List of the oldest mosques in the world
Encyclopedia
The designation of the oldest mosque in the world requires careful use of definitions, and must be divided into two parts, the oldest in the sense of oldest surviving building, and the oldest in the sense of oldest mosque congregation. Even here, there is the distinction between old mosque buildings that have been in continuous use as mosques, and those that have been converted to other purposes; and between buildings that have been in continuous use as mosques and those that were shuttered for many decades. In terms of congregations, they are distinguished between early established congregations that have been in continuous existence, and early congregations that ceased to exist.

To be listed here a site must:
  • be the oldest mosque in a country, large city (top 50), or oldest of its type (denomination, architectural, etc.);
  • be the oldest congregation of its type (denomination).

Oldest mosques

Building Image Location Country First Built Denomination Notes
Quba Mosque
Quba Mosque
The Quba Mosque in the outlying environs of Medina in Saudi Arabia, is the oldest mosque in the world. Its first stones were positioned by the Islamic prophet Muhammad on his emigration from the city of Mecca to Medina and the mosque was completed by his companions...

Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...

Saudi Arabia 622 Sunni Oldest mosque site, but building largely rebuilt in 20th century
Al-Masjid al-Nabawi
Al-Masjid al-Nabawi
Al-Masjid al-Nabawi , often called the Prophet's Mosque, is a mosque situated in the city of Medina. As the final resting place of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, it is considered the second holiest site in Islam by Muslims and is one of the largest mosques in the world...

Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...

Saudi Arabia 622 Islam Site of pilgrimage. Contains Muhammad's tomb. Largely rebuilt.
Masjid al-Qiblatain
Masjid al-Qiblatain
Masjid al-Qiblatain is a mosque in Medina that is historically important for Muslims as the place where the Islamic prophet Muhammad, leading the prayer, is said to have been commanded to change the direction of prayer from Jerusalem to Mecca. Thus it uniquely contained two prayer niches...

Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...

Saudi Arabia 623 Sunni Mosque of the two Qiblas
Jawatha Mosque
Jawatha Mosque
Jawatha Mosque is located in the village of Al-Kilabiyah, about 12km northeast of Hofuf, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia. It was the earliest mosque built in east Arabia and most of the original structure is in ruins. The site is still used for prayer.It was built the in seventh year of hijra Jawatha...

Al-Kilabiyah
Al-Kilabiyah
Al-Kilabiyah is a village in eastern Saudi Arabia in Al-Ahsa and one of the eastern villages. It is located about 10 km from Al-Hofuf....

Saudi Arabia 629 n/a (defunct)
Masjid al-Haram
Masjid al-Haram
Al-Masjid al-Ḥarām is the largest mosque in the world. Located in the city of Mecca, it surrounds the Kaaba, the place which Muslims worldwide turn towards while performing daily prayers and is Islam's holiest place...

Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...

Saudi Arabia 638 Islam Site of pilgrimage, rebuilt in 1571
Great Mosque of Kufa Kufa
Kufa
Kufa is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000....

Iraq 639 Shia
Mosque of Uqba Kairouan
Kairouan
Kairouan , also known as Kirwan or al-Qayrawan , is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia. Referred to as the Islamic Cultural Capital, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The city was founded by the Arabs around 670...

Tunisia 670 Sunni rebuilt in 800s
Cheraman Juma Masjid
Cheraman Juma Masjid
Cheraman Juma Masjid is a mosque in Methala, Kodungallur Taluk in the Indian state of Kerala. The Cheraman Masjid is said to be the very first mosque in India, built in 629 AD by Malik lbn Dinar. But, according to Nathan Katz, the accuracy of these claims is uncertain. It is believed that this...

Kodungallur
Kodungallur
Kodungallur is a municipality in Thrissur District, in the state of Kerala, India on the Malabar Coast. Kodungallur is located about 29 km northwest of Kochi city and 38 km Southwest of Thrissur, on National Highway 17 . Muziris the ancient seaport at the mouth of the Periyar River was...

