The Great Mosque of Kufa ( ar, مَسْجِد ٱلْكُوفَة ٱلْمُعَظَّم/ٱلْأَعْظَم, Masjid al-Muʿaẓẓam/al-ʾAʿaẓam), or Masjid al-Kufa, is located in

Kufa Kufa ( ar, الْكُوفَة ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Currently, Kufa and Najaf a ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

and is one of the earliest and holiest surviving

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, ...

s in the world. The mosque, built in the 7th century, was home to Ali ibn Abi Talib, the 4th Rashidun caliph; and contains the holy shrine of

Muslim ibn Aqeel Muslim ibn Aqil al-Hashimi ( ar, مُسْلِم ٱبْن عَقِيل ٱلْهَاشِمِيّ ') was the son of Aqil ibn Abi Talib and a member of the clan of Banu Hashim, thus, he is a cousin of Husayn ibn Ali. The people of Kufa called upo ...

, his companion

Hani ibn Urwa Hani ibn Urwa was a Kufan leader who hosted Muslim ibn Aqil and was killed by Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad, the governor of Kufa, due to ibn Ziyad enmity towards Ahl al-Bayt. Hani is buried behind the Great Mosque of Kufa, Kufa, Iraq, alongside Mukhtar ...

; and the revolutionary,

Al-Mukhtar Al-Mukhtar ibn Abi Ubayd al-Thaqafi ( ar, المختار بن أبي عبيد الثقفي, '; – 3 April 687) was a pro-Alid revolutionary based in Kufa, who led a rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate in 685 and ruled over most of Iraq f ...

. In recent history, the mosque has seen numerous renovations by

Dawoodi Bohra The Dawoodi Bohras are a religious denomination within the Ismā'īlī branch of Shia Islam. Their largest numbers reside in India, Pakistan, Yemen, East Africa, and the Middle East, with a growing presence across Europe, North America, South ...

Origin

Sources attribute the construction of the Great Mosque of Kufa in the middle of the 7th century to the 2nd Rashidun Caliph Omar. There is a legend that says the edifice was built on a temple constructed by Adam while another claims that Adam's bones were buried on the site, having been carried by Noah on board the Ark. It is also believed that the

angel Gabriel In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብር� ...

was referring to the mosque when he declared, "Twelve miles of lands from all directions of the mosque are blessed by its holiness." The site was identified in Shia Islam as the place where Noah must build his Ark. The family members of the first Shiite imams and their early supporters were buried within. Architectural excavations revealed that the mosque, which dates from 670, was built on top of much older foundations.

Architecture

The area of the building measures approximately . The mosque contains nine sanctuaries and four traditional locations. As to its design, experts recognized similarities to the design of the palaces of pre-Islamic Persia, Whereas according to

Ibn al-Athir Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ash-Shaybānī, better known as ʿAlī ʿIzz ad-Dīn Ibn al-Athīr al-Jazarī ( ar, علي عز الدین بن الاثیر الجزري) lived 1160–1233) was an Arab or Kurdish historian a ...

description, its ceiling resembles the ceiling of Byzantine church. It has four minarets and is accessible through five gates: Gate of the Threshold ('), Gate of Kinda ('), Gate of al-Anmat ('), Gate of the Snake ( ar, باب الثعبان, Bāb al-Thu‘bān), and Gate of

Renovation

The Great Mosque of Kufa has previously underwent sporadic renovations. One historical account, for instance, noted enlargement of section as well as a raised flooring for the main building in comparison to earlier level. In 1998, head of

community,

Mohammed Burhanuddin Mohammed Burhanuddin (6 March 1915 – 17 January 2014) was the 52nd Dā'ī al-Mutlaq of Dawoodi Bohras. He led the community for 49 years in a period of social, economic, and educational prosperity; strengthened and re-institutionalized the fu ...

started renovating the mosque, which was then completed in early 2010. The renovation included decorations with gold and silver, the Mihrab being made with a gold

zari ''Zari'' (or ''jari'') is an even thread traditionally made of fine gold or silver used in traditional Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani garments, especially as brocade in saris etc. This thread is woven into fabrics, primarily silk, to make i ...

, and the whole interior being surrounded with verse of the Quran. In addition, the courtyard is covered in white marble from

Makrana Makrana is an urban city located at the centre of Rajasthan in Nagaur district. It also served as a tehsil headquarters, with 136 villages under its jurisdiction thus making it the largest tehsil in the district. The biggest village of Makr ...

, India.

Significance

* It was the place where Ali ibn Abi Talib was fatally wounded by a poison-coated sword while prostrating in the Fajr prayer. * Contains the tombs of

, and

* There are markers within the mosque indicating the locations for where the court of

Ali ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam ...

used to preside, where he performed miracles, and where

Zayn al-Abidin ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn ( ar, علي بن الحسين زين العابدين), also known as al-Sajjād (, ) or simply as Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn (), , was an Imam in Shiʻi Islam after his father Husayn ibn Ali, his uncle Hasan ...

and

Ja'far al-Sadiq Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Ṣādiq ( ar, جعفر بن محمد الصادق; 702 – 765 CE), commonly known as Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (), was an 8th-century Shia Muslim scholar, jurist, and theologian.. He was the founder of th ...

used to perform Salah * Islamic traditions relate that it was the dwelling place of Nuh ( Noah) and that this was the place where he built the

Ark Ark or ARK may refer to: Biblical narratives and religion Hebrew word ''teva'' * Noah's Ark, a massive vessel said to have been built to save the world's animals from a flood * Ark of bulrushes, the boat of the infant Moses Hebrew ''aron'' * ...

* According to

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mo ...

belief, it was from this mosque that the

diluvium Diluvium is an archaic term applied during the 1800s to widespread surficial deposits of sediments that could not be explained by the historic action of rivers and seas. Diluvium was initially argued to have been deposited by the action of extra ...

of Noah started submerging earth, as well as being the place from where the water was re-absorbed - also marked within the Mosque *

said that up to twelve miles of land in all directions from the mosque are blessed by its holiness. *

was also recorded as remarking that the "mosque in Kufa is superior to that of Jerusalem" and that "performing two prostrations of prayer here would be better for me than ten others at any mosque." * There are also Shia traditions which state that performing one

prayer Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified ...

in this mosque is the same as having performed one thousand prayers elsewhere, and performing one obligatory prayer here is equal to having performed an accepted Hajj * The secretariat of Al-Kufa Mosque and its shrines describes the mosque as being one of the sole four dignified mosques to which Muslims must travel, and that it comes in third place after the Kaaba and the mosque of Prophet." * According to Shia belief, it is from this mosque that the messianic

twelfth Imam Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Mahdī ( ar, محمد بن الحسن المهدي) is believed by the Twelver Shia to be the last of the Twelve Imams and the eschatological Mahdi, who will emerge in the end of time to establish peace and justi ...

Hujjat-Allah al-Mahdi Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Mahdī ( ar, محمد بن الحسن المهدي) is believed by the Twelver Shia to be the last of the Twelve Imams and the eschatological Mahdi, who will emerge in the end of time to establish peace and justic ...

, will rule the world from, and it will serve as the seat of his power in the end of times.

References

External links