The Khamis Mosque ( ar, مَسْجِدُ ٱلْخَمِيسِ;

transliterated Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus '' trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or ...

: ''Masǧid al-ḫamīs'') is believed to be the first mosque in

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

, built during the era of the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...

caliph

Umar II Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz ( ar, عمر بن عبد العزيز, ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz; 2 November 680 – ), commonly known as Umar II (), was the eighth Umayyad caliph. He made various significant contributions and reforms to the society, and ...

. According to '' Al Wasat'' journalist Kassim Hussain, other sources mention that it was built in a later era during the rule of

Uyunids The Uyunid dynasty ( ar, العيونيون, al-ʿUyūnīyūn) were an Arab dynasty that ruled Eastern Arabia for 163 years, from the 11th to the 13th centuries. Their sect is disputed; some sources mention they were Shia, others Sunni. They ...

with one

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 ...

. The second was built two centuries later during the rule of

Usfurids The Usfurids ( ar, آل عصفور, Al ʿUṣfūr) were an Arab dynasty that in 1253 gained control of Eastern Arabia, including the islands of Bahrain. They were a branch of Uqaylids who re-migrated to Arabia after the fall of their rule in Syr ...

. The identical twin minarets of this ancient Islamic monument make it easily noticeable as one drives along the ''Shaikh Salman Road'' in Khamis.

History

It is considered to be one of the oldest mosques in the

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

, as its foundation is believed to have been laid as early as 692 CE. An inscription found on the site, however, suggests a foundation date of sometime during the 11th century. It has since been rebuilt twice in both the 14th and 15th centuries, when the

s were constructed. The Khamis mosque has been partially restored recently. Khamis Mosque Minaret

Structure

The present building has two main phases: *An early prayer hall with a flat roof supported by wooden

columns A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression membe ...

dated to the 14th century. *A later section of the flat roof was added, supported on

arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...

es resting on thick masonry piers (which have been dated to 1339) Islam was propagated to Bahrain in the 7th century CE when

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...

sent an envoy

Al-Ala'a Al-Hadrami Al-Ala al-Hadrami ( ar, العلاء الحضرمي, al-ʿAlāʾ al-Haḍramī; died 635–636 or 641–642) was an early Muslim commander and the tax collector of Bahrayn (eastern Arabia) under the Islamic prophet Muhammad in and Bahrayn's govern ...

, preaching Islam to the Governor of Qatar and Bahrain at the time,

Munzir ibn Sawa Al Tamimi Munzir ibn Sawa ( ar, ٱلْمُنْذِر ٱبْن سَاوَىٰ, al-Munzir-bn-Sāwá) was the governor of the Persian Sasanian Empire of historical Bahrain, the eastern coast of the Arabian peninsula opposite of Tihamah. Munzir was a promin ...

Mihrab Slab

Mihrab slab was a

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

slab Slab or SLAB may refer to: Physical materials * Concrete slab, a flat concrete plate used in construction * Stone slab, a flat stone used in construction * Slab (casting), a length of metal * Slab (geology), that portion of a tectonic plate tha ...

, in the form of a

mihrab Mihrab ( ar, محراب, ', pl. ') is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the ''qibla'', the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a ''mihrab'' appears is thus the "qibla w ...

. The slab was discovered during restoration works on the mosque and is believed to have originated from the 12th century CE. Inscriptions of two verses from the

Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...

are present on the slab, Qur'anic

sura A ''surah'' (; ar, سورة, sūrah, , ), is the equivalent of "chapter" in the Qur'an. There are 114 ''surahs'' in the Quran, each divided into '' ayats'' (verses). The chapters or ''surahs'' are of unequal length; the shortest surah ('' Al-K ...

h XXI, verses 34–35, which are normally used on gravestones.
' Traces of Paradise: Archaeology of Bahrain from 2500 BC to 300 AD ,page 204''

References

{{Authority control Mosques in Manama

History

Structure

Mihrab Slab

See also

References