...and that you see barefoot, naked, poor shepherds building tall buildings.

[aburasheed]

In the famous hadith of Jibreel, umm hadith, the Prophet (SAW) said:
"...and that you see barefoot, naked, poor shepherds building tall buildings." [Muslim]

http://biz.yahoo.com/weekend/tallestbuilding_1.html

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5"><tbody><tr><td width="250">Building </td> <td width="103">

Country </td> <td width="91">

Height (Ft.) </td> <td width="115">

Year </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="250">

1. Burj Mubarak al-Kabir </td> <td width="103">

Kuwait </td> <td width="91">

3,284 </td> <td width="115">

2011 </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="250">

2. Al Burj </td> <td width="103">

U.A.E. </td> <td width="91">

2,500 </td> <td width="115">

2010 </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="250">

3. Burj Dubai </td> <td width="103">

U.A.E. </td> <td width="91">

2,296 </td> <td width="115">

2008 </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="250">

4. Chicago Spire </td> <td width="103">

U.S. </td> <td width="91">

2,000 </td> <td width="115">

2010 </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="250">

5. Incheon Tower </td> <td width="103">

South Korea </td> <td width="91">

2,000 </td> <td width="115">

2012 </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="250">

6. Moscow City Tower </td> <td width="103">

Russia </td> <td width="91">

1,968 </td> <td width="115">

2011 </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="250">

7. International Business Center </td> <td width="103">

South Korea </td> <td width="91">

1,902 </td> <td width="115">

2008 </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="250">

8. Lotte Super Tower </td> <td width="103">

South Korea </td> <td width="91">

1,820 </td> <td width="115">

2010 </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="250">

9. Freedom Tower </td> <td width="103">

U.S. </td> <td width="91">

1,776 </td> <td width="115">

2011 </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="250">

10. Lotte World II </td> <td width="103">

South Korea </td> <td width="91">

1,673 </td> <td width="115">

2012</td></tr></tbody></table>

[Abu_Abdillah2000]

The hadith actually says "yatatawaluna fil-bunyan" which means: "competing in building tall buildings."

I remember a long time ago I saw a video of Hamza Yusuf (I'm not a fan of his at all BTW) and he said that when he was in the UAE, he saw in the distance two tall skyscrapers, one of them was taller than the other, but the shorter one was in the process of being extended, with scaffolding etc. on it, so that it could be taller than the other one. Hamza Yusuf asked the taxi driver: "What is going on there?" The driver said: "The tower on the left was built by shaykh so-and-so. Then another shaykh so-and-so came and built a higher tower right next to it. Then the first shaykh so-and-so extended his tower so that now it was the higher one. Now, the second shaykh so-and-so is extending his tower even further so he can outdo the first one."

Yes, the events mentioned in this hadith have come to pass in our own time it seems.

And remember Burj al-Arab is planned to be the tallest building in the world, wallahul-musta'an.

[Umm Ahmed]

Yes for sure , there are competitions between Kuwait and Dubai for the tallest buildings and both were barefooted a short time ago. SubhanAllaah.

[Abu Dharr Al Kashmiri]

Subhaan'Allah yes the ppl of the khaleej have gone head to head from Abraj Al Bait in Makkah al Mukarramah, theres Kingdom Centre in Riyadh, Al Rajhi Tower in Riyadh, Emirates Towers; Burj al Arab in dubai et al.....isn't there another hadith something along the line of the liquidity of wealth and the jazeerat al arab being flushed with greenery also? (like what they're doing there right now)