India Sunni Locally considered to be the first mosque of India; reliability of sources unclear
Imam Hussain Mosque Karbala
Karbala
Karbala is a city in Iraq, located about southwest of Baghdad. Karbala is the capital of Karbala Governorate, and has an estimated population of 572,300 people ....

Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

680 Shia reconstructed several times, including in 1016
Al-Aqsa Mosque
Al-Aqsa Mosque
Al-Aqsa Mosque also known as al-Aqsa, is the third holiest site in Sunni Islam and is located in the Old City of Jerusalem...

Jerusalem 705 Sunni
Al-Zaytuna Mosque Tunis
Tunis
Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....

Tunisia 709 Sunni
Umayyad Mosque
Umayyad Mosque
The Umayyad Mosque, also known as the Great Mosque of Damascus or formerly the Basilica of Saint John the Baptist , is located in the old city of Damascus, is one of the largest and oldest mosques in the world...

Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...

Syria 715 Shia, Sunni National Mosque
Great Mosque of Xi'an Xi'an
Xi'an
Xi'an is the capital of the Shaanxi province, and a sub-provincial city in the People's Republic of China. One of the oldest cities in China, with more than 3,100 years of history, the city was known as Chang'an before the Ming Dynasty...

, Shaanxi
Shaanxi
' is a province in the central part of Mainland China, and it includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River in addition to the Qinling Mountains across the southern part of this province...

China 742 Although remains date mostly from the 18th century, the Mosque was founded in 742

Afghanistan

  • Haji Piyada
    Haji Piyada
    Haji Piyada Mosque or Noh Gonbad Mosque , a Samanid-style building in Balkh province of northern Afghanistan. Built in the ninth century, it is thought to be the earliest Islamic building in the country....

    , built in the second half of the 9th century, oldest Islamic building in Afghanistan

Australia

  • Central Adelaide Mosque
    Central Adelaide Mosque
    The Adelaide Mosque was built in 1888, and is the oldest major city mosque in Australia. Its original four minarets were added in 1903. Muslims from as far away as Broken Hill and Kalgoorlie gathered at least once a year at the Adelaide Mosque, usually for the Fast of Ramadan...

    , the oldest major city mosque built in 1888. However, the first mosque in Australia was built at Marree in northern South Australia in 1861.

Bangladesh

  • Sixty Dome Mosque, built in 14th century, one of the oldest mosques in Bangladesh

Canada

  • Al-Rashid Mosque
    Al-Rashid Mosque
    The Al-Rashid Mosque was the first mosque built in Canada. It was constructed in Edmonton, Alberta.-History:Al-Rashid Mosque was expected to be the first mosque in North America but was built in 1938 just after the Mother Mosque of America in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and several years after the 1929...

    , built in 1938, first purpose built mosque

China


Egypt

  • Mosque of Amr ibn al-As
    Mosque of Amr ibn al-As
    The Mosque of Amr ibn al-As , also called the Mosque of Amr, was originally built in 642 AD, as the center of the newly-founded capital of Egypt, Fustat...

    , built in 642, oldest mosque in Africa

France

  • Paris Mosque
    Paris Mosque
    The Grande Mosquée de Paris , located in the 5th arrondissement, is the largest mosque in France and the third largest in Europe. It was founded after World War I as a sign of France's gratefulness to the colonies's Muslim tirailleurs, 100,000 of whom died fighting against Germany...

    , built in 1926, oldest mosque in France

Germany

  • Berlin Mosque, built in 1924, oldest mosque building in Germany

India


  • Cheraman Juma Masjid
    Cheraman Juma Masjid
    Cheraman Juma Masjid is a mosque in Methala, Kodungallur Taluk in the Indian state of Kerala. The Cheraman Masjid is said to be the very first mosque in India, built in 629 AD by Malik lbn Dinar. But, according to Nathan Katz, the accuracy of these claims is uncertain. It is believed that this...

