Source : Arab news / 18 Aug 2014

The Makkah Clock Tower, the second tallest tower in the world, is to open for tourists after Haj 2014, according to officials.

Tourists will have to buy tickets to visit the tower top.

Source : Arab news / 29 Mar 2014

The Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowment and Guidance has urged preachers to keep their Friday sermons short and concise and is considering taking legal action against preachers who discuss controversial topics.

“Ministry inspectors have received complaints from worshippers that preachers make their sermons unnecessarily long and often repeat the same sermons several times throughout the year,” a ministry source said. “Boring sermons make worshippers inattentive and defeat the purpose of attracting people to faith.”

Source : Arab news / 29 Mar 2014

A Saudi woman was allegedly refused an ambulance service because she did not have a male guardian present with her in the house.

Salma Al-Shuhab had woken up in the middle of the night with severe headache and called the Saudi Red Crescent, only to have her request rejected when the call center learned that she lived alone.

By P.K. Abdul Ghafour / Arab news / 20 Mar 2014

Over half of Friday sermon listeners do not remember the subject of the sermon, according to a recent survey conducted by the King Abdul Aziz National Dialogue Center. 

However, more than two-thirds of the 685 respondents, picked randomly from the Kingdom’s 13 regions, said sermons had impacted their lives.

Source : Arab news / 18 Feb 2014

The Abdullatif Al-Fozan Award for Mosque Architecture was announced as a global platform to contribute to the development of contemporary mosque architecture globally.

Around 35 mosques that have been built in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia since 1970 were nominated for the award. Four of these won.

Source : IINA / 07 Feb 2014

Many women are profiting from reserving places in the Grand Mosque for other worshippers.

These women use their handbags, personal belongings, or chairs to reserve places for worshippers who pay for the service because they come late for prayer and cannot find suitable places to pray, according to a report in Saudi Gazette.

Source : Arab news / 21 Oct 2013

Sheikh Abdulrahman Al-Sudais, head of the General Presidency of the Holy Mosques Affairs, has instructed officials to hire 1,000 female guides to help out women visitors at the Grand Mosque.

The Director of Women Guides Department, Sheikh Adel Al-Hamdan, said the presidency has given its nod for the recruitment of 1,000 women who have the required qualifications, both on permanent and temporary basis.

Source : Arab news / 29 Aug 2013

The renovation of 647 mosques is currently under way, said a spokesman for the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments and Call.

“Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah’s program for the renovation of mosques is progressing steadily,” said Undersecretary for Administrative and Technical Affairs Abdullah Al-Huwaimel.

By Wajdi Al-Qurashi / 28 Aug 2013

The structural plan for the Makkah Gate project that was recently approved by Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal will be implemented in four stages over 20 years, said Osama Al-Bar, Makkah mayor and chairman of the board of directors at the Makkah Gate Company.

He said that 70 percent of the project is located inside the borders of the Grand Mosque.

“The strategy of the project will allocate a series of places to be developed independently in phases,” he added.