The minarets of The Prophet's Mosque constitute one of the most prominent architectural landmarks and a milestone in its visual identity throughout the successive Islamic eras, as their presence was linked to the history of the expansions witnessed by the mosque, and their designs reflected the evolution of Islamic architecture and its artistic richness.<The mosque did not have minarets in the architectural sense known today, as the call to prayer was raised from an elevated position inside the mosque, or from a neighboring roof, before the actual construction of minarets began in the late first century AH.

The mosque witnessed the first official construction of minarets during the reign of the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid bin Abdulmalik, who ordered the expansion of the mosque between 88 and 91 AH, and assigned the then governor of the city, Umar bin Abdulaziz, to implement it, where four minarets were built at the corners of the mosque, considered one of the first minarets in Islamic architecture, and their height at the time was about 27 meters, according to historical sources.

<During subsequent eras, especially during the Mamluk and Ottoman eras, some minarets were rebuilt and others were added in line with successive expansions, most notably the minaret of Bab al-Salam, whose name was associated with one of the most important doors of the mosque on the western side, and witnessed successive renovations over the centuries.<In the first Saudi expansion (1370 - 1375 AH / 1951 - 1955 AD), some of the old minarets were removed, and two new minarets were built on the northern side with a height of about 70 meters, then six more minarets were added as part of the Great Saudi Expansion during the reign of King Fahd bin Abdulaziz between 1406 and 1414 AH (1985 - 1994 AD), bringing the total number of minarets to ten.

<Each minaret in its current design is about 104 meters high, and consists of five main parts, including a square base, an octagonal floor, a cylindrical part, topped by a muezzin's balcony, and ending with a dome topped by a metal crescent moon, which was designed taking into account the classic Islamic style while employing modern construction and lighting techniques.The ten minarets are symmetrically distributed around the edges of the mosque, four on the northern side, two on the southern side, and four in the corners, achieving a visual and architectural balance commensurate with the vast area that the mosque reached after successive expansions, and reflecting the continued care for it through different eras.