On the authority of 'Abd ar Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Mansur ibn Thabit, from his father, who had it
from his father and grandfather. In the days of 'Abd al Malik, all the gates of the mosque were
covered with plates of gold and of silver. But in the reign of the
Khalif Al Mansur, both the
eastern and the western portions of the mosque had fallen down. Then it was reported to the
Khalif, saying,
O commander of the faithful, verily the earthquake in the year 130 (a.d. 746)
did throw down the eastern part of the mosque and the western part also; now, therefore,
do thou give orders to rebuild the same and raise it again.
Khalif replied that as there were no moneys in his treasury, (to supply the lack of coin)
they should strip off the plates of gold and of silver that overlaid the gates.
So they stripped these off and coined therefrom Dinars and Dirhams, which moneys were
expended on the rebuilding of the mosque until it was completed.
Then occurred a second earthquake, and the building that Al Mansur had commanded to be built
fell to the ground. In the days of the Khalif Al Mahdi, who succeeded him,
the mosque was still lying in ruins, which, being reported to him, he commanded
them to rebuild the same. And the Khalif said that the mosque had been (of old) too narrow,
and of too great length - and (for this reason) it had not been much used by the people —
so now (in rebuilding it) they should curtail the length and increase the breadth.
Now the restoration of the mosque was completed on the new plan during the days of his Khalifate.
