KAABAH GOLD DOOR MAKER DIES

FROM AHMAD KAMIL TAHIR

MECCA, Nov 9 (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.

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