    , date uncertain but purportedly in 7th century, one of the oldest mosques in India
  • Old Jumma Masjid of Kilakarai, 11th century, one of the oldest mosques
  • Kazimar Big Mosque
    Kazimar Big Mosque
    Kazimar Periya Pallivasal or Kazimar Big Mosque is a famous mosque located at the heart of Madurai city, within 500 metres of the Periyar bus stand and within 1 kilometre South East of the Madurai Junction and 800 meters south west of the Meenakshi Temple...

     in Madurai
    Madurai
    Madurai is the third largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It served as the capital city of the Pandyan Kingdom. It is the administrative headquarters of Madurai District and is famous for its temples built by Pandyan and...

    . Built in 13th century second oldest mosque in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu
    Tamil Nadu
    Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...


Indonesia

  • Agung Demak Mosque, built in 15th century, one of the oldest mosques in Indonesia

Iran

  • Jameh Mosque of Ferdows, built possibly in 7th century

Netherlands

  • Mobarak Mosque (The Hague), built in 1955, first purpose built mosque in Holland

Saudi Arabia

  • Masjid al-Haram
    Masjid al-Haram
    Al-Masjid al-Ḥarām is the largest mosque in the world. Located in the city of Mecca, it surrounds the Kaaba, the place which Muslims worldwide turn towards while performing daily prayers and is Islam's holiest place...

    , built ca. 7th century, oldest mosque in Saudi Arabia
  • Quba Mosque
    Quba Mosque
    The Quba Mosque in the outlying environs of Medina in Saudi Arabia, is the oldest mosque in the world. Its first stones were positioned by the Islamic prophet Muhammad on his emigration from the city of Mecca to Medina and the mosque was completed by his companions...

    , built in 7th century, oldest mosque in the world

Singapore

  • Masjid Omar Kampong Melaka
    Masjid Omar Kampong Melaka
    Masjid Omar Kampong Melaka is a mosque in Singapore, and is located at Keng Cheow Street in the Singapore River Planning Area, within the Central Area, Singapore's central business district....

    , built in 1820

Thailand

  • 300 Years Mosque
    300 Years Mosque
    The 300 Years Mosque is located in Ban Talo Mano, Tambon Subo Sawo. It is 25 kilometres from the city of Narathiwat, Thailand....

    , built in 1600s, possibly oldest mosque in Thailand

Turkey

  • Hagia Sophia
    Hagia Sophia
    Hagia Sophia is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, and now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey...

    , built in 537 as a Christian church, later converted to a mosque in 1453, now a museum

United Kingdom

  • Masjid-e-Abu Hurairah (Wales), built in 1860, oldest mosque in UK
  • Shah Jahan Mosque
    Shah Jahan Mosque
    The Shah Jahan Mosque is the first purpose-built mosque in Britain built 1889 in Woking, 30 miles south-west of London in Oriental Road.-Construction:...

     (England), built in 1889, oldest purpose built mosque in England
  • Fazl Mosque (England), built in 1924, oldest purpose built mosque in London

United States

  • Al-Sadiq Mosque
    Al-Sadiq Mosque
    The Al Sadiq Mosque was commissioned in 1922 in the Bronzeville neighborhood in city of Chicago. This mosque was funded with the money donated by African-American converts and Ahmadis in India.-Chicago Muslim Mission:...

    , commissioned in 1922, in Chicago, Illinois
  • Mother Mosque of America
    Mother Mosque of America
    The Mother Mosque of America, once known as The Rose of Fraternity Lodge and also known as Moslem Temple, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States, is the longest standing mosque in North America...

    , built in 1934, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Yemen

  • Great Mosque of Sana'a, built in 7th century, possibly oldest mosque
  • Al-Janad mosque, built in 7th century, possibly oldest mosque

See also


External links and references

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