The Kizimkazi Dimbani Mosque (''Misikiti wa kale wa Kizimkazi Dimbani'' in Swahili) is a

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

Located in the town of Dimbani,

Kusini District Kusini District (''Wilaya ya Kusini'' in Swahili) is one of two administrative districts of Unguja South Region in Tanzania. The district covers an area of . The district is comparable in size to the land area of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines ...

of Unguja South Region in

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

. It is situated on the southern tip of the island of

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islan ...

and is one of the oldest Islamic buildings on the East African coast. Despite its name, it is located in

Dimbani Dimbani - officially Kizimkazi Dimbani - is a village on the Tanzanian island of Unguja, part of Zanzibar. It is one of a pair of villages located close to the southern tip of the west coast, the other being Kizimkazi Mtendeni (commonly known simp ...

, not Kizimkazi, which is away (this is because the official names of these two joined villages are Kizimkazi Dimbani and Kizimkazi Mtendeni). According to a preserved

kufic Kufic script () is a style of Arabic script that gained prominence early on as a preferred script for Quran transcription and architectural decoration, and it has since become a reference and an archetype for a number of other Arabic scripts. It ...

inscription, it was built in 1107.DE V. ALLEN, J. “THE ‘SHIRAZI’ PROBLEM IN EAST AFRICAN COASTAL HISTORY.” Paideuma, vol. 28, 1982, pp. 9–27. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41409871. Accessed 24 Jul. 2022. Although the inscription and certain

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...

-carved decorative elements date from the period of construction, the majority of the present structure was rebuilt in the 18th century.

References

1107 establishments 12th-century establishments in Africa Mosques in Zanzibar Shirazi people Religious buildings and structures completed in 1107 12th-century mosques Swahili architecture {{Zanzibar-stub

See also

References