National Day and Masjid an Nabawi

Bism IIlah wa as salaamu alaykum wa Rahmat Allah wa Barakatuh.

We had two days for for Saudi National Day, last Saturday and Sunday, although Sunday was the actual day. It is a spectacle that has caused my husband to make a point of staying in the house after Asr to avoid the fitnah of it all, wa Allahu musta'an. On the streets of Madinah, one will see the cars stuck in traffic for hours, as the youth dress in national colors of green and white, paint their faces and bodies, play blaring music from their cars, shout, sing, and dance on their cars and in the streets, and even young women can be seen without hijab. Allahu musta'an.

Oddly, the traffic was at a stand still the day following National Day, and hubby called to say that he was stuck in the traffic because King Abdullah was visiting Madinah. He returned home to find out why and learned that he was here because of the massive expansion project being planned for Masjid an Nabawi.  It can be read about here.

Photos of the planned expansion are below. The existing Masjid accommodates 200,000 worshipers inside, but the expansion should accommodate 1.6 million, mashaa'Allah.

Naturally there is a lot of destruction of relatively new construction involved. In the three years we have been here there has been continuous construction going on, but nothing to compare with this scale, mashaa'Allah. Now we are wondering if it will be like Makkah, with thick dust and construction debris all over the place for years to come. Qadr Allah wa maa shaa fa'al.