The
Mosque of Uqba (
ArabicArabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...
: جامع عقبة), also known as the
Great Mosque of Kairouan (Arabic: جامع القيروان الأكبر), is one of the most important
mosqueA mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. Muslims often refer to the mosque by its Arabic name, masjid, —...
s in
TunisiaTunisia , officially the Tunisian Republic , is a country located in North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast. Tunisia is located southwest of the island of Sicily and south of Sardinia. Its size is almost 165,000 km² with an estimated population of just...
.
Built by
Uqba ibn NafiUqba ibn Nafi was an Arab general under the Umayyad dynasty,in Amir Muavia and Yazid periods, who began the Islamic conquest of the Maghreb, including present-day western Algeria and Morocco in North Africa...
from 670 A.D. (the year 50 according to the
Islamic calendarThe Islamic calendar or Muslim calendar or Hijri calendar is a lunar calendar based on 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days, used to date events in many Muslim countries , and used by Muslims everywhere to determine the proper day on which...
) at the founding of the city of
KairouanKairouan Kairouan (Arabic القيروان) Kairouan (Arabic القيروان) (also known as Kirwan, Al Qayrawan, it is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia. It was founded by the Arabs in around 670 in the period of Caliph Mu'awiya and the original name was derived from Arabic kairuwân, from...
, the mosque is spread over a surface area of 9,000 square metres and is considered as the oldest place of worship in the western Islamic world, as well as a model for all later mosques in the
MaghrebThe Maghreb , also rendered Maghrib , meaning "place of sunset" or "western" in Arabic, is a region in North Africa. The term is generally applied to all of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, but in older Arabic usage pertained only to the area of the three countries between the high ranges of the...
.
The Great Mosque of Kairouan is certainly one of the most impressive islamic monuments in
North AfricaNorth Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the UN definition of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia,Mauritania, and...
, its perimeter is almost equal to 415 metres (1,361 feet).
This space contains a
hypostyleIn architecture, a hypostyle hall has a flat ceiling which is supported by columns, as in the Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak. In this case the columns flanking the central avenue are of greater height than those of the side aisles, and this allows openings in the wall above the smaller columns,...
prayer hall, a huge marble-paved courtyard and a massive minaret.
The
Mosque of Uqba (
ArabicArabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...
: جامع عقبة), also known as the
Great Mosque of Kairouan (Arabic: جامع القيروان الأكبر), is one of the most important
mosqueA mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. Muslims often refer to the mosque by its Arabic name, masjid, —...
s in
TunisiaTunisia , officially the Tunisian Republic , is a country located in North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast. Tunisia is located southwest of the island of Sicily and south of Sardinia. Its size is almost 165,000 km² with an estimated population of just...
.
Built by
Uqba ibn NafiUqba ibn Nafi was an Arab general under the Umayyad dynasty,in Amir Muavia and Yazid periods, who began the Islamic conquest of the Maghreb, including present-day western Algeria and Morocco in North Africa...
from 670 A.D. (the year 50 according to the
Islamic calendarThe Islamic calendar or Muslim calendar or Hijri calendar is a lunar calendar based on 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days, used to date events in many Muslim countries , and used by Muslims everywhere to determine the proper day on which...
) at the founding of the city of
KairouanKairouan Kairouan (Arabic القيروان) Kairouan (Arabic القيروان) (also known as Kirwan, Al Qayrawan, it is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia. It was founded by the Arabs in around 670 in the period of Caliph Mu'awiya and the original name was derived from Arabic kairuwân, from...
, the mosque is spread over a surface area of 9,000 square metres and is considered as the oldest place of worship in the western Islamic world, as well as a model for all later mosques in the
MaghrebThe Maghreb , also rendered Maghrib , meaning "place of sunset" or "western" in Arabic, is a region in North Africa. The term is generally applied to all of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, but in older Arabic usage pertained only to the area of the three countries between the high ranges of the...
.
The Great Mosque of Kairouan is certainly one of the most impressive islamic monuments in
North AfricaNorth Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the UN definition of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia,Mauritania, and...
, its perimeter is almost equal to 415 metres (1,361 feet).
This space contains a
hypostyleIn architecture, a hypostyle hall has a flat ceiling which is supported by columns, as in the Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak. In this case the columns flanking the central avenue are of greater height than those of the side aisles, and this allows openings in the wall above the smaller columns,...
prayer hall, a huge marble-paved courtyard and a massive minaret. In addition to its spiritual prestige
, the Mosque of Uqba is universally reputed as a masterpiece of both architecture and
Islamic artIslamic art encompasses the visual arts produced from the 7th century onwards by people who lived within the territory that was inhabited by culturally Islamic populations...
.
Under the
AghlabidThe Aghlabids were a dynasty of emirs, members of the Arab tribe of Bani Tamim, who ruled Ifriqiya, nominally on behalf of the Abbasid Caliph, for about a century, until overthrown by the new power of the Fatimids....
s, the fame of the Mosque of Uqba and of the other holy sites at
KairouanKairouan Kairouan (Arabic القيروان) Kairouan (Arabic القيروان) (also known as Kirwan, Al Qayrawan, it is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia. It was founded by the Arabs in around 670 in the period of Caliph Mu'awiya and the original name was derived from Arabic kairuwân, from...
helped the city to develop and repopulate little by little. The university, consisting of scholars who met in the mosque, was a centre of education both in Islamic thought and in the secular sciences. Its role can be compared to that of the
University of ParisThe historic University of Paris was founded in the mid 12th century, likely between 1160 and 1170 , In 1970 it was reorganized as 13 autonomous universities...
in the
Middle AgesThe Middle Ages of European history is a period of European history covering roughly a millennium in the 5th century through 16th centuries. More specific starting and ending points are sometimes adopted by scholars to suit their respective specializations or current focus...
. With the decline of the city, the centre of intellectual thought moved to the
University of Ez-ZitounaEz-Zitouna University is located in Tunis. It is claimed to be the oldest teaching establishment in the Arab World, since the Ez-Zitouna madrassa was founded in 737 C.E...
in
TunisTunis is the capital of the Tunisian Republic and also the Tunis Governorate, with a population of 1,200,000 in 2008 and over 3,980,500 in the greater Tunis area...
.
Construction
The present form of the mosque dates back to the
Aghlabid dynastyThe Aghlabids were a dynasty of emirs, members of the Arab tribe of Bani Tamim, who ruled Ifriqiya, nominally on behalf of the Abbasid Caliph, for about a century, until overthrown by the new power of the Fatimids....
(with the exception of a few partial restorations and several later additions). Prior to this era, the mosque had been reconstructed several times following the successive invasions of Kairouan. With the exception of the
mihrabA mihrab is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the qibla, that is, the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca and hence the direction that Muslims should face when praying...
, no part of the mosque is older than the 9th century.
Shortly after its construction, the mosque was destroyed during the occupation of Kairouan by the
BerbersBerbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are discontinuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke various Berber languages, which together form a branch of the...
, led at first by
KusailaKusaila was a 7th century chief of the Awraba tribe of the Berber people and head of the Sanhadja confederation...
(around 690). The mosque was reconstructed by the Arab
EmirEmir , is a high title of nobility or office, used throughout the Arab World and historically in 19th-century Afghanistan and also in the medieval Muslim World...
("commander" or "chieftain")
Hasan ibn al-Nu'manHasān ibn an-Nu'mān al-Ghassānī , amir of the Umayyad army in North Africa. The nisba indicates he either came from Ghassān in Yemen or was part of an Arab tribe originally from that area.-Biography:...
around 10 years later. In light of Kairouan’s growing population, Hichâm ibn Abd al-Malik, the
UmayyadThe Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four Islamic caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. Although the Umayyad family originally came from the...
CaliphThe Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the leader of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transliterated version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
of
DamascusDamascus is the capital and largest city of Syria. It is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world and its current population is estimated at about 1,669,000...
, ordered work to be undertaken in the city, which included the destruction of the mosque (with the exception of the mihrab) and its subsequent reconstruction.
Under the Aghlabid rulers, Kairouan was at its apogee and the mosque profited from this period of stability and prosperity. In 836,
Ziadet-Allah IZiyadat Allah I , was the third Aghlabid Emir in Ifriqiya 817 until his death.Abu Muhammand Ziyadat Allah I succeeded his brother Abdallah I to the Emirate of Ifriqiya. During his rule the relationship between the ruling dynasty on the one hand and the jurists and Arab troops on the other remained...
reconstructed the mosque once more . In 863, Abou-Ibrahim increased the size of the
oratoryIn Christianity, an oratory is a room for prayer, from the Latin orare, to pray.In the Roman Catholic Church, an oratory is for all intents and purposes another word for what is commonly called a chapel...
with the addition of three bays to the north, and added the cupola over the entry. In 875,
Ibrahim IIAbu Is`haq Ibrahim II was the ninth Emir of the Aghlabids in Ifriqiya He succeeded to the Emirate on the death of his brother Muhammad II . Although he inherited a kingdom depopulated by the plague of 874, his reign was economically prosperous...
constructed another three bays, thereby reducing the size of the courtyard which was further limited on the three other sides by the addition of double galleries. After this date, the mosque did not undergo more than minor changes or restoration work.
Description
The Mosque of Uqba greatly resembles an imposing fortress, a consequence of the 1.9 metre thick stones that were used to build its walls and its ramparts, in addition to its towers and the solid buttresses that support and strengthen the walls. The mosque takes the form of an irregular quadrilateral, which is wider on the side of the main entrance (138 metres) than on the opposite side (128 metres) and thinner on the side of the
minaretMinarets are distinctive architectural features of Islamic mosques. Minarets are generally tall spires with onion-shaped or conical crowns, usually either free standing or taller than any associated support structure.-Functions of minarets:The earliest mosques were built without minarets, the adhan...
(71 metres) than on the opposite side (77 metres).
The courtyard is accessible via six lateral doorways and forms a rectangle (approximately 65 metres x 50 metres in size) surrounded by double galleries supported by columns made variously of
marbleMarble is a non foliated metamorphic rock resulting from the metamorphism of limestone, composed mostly of calcite . It is extensively used for sculpture, as a building material, and in many other applications...
,
graniteGranite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite has a medium to coarse texture, occasionally with some individual crystals larger than the groundmass forming a rock known as porphyry. Granites can be pink to dark gray or even black, depending on their...
or
porphyryPorphyry is a variety of igneous rock consisting of large-grained crystals, such as feldspar or quartz, dispersed in a fine-grained feldspathic matrix or groundmass. The larger crystals are called phenocrysts...
and which were taken from ancient
RomanAncient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, it became one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
and
ByzantineThe word Byzantine may refer to:Topics directly related to the Byzantine Empire* A citizen of The Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
monuments (primarily from
CarthageCarthage refers both to an ancient city in present-day Tunisia, and a modern-day suburb of Tunis. The civilization that developed within the city's sphere of influence is referred to as Punic or Carthaginian...
), as were those in the prayer hall. Near to the centre of the courtyard, there is a rainwater collector, which filters the water before allowing it to pass into the
cisternA cistern is a receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Often cisterns are built to catch and store rainwater...
located underneath the courtyard, and a
sundial{| align="right" | |}A sundial is a device that measures time by the position of the Sun. In common designs such as the horizontal sundial, the sun casts a shadow from its style onto a flat surface marked with lines indicating the hours of the day...
.
The minaret, which serves both as a watchtower and to call the faithful to prayer, is made of three tiers with a total height of 31.5 metres, thereby dominating the urban landscape of Kairouan . It is built on a square base that is 10.5 metres long on each side. The mosque's minaret, which was begun by the
UmayyadThe Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four Islamic caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. Although the Umayyad family originally came from the...
governor Bishr Ibn Safouan around 725 and completed by the
AghlabidThe Aghlabids were a dynasty of emirs, members of the Arab tribe of Bani Tamim, who ruled Ifriqiya, nominally on behalf of the Abbasid Caliph, for about a century, until overthrown by the new power of the Fatimids....
sovereigns in the 9th century, is the oldest standing minaret in the world.
