Maktabat al-Masjid al-Nabawī al-Sharīf, Islamic research library at the Prophet's Mosque, Medina, Saudi Arabia.
Maktabat al-Masjid al-Nabawī al-Sharīf is a library inside the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, Saudi Arabia, holding a large collection of Islamic scholarly works and religious texts. The space is divided into reading rooms and thematic sections, each organized to support study and research.
The library grew alongside the Prophet's Mosque, which was founded in the 7th century and served from the start as a place of both worship and learning. Over the following centuries, Islamic scholars began depositing their works there, and the collection gradually took shape.
Visitors and students use the reading rooms to engage with Islamic texts in a space directly connected to the sacred mosque next door. For many Muslims, studying here carries a personal meaning that goes well beyond ordinary academic work.
Access to the library is restricted to Muslims, as it sits within the Prophet's Mosque, which is closed to non-Muslims. Those who are able to visit should dress modestly and keep their voices low, since the space is primarily used for study.
The collection holds handwritten manuscripts from across many centuries of Islamic scholarship, some so fragile that viewing them requires special permission. A number of these texts exist nowhere else in the world, making this one of the few places where they can be consulted at all.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
