08/31/2026
In 1997, Turkish audio engineer Ahmad Tekin Topuzdag went to Madinah for Umrah and noticed that the sound inside Masjid an-Nabawi was unclear, with too much echo and feedback.
He spoke to the mosque’s management and was given one section to test his ideas. The improvement was so noticeable that he was asked to help fix the entire sound system.
Over the next 10 years, he completely upgraded the audio system at Masjid an-Nabawi and also worked on the sound system at Masjid al-Haram. He replaced microphones, cables, speakers and other equipment, adjusted the system for each Imam and muezzin, reduced echo and feedback, and divided the mosque into seven audio zones.
He also added microphones so the Imam could be heard clearly during every part of the prayer.
After finishing the work, the sound became much clearer and covered a much wider range of frequencies. Before leaving Saudi Arabia, Topuzdag also trained Saudi engineers who later went on to manage audio systems in mosques across the Kingdom.
What started as a problem he noticed during an Umrah trip became a 10-year mission to improve the sound of the two holy mosques.