Saudis Approach British Non-Muslim To Redesign Mecca

FIVE times a day, Muslims around the world turn to face Mecca in prayer. At least once in their lives, Muslims are also urged to join the annual pilgrimage to Islam's holiest city. This year, as in years gone by, millions of Muslims flocked to Mecca at the beginning of December on the haj, crowding its streets and filling the central Haram mosque to bursting. The city has always struggled to deal with this massive influx of visitors and there is now talk of redesigning the mosque to increase its capacity.

At present the Haram mosque can hold up to 900,000 worshippers. The new plans envisage creating space for 1.5m people in the main part of the complex, with the intention of expanding capacity still further in the future to allow up to 3m people to congregate there.

Norman Foster and Zaha Hadid, two respected and influential British architects, are among those who have apparently been approached to take on the project by King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia's monarch whose list of titles also includes "custodian of the two holy mosques". Their involvement has raised hackles in Saudi Arabia.

Lord Foster may have won the prestigious Pritzker architecture prize but he is not a Muslim. The idea of a non-Muslim redesigning one of the world's most important mosques has provoked deep unease in Saudi Arabia. And as only Muslims are permitted to enter Islam's holiest city, were he to win the commission, Lord Foster would have the tricky task of seeing through his design from a distance.

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