Al-Arba'een Mosque () was a historic

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

in the city of

Tikrit Tikrit ( ) is a city in Iraq, located northwest of Baghdad and southeast of Mosul on the Tigris River. It is the administrative center of the Saladin Governorate. In 2012, it had a population of approximately 160,000. Originally created as a f ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. It contained a shrine for

Amr ibn Jundab Al-Ghafari Amr or AMR may refer to: Science, environment and medicine * Antimicrobial resistance, of microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, parasites) to antimicrobials * Anisotropic magnetoresistance, resistance varying with magnetic field * Accelerating Mome ...

, and another shrine for Sitt Nafisa.

History

The building dates back to the 5th century AH. The name of the mosque, "Al-Arba'een" (The Forty), is derived from a belief that forty martyrs killed during an Islamic conquest of Tikrit were buried under the mosque, although this claim is contested as reports of the forty graves are weak. The building was used as an Islamic university in 1262 AD.

Construction

The mosque building was a square shape, with five domes. Each side was approximately forty-seven meters long. Its dimensions are 36.5 x 35.5 meters. Gravel and plaster were mostly used to construct the building and the two venerated rooms are ten meters tall. One of these venerated rooms was a shrine that contained a tomb of

, a companion of the

Rashidun The Rashidun () are the first four caliphs () who led the Muslim community following the death of Muhammad: Abu Bakr (), Umar (), Uthman (), and Ali (). The reign of these caliphs, called the Rashidun Caliphate (632–661), is considered i ...

caliph

Umar ibn Al-Khattab Umar ibn al-Khattab (; ), also spelled Omar, was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () and is regarded as a senior companion and father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muh ...

. There was also a cellar in the building which is believed by locals to house the resting place of a female saint, Sitt Nafisa.{{Cite web , date=25 February 2019 , title=موسوعة شذرات المطر ..مدونة المهندس رائد جعفر مطر : مزار الاربعين ولي في تكريت , url=http://raidmoter.blogspot.com/2019/02/blog-post_25.html , access-date=2022-06-09 , website=موسوعة شذرات المطر ..مدونة المهندس رائد جعفر مطر

Demolition

The mosque was destroyed by the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS occupied signi ...

in 2014 by explosives. The explosion completely destroyed the shrines but did not damage the rest of the mosque. The surrounding cemetery was damaged.

References

History of Tikrit Mosques in Iraq Buildings and structures demolished in 2014 Mosques destroyed by ISIL