{"id":4502,"date":"2015-05-23T12:58:58","date_gmt":"2015-05-23T11:58:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/english.thesunrisetoday.com\/?p=4502"},"modified":"2015-05-25T13:03:38","modified_gmt":"2015-05-25T12:03:38","slug":"worlds-largest-hotel-to-open-in-mecca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.thesunrisetoday.com\/index.php\/worlds-largest-hotel-to-open-in-mecca\/","title":{"rendered":"World\u2019s largest hotel to open in Mecca"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"World\u2019s<\/a>Costing \u00a32.3 billion to build, the hotel will have 45 storeys, four helipads and one of the largest domes in the world. There will be 10,000 bedrooms, 70 restaurants and five floors for the sole use of the Saudi royal family.
\nModelled on a \u201ctraditional desert fortress,\u201d the building comprises 12 towers and will house a bus station, shopping mall, food courts and a conference centre.
\nLocated in the Manafia district, just over a mile south of Masjid al Haraam, the complex is funded by the Saudi Ministry of Finance and designed by the Dar Al-Handasah group, a global construction conglomerate.
\nThere has been a construction boom in Mecca over the last few decades which is justified by the authorities as necessary to accommodate as many pilgrims as possible who want to perform umrah and hajj.
\nCurrently, the city receives between 2-3 million pilgrims for the hajj, but during the rest of the year more than 20 million people visit the city, bringing in annual revenue of around \u00a36bn.
\nMasjid al Haraam itself is undergoing a \u00a340bn expansion to double the capacity of its prayer halls \u2013 from 3 million worshippers currently to nearly 7 million by 2040.
\nBut opinion is divided on the transformation that Mecca is undergoing with some saying that any changes should be made according to \u201cglobal Islamic consensus\u201d rather than on the whims of the Saudis.
\n\u201cThe city is turning into Mecca-hattan,\u201d Irfan Al-Alawi, director of the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation, told the Guardian. \u201cEverything has been swept away to make way for the incessant march of luxury hotels, which are destroying the sanctity of the place and pricing normal pilgrims out.\u201d
\nThe house of Khadijah (ra) has been bulldozed to make way for public lavatories and the house of Abu Bakr (ra) is now the site of a Hilton hotel. Moments from these sites now stand a \u201cParis Hilton store\u201d and a Starbucks.
\n\u201cThese are the last days of Mecca,\u201d said Alawi. \u201cThe pilgrimage is supposed to be a spartan, simple rite of passage, but it has turned into an experience closer to Las Vegas, which most pilgrims simply can\u2019t afford.\u201d<\/p>\n

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