Works on the Mecca road and reform of the minbars

عمارة طريق مكة وإصلاح المنابر

c. 778 CE · 161 AH

In year 161 al-Mahdi ordered the hajj road to Mecca made good, building palaces and constructing pools along it; he ordered the maqasir in the mosques of Islam removed and the minbars shortened to the measure of the Prophet ﷺ's minbar. In year 160 he performed hajj: the Ka'ba's custodians warned that the weight of hangings threatened to bring it down, so he had them stripped and limited it to his own kiswa — and snow was carried to him at Mecca, a thing, al-Dhahabi says, granted to no king before ¹.