he is reluctant to publicise its location fearing it would be demolished like Dar al Arqam the first school in Islam where the prophet taught.

Angawi's views were echoed elsewhere.

In London, Geoffrey King, Islamic art and archaeology specialist at the School of Oriental and African and Studies, said the fate of Islamic historic sites in Saudi Arabia was "depressing". "The religious authorities have failed to appreciate the significance of these buildings to Muslims and scholars worldwide," said King, who taught for several years in the kingdom and stressed many young Saudis agreed with him.

Real estate firms see massive demand for new accommodation to house up to 20 million pilgrims expected to visit Islam's holiest city annually over the coming years as authorities relax entry restrictions for pilgrims.

"The infrastructure at the moment cannot cope. New hotels, apartments and services are badly needed," the director of a leading real estate company said, estimating that developers are spending around 50 billion riyals (Dh48 billion) on projects in the city.

Dominating these is the 10-billion-riyal Jabal Omar scheme. Covering a 230,000 square metre area adjacent to the Grand Mosque, the seven-year project consists of several towers containing hotels, apartments, shops and restaurants.

Angawi said these developments will dwarf Makkah's Grand Mosque and are a sign of crass commercialisation. "Makkah is being treated like a bad copy of any city when it is a sanctuary. The house of God is being commercialised and these developments are disrespectful and totally out of proportion."

But the Jabal Omar Development Company, the firm behind the project, said it was changing Makkah for the better, not least in demolishing more than 1,000 poorly built homes that clung precariously to the hillsides around the Grand Mosque.

The firm said around 70,000 residents from 29 different nationalities used to live on the Jabal Omar site before selling up and moving into better quality housing elsewhere.

Ali Hussain, a 38 year-old originally from Myanmar, lives in a cramped house deep within a network of unpaved, rubbish-strewn alleyways. "The people that moved away now live in nice homes," he said.

"This is a very poor area. We hope another investor will come," said Amin Rafie, a local community ombudsman, adding that residents would likely be offered a handsome price for their dishevelled homes in Saudi Arabia's oil-driven real estate boom. But Angawi wasn't convinced of the developers' motives.