SAUDI ARABIA: A new museum in Holy city of Mecca aims to paint realistic picture of life during time of Prophet Mohammad, including all kinds of items, from relics to a life-size model of a house similar to those built during the Prophet's time

Record ID: 189086

  • Title: SAUDI ARABIA: A new museum in Holy city of Mecca aims to paint realistic picture of life during time of Prophet Mohammad, including all kinds of items, from relics to a life-size model of a house similar to those built during the Prophet's time
  • Date: 30th December 2012
  • Summary: MECCA, SAUDI ARABIA (DECEMBER 26, 2012) (REUTERS ) MECCA CLOCK AND MINARET OF MOSQUE EXTERIOR OF MUSEUM EXTERIOR OF MUSEUM SHOWING ENTRANCE WITH TRADITIONAL ARABIC FONT ON WALLS, READING: "PEACE BE UPON YOU PROPHET" MAIN ENTRANCE INSIDE MUSEUM WITH DOOR SLOWLY OPENING AUTOMATICALLY LARGE LED SCREEN SHOWING VERSUS FROM THE HOLY KORAN RELAYING THE STORY OF ISLAM ASSISTANT PROJECT MANAGER AT MUSEUM, ALI AL-GHAMDI, TALKING TO VISITOR ABOUT MUSEUM (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ASSISTANT PROJECT MANAGER AT MUSEUM, ALI AL-GHAMDI, SAYING: ''The 'Peace Be Upon You, Prophet' is a museum fully documenting the age of the prophecy, during which Prophet Mohammad, Peace Be Upon Him, lived, as well as his companions. To show all aspects of life during that era and all that was used at the time, including tools, items people owned, containers, clothing and all such things. the idea of Peace Be Upon You, Prophet' centres around creating these items to make it possible to understand that era, the era of the great prophecy." SIGN INSIDE MUSEUM WRITTEN IN TRADITIONAL ARABIC FONT, READING: "MOHAMMAD, GOD'S MESSENGER, AS IF YOU ARE WITH HIM" LED SCREEN SHOWING INFORMATION AND PICTURES OF MECCA GROUP OF VIP VISITORS TAKING TOUR OF MUSEUM WITH MUSEUM'S FOUNDER, NASSIR AL-ZAHRANI VARIOUS OF LARGE BANNER WITH TRADITIONAL ARABIC FONT, READING: "ALLAH" (GOD) AND BACKGROUND COVERED IN SMALL FONT COMPOSED OF 2,000 WORDS DESCRIBING GREATNESS GOD (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FOUNDER OF MUSEUM, NASSIR AL-ZAHRANI, SAYING: "This is a model of Al Madinah Al Munawarah, the Prophet's hometown, Peace Be Upon Him. It is a model that paints a realistic picture of the city and the way it looked at the Prophet's time, Peace Be Upon Him. It was also built based on scientific grounds." CLOSE OF NASSIR'S HAND AS HE PRESSES ON IPAD DEVICE SHOWING HOW DEVICE IS USED DURING MUSEUM TOUR ELECTRONIC IMAGE OF CITY OF AL MADINAH VARIOUS OF MUSEUM STAFF MEMBER SHOWING TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED IN MUSEUM GROUP OF VIP VISITORS TOURING MUSEUM ANIMATED BANNER SHOWING INFORMATION ON PROPHET MOHAMMAD CLOSE ON OLD SCALE DISPLAYED AT MUSEUM CLOSE ON OLD SIEVE OLD SCALE USED FOR GRAIN AND FLOUR WIDE OF MUSEUM ROOM SHOWCASING ITEMS USED IN TIME OF PROPHET MOHAMMAD VARIOUS OF OLD SCALE WITH ARABIC WRITING
  • Embargoed: 14th January 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Saudi Arabia
  • Country: Saudi Arabia
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz,Religion,Technology,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA5PYSKL8ZI0IXMLKQZRIUAKLSS
  • Story Text: A new museum in the Saudi holy city of Mecca has opened its doors to the public with the hope of informing people about life during the time of Prophet Mohammad.
    Mecca's "Peace Be Upon You, Prophet" museum features nearly 1,500 items, from small relics to body armour suit used during times of war and a larger life-size model of a house.
    ''The 'Peace Be Upon You, Prophet' is a museum fully documenting the age of the prophecy, during which Prophet Mohammad, Peace Be Upon Him, lived, as well as his companions. To show all aspects of life during that era and all that was used at the time, including tools, items people owned, containers, clothing and all such things. the idea of Peace Be Upon You, Prophet' centres around creating these items to make it possible to understand that era, the era of the great prophecy," Ali al-Ghamdi, assistant project manager at the museum told Reuters Television.
    One of the unique features of the museum is its incorporation of technology to aid visitors on their tour.
    Along the museum walls there are large LED screens projecting slideshows of images, some including images from Al Madinah Al Munawarah, the city where the prophet is buried, and others include images of his family tree and information about his life.
    Nassir al-Zahrani is the founder of the museum. He said the museum was built on scientific grounds and its aims to paint as much of a realistic image as possible of life during the Prophet's time.

    "The state of the Prophet, Peace Be upon Him, has all the elements of a modern country, but they don't come under the same name. I presented them using modern names, so this is a complete body of work, more than three catalogues in the collection. Here, we have the head of the state (Prophet Mohammad), Peace Be Upon Him, then we have the Prophet's Council, which includes advisors, those responsible for the secrets and such. Then we have the Prophet's personal affairs, which includes someone handling the sewak (natural toothpaste obtaining from tree branch), someone handling clothing, someone handling ablution and another managing travel preparations and other things," al-Zahrani said while standing in front of a LED screen projecting images of what the institutional structure looked like at the time.
    The museum recently opened and the Reuters team was among the first allowed to film inside.
    Another museum famous for keeping sacred relics of the Muslim world is the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. It houses a cloak of the Prophet Mohammed and other artefacts related to him, among them two swords, a bow, hairs from his beard and a tooth.
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