The Ebu Bekër Mosque ( sq, Xhamia Ebu Beker) is a mosque in
Shkodër
Shkodër ( , ; sq-definite, Shkodra) is the fifth-most-populous city of the Republic of Albania and the seat of Shkodër County and Shkodër Municipality. The city sprawls across the Plain of Mbishkodra between the southern part of Lake Shkod ...
City,
Shkodër County
Shkodër County ( sq, Qarku i Shkodrës) is a county in northwestern Albania, with the capital in Shkodër. The county spans and had a total population of 197,177 people as of 2021. The county borders on the counties of Lezhë, Kukës and the cou ...
, Albania.
The mosque was designed by ARC Architectural Consultants and built from 1994 to 1995 on the site of the old Fushë Çela Mosque, which was destroyed during the communist era, with funding from
Saudi entrepreneur Sheikh Zamil Abdullah Al-Zamil. It is named after
Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr Abdallah ibn Uthman Abi Quhafa (; – 23 August 634) was the senior companion and was, through his daughter Aisha, a father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, as well as the first caliph of Islam. He is known with the honor ...
, the first
Rashidun
, image = تخطيط كلمة الخلفاء الراشدون.png
, caption = Calligraphic representation of Rashidun Caliphs
, birth_place = Mecca, Hejaz, Arabia present-day Saudi Arabia
, known_for = Companions of t ...
caliph
A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
. The inauguration was held on 27 October 1995, and the mosque was renovated in 2008.
The mosque, today at the end of a walkway from the Hotel Colosseo, covers and can accommodate 1,300 worshipers. The
minaret
A minaret (; ar, منارة, translit=manāra, or ar, مِئْذَنة, translit=miʾḏana, links=no; tr, minare; fa, گلدسته, translit=goldaste) is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generall ...
is high and the dome stretches to . The Fushë Çela mosque was historically important in the scholarly learning of the city and attracted notable Islamic scholars and theologians. A legacy of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
destroyed by the
People's Socialist Republic of Albania
The People's Socialist Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika Popullore Socialiste e Shqipërisë, links=no) was the Marxist–Leninist one party state that existed in Albania from 1946 to 1992 (the official name of the country was the People's R ...
, it once had its own
madrasa
Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...
.
Gallery
Ebu Bekr Mosque dome.jpg, Interior view of the dome
Xhamia Shkodër 001.jpg, Night view
SkodraEbu-Bekr-MoscheeInnen2014.JPG, Interior view of mosque
See also
*
Islam in Albania
Islam in Albania mainly arrived during the Ottoman period when the majority of Albanians over time converted to Islam. Following the Albanian National Awakening (Rilindja) tenets and the deemphasizing of religion during the 20th century, t ...
References
Further reading
* Anamali, Skënder; Prifti, Kristaq (2002). Historia e popullit shqiptar: vëllimi i parë. Tiranë: Toena. .
Ottoman architecture in Albania
Mosques in Shkodër
Buildings and structures in Shkodër
Sufi tekkes in Albania
{{Albania-mosque-stub