KAABAH GOLD DOOR MAKER DIES

MECCA, Nov 8 (Bernama) -- Sheikh Ahmad bin Ibrahim Badr, the chief artist who recast the golden door of the Kaabah, died at the age of 89 in Mecca on Friday, Saudi Arabian English daily The Arab News reported Sunday.

Ahmad made the Kaabah’s door using 300 kilogrammes of pure gold on the orders of King Khaled in October 1979.

The work was carried out at a workshop prepared exclusively for the project. He also refurbished the meezab (the spout at the top of the Kaabah) and the Black Stone’s silver frame.

He learned his art from his father Sheikh Ibrahim Badr, who originally designed and built the door when King Abdul Aziz ordered him to in 1942, the newspaper reported.

Ibrahim and two relatives, Mahmoud and Ibrahim Badr, cast the door in pure gold, taking a full year to complete the work.

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KAABAH-DOOR MAKER 2 (LAST) MECCA

The interior pillars and the meezab, made with 25 kilogrammes of 24-carat gold, were also completed during that time.

The prayer “Ya Hayy Ya Qayyum” (Oh the Living, Oh the Lasting), verses of the Holy Quran and the words “Allah” and “Muhammad” are also inscribed on the door.

Ahmad was born at his ancestral home in the Qashashiya quarter of Mecca in 1920. After studying at the local Falah school, he joined his father at his gold and silver workshop at the age of 15.

Ahmad had been working at his father’s shop “Sheikh Ibrahim Badr” in the Goldsmiths’ street all his life. He belonged to a family of artists known for exquisite gold works, the newspaper reported.

-- BERNAMA

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