Bab al-Majidi, also called Bab al-Tawassul, opened in the north wall during the Ottoman rebuilding ordered by Sultan Abdulmejid I (may Allah have mercy on him). One scholarly account dates its opening to 1267 AH (1851 CE) and names Raif Pasha (may Allah have mercy on him) as its designer, at the request of Davud Pasha (may Allah have mercy on him), the shaykh of the Haram. The gate takes its name from Sultan Abdulmejid I (may Allah have mercy on him), whose reign lasted from 1839 to 1861; his rebuilding was the last before the Saudi era.
During that rebuilding, Bab al-Majidi was the new northern gate, while Bab al-Salam and Bab al-Rahmah were renewed on the west, and Bab al-Nisa and Bab Jibril on the east. Beside the gate, a covered school with two rooms stood on either side, with storerooms and ablution places behind it, north of the arcades. The rebuilt mosque had a marble floor, black basalt walls, domes in place of its wooden roof and 327 columns of red stone, painted to resemble stone and finished with gilded capitals.
The first Saudi expansion built past the gate's old northern position, and Bab al-Majidi was replaced or moved while retaining its name. King Abdulaziz (may Allah have mercy on him) announced that expansion in 1368 AH (1949 CE); it was completed in 1375 AH (1955 CE) under King Saud (may Allah have mercy on him). The King Fahd expansion later incorporated earlier northern gates, including Bab al-Majidi.
Today's Bab al-Majidi comprises entrances 12, 13 and 14 at the north-western corner of the King Fahd expansion. Entrance 13 has five adjoining doors, matching the pattern of the expansion's seven principal entrances; its large doors were made from teak and joined without nails. In the Madinah Encyclopedia's list, entrance 13 is one of the seven five-door entrances, while the expansion records 41 numbered entrances in all.
