Green Dome - History

History

Built in 1279 AD or 678 AH during the reign of Mamluk sultan Al Mansur Qalawun, the original structure was made out of wood and was colorless, painted white and blue in later restorations. After a serious fire struck the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina in 1481, the mosque and dome had been burnt and a restoration project was initiated by Sultan Qaitbay who had most of the wooden base replaced by a brick structure in order to prevent the collapse of the dome in the future, and used plates of lead to cover the new wooden dome. The building, including the Tomb of the Prophet, was extensively renewed through Qaitbay's patronage. The current dome was added in 1818 by the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II. The dome was first painted green in 1837.

When Saud bin Abdul-Aziz took Medina in 1805, his followers, the Wahhabis, demolished nearly every tomb dome in Medina based on their belief that the veneration of tombs and places thought to possess supernatural powers was an offense against tawhid. Muhammad's tomb was stripped of its gold and jewel ornaments, but the dome was preserved either because of an unsuccessful attempt to demolish its hardened structure, or because some time ago Ibn Abd al-Wahhab wrote that he did not wish to see the dome destroyed despite his aversion to people praying at the tomb. Similar events took place in 1925 when the Saudi militias retook—and this time managed to keep—the city. In 2007, according to the The Independent, a pamphlet, published by the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs and endorsed by the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, stated that "the green dome shall be demolished and the three graves flattened in the Prophet's Masjid".