

The Mosque of the Prophet was built in 622 by the Muslim community after they reached the city of Yathrib, which would later be called al-Madina al-Muanwara. The mosque was situated next to the Prophet's house, and it consisted of a square enclosure of thirty by thirty-five meters, built with palm trunks and mud walls. It was accessed through three doors, Bab Rahmah to the south, Bab Jibril to the west and Bab al-Nisa' to the east. Within this enclosure, the Prophet created a shaded area to the south called the suffrah and aligned the prayer space facing north towards Jerusalem. After the revelation of Surat al-Baqara, the qibla direction was set to the south in order to face Masjid al-Haram, or, the Ka'ba in the city of Mecca. Seven years later, the mosque was doubled in size to accommodate the increasing number of Muslims.
http://archnet.org/library/sites/one-si ... e_id=10061
Problem is, the whole mosque has to align to the Kaaba, and it doesn't, even when it was remodeled after the new Qibla revelation. They should have built a completely new one facing Mecca.
If not aligned to Mecca, why does it not at least have the same orientation as the Kaaba, to Canopus, thus following Ibrihim's example? Why should ANY mosque align to Mecca when the Mosque of Muhammad himself doesn't? Aren't Muslims supposed to do as Muhammad did not as he said? Maybe the words of the Quran and hadith are corrupted. We have to look to the physical evidence, his actual mosque. Now they'll have to tear down all those mosques that face Mecca and make new ones that match the Mosque of the Prophet, else they are going against the example of the prophet.