The Mosque of the Companions () is a

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

Massawa Massawa or Mitsiwa ( ) is a port city in the Northern Red Sea Region, Northern Red Sea region of Eritrea, located on the Red Sea at the northern end of the Gulf of Zula beside the Dahlak Archipelago. It has been a historically important port for ...

, Eritrea. According to local tradition, the mosque dates to the early 7th century CE and is believed by some to be the first mosque in Africa.

History

Local Muslims generally believe that Massawa, particularly the small island known as Ras Medr off the city's coast, was the place where the Companions () of the Islamic prophet

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

landed in Africa when they fled persecution by non-Muslims in the

Hejaz Hejaz is a Historical region, historical region of the Arabian Peninsula that includes the majority of the western region of Saudi Arabia, covering the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif and Al Bahah, Al-B ...

i city of

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

, present-day

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. According to Richard J. Reid, the mosque may have been constructed in the 620s or 630s by members of Muhammad's family among this group. The present-day site consists of an open-air prayer area (a ''

musalla A musalla () is a space apart from a mosque, mainly used for prayer in Islam. The word is derived from the verb (''ṣallā''), meaning "to pray". It is traditionally used for twