Al-Zaytuna Mosque
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Quick Facts
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Al-Zaytuna Mosque, or Ez-Zitouna or Ezzitouna Mosque (Arabic: جامع الزيتونة, literally meaning the Mosque of Olive) is a major mosque in Tunis, Tunisia.
The mosque is the oldest in the Capital of Tunisia and covers an area of 5,000 square metres (1.2 acres) with nine entrances. It has 160 authentic columns brought originally from the ruins of the old city of Carthage. The mosque is known to host one of the first and greatest universities in the history of Islam. Many Muslim scholars were graduated from the Al-Zaytuna for over a thousand years. From Ibn Arafa, one of the greatest scholars of Islam, Imam Maziri, the great traditionalist and jurist to the famous Tunisian poet Aboul-Qacem Echebbi and countless others all taught there.
The mosque is the oldest in the Capital of Tunisia and covers an area of 5,000 square metres (1.2 acres) with nine entrances. It has 160 authentic columns brought originally from the ruins of the old city of Carthage. The mosque is known to host one of the first and greatest universities in the history of Islam. Many Muslim scholars were graduated from the Al-Zaytuna for over a thousand years. From Ibn Arafa, one of the greatest scholars of Islam, Imam Maziri, the great traditionalist and jurist to the famous Tunisian poet Aboul-Qacem Echebbi and countless others all taught there.
History of Mosque
Al-Zaytuna was the third mosque to be built in Africa and the Maghreb region after the Mosque of Amr Ibn Al-As and Mosque of Uqba in Al-Kairouan. The exact date of building varies according to source. Ibn Khaldun and Al-Bakri wrote that it was built in 116 Hijri (731 C.E.) by Obeid-Allah Ibn Al-Habhab. A second source states that the Umayyad Hisham Ibn Abdel-Malek ordered the building; however, Ahmed In Abu Diyaf and Ibn Abi Dinar attributed the order to Hassan Ibnu-Noauman who led the conquest of Tunis and Carthage. Most scholars agreed that the third possibility is the strongest by evidence as it is unlikely that the city of Tunis remained a long time without a mosque, after its conquest in 79 Hijri. Thus the closest date is 84 Hijri (703 CE), and what Al-Habhab did was in fact enlarge the mosque and improve its architecture. It was used as a place of prayer by the Muslim conqueror Hassan Ibn an-No'man.
Architecture
Al-Zaytuna mosque followed the design and architecture of previous mosques, mainly the Mosque of Uqba, and was an inspiration for later mosques such as the Great Mosque of Cordoba. The courtyard is accessible via nine lateral doorways and forms a rectangle surrounded by galleries supported by columns made variously of marble, granite or porphyry and which were taken from ancient monuments primarily from Carthage, as were those in the prayer hall. The square minaret rises from the northwest corner of the courtyard. Built in 1894, the minaret is 43 meters (141 ft) high and imitates the decoration of the Almohad minaret of the Kasbah Mosque with its limestone strap-work on a background of ochre sandstone. Presidents Bourguiba and Ben Ali carried out major restoration work and rehabilitation, especially during the 1960s and 1990s.