The prayer hall, which is accessible via 17 carved wooden doors, is divided into 17 naves and eight bays including more than 400 white marble, red porphyry and blue granite columns similar to those in the courtyard. The
minbarA minbar is a pulpit in the mosque where the imam stands to deliver sermons or in the Hussainia where the speaker sits and lectures the congregation...
, which dates to the 9th century, making it the oldest in the Islamic world, is made of around 300 pieces of sculpted
teakTeak , is a genus of tropical hardwood trees in the mint family, Lamiaceae, native to the south and southeast of Asia, and is commonly found as a component of monsoon forest vegetation...
. To the right of it is the maksoura, a delicately chiseled
cedarCedar is a genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae. They are most closely related to the Firs , and share a very similar cone structure...
wood enclosure which allows dignitaries to be separated from other visitors.
The
mihrabA mihrab is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the qibla, that is, the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca and hence the direction that Muslims should face when praying...
marking the direction of
MeccaMecca , sometimes spelled Makkah is the holiest meeting site of the Islamic religion. The city is modern, cosmopolitan and whilst being closed to non-Muslims is nonetheless ethnically diverse.Islamic tradition attributes the beginning of Mecca to Ishmael's descendants...
is clad with twenty-eight carved marble panels decorated with a great variety of vegetal and geometric motifs, among them the stylized vine leaf in its different forms, shells inside an arched shape, braids, vegetal motifs rolled up around a central axis and the floweret. This elaborate decoration combines both Byzantine and Umayyad influences .
The upper part of the mihrab is carefully adorned with 139
lusterLusterware or Lustreware is a type of pottery or porcelain with a metallic glaze that gives the effect of iridescence, produced by metallic oxides in an overglaze finish, which is given a second firing at a lower temperature in a "muffle kiln", reduction kiln, which excludes oxygen.The first use...
ceramic tiles dating from the second half of the 9th century , all the tiles are 21 cm square and 1 cm thick. The
Kairouan mihrab collection, which is one of the most remarkable specimens of
lusterwareLusterware or Lustreware is a type of pottery or porcelain with a metallic glaze that gives the effect of iridescence, produced by metallic oxides in an overglaze finish, which is given a second firing at a lower temperature in a "muffle kiln", reduction kiln, which excludes oxygen.The first use...
ceramics, probably came from Mesopotamia ( possibly
BaghdadBaghdad is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is coterminous. Having a municipal population estimated at 6.5 million, it is the largest city in Iraq and the second largest in the Arab World....
,
BasraAl-Baṣrah is the capital of Basra Province, and had an estimated population of 3,800,200 as of 2009. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it is incapable of deep water access, which is handled at the the port of Umm Qasr...
or
SamarraSāmarrā is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Salah ad-Din Governorate, north of Baghdad and, in 2003, had an estimated population of 348,700....
) as attested by the Arab author Ibn Nagi and confirmed by physicochemical analyses .
From an aesthetic and ornamental point of view, the precious facade of the mihrab is considered as one of the most harmonious compositions in
Muslim artIslamic art encompasses the visual arts produced from the 7th century onwards by people who lived within the territory that was inhabited by culturally Islamic populations...
.
About the large number of columns, a legend says that it is not possible to count the columns of the Mosque of Uqba without going blind.
In English
- Paul Sebag, 1965. Great Mosque of Kairouan. New York Macmillan.
- John D. Hoag, 1987. Islamic architecture. Rizzoli.
In French
- Henri Saladin, Tunis et Kairouan, Voyages à travers l'architecture, l'artisanat et les mœurs du début du XXe siècle, éd. Espace Diwan, 2002 (d'après l'édition de 1908)
- Kairouan, Capitale de l'Ifrikia, 670-1050, éd. Alyssa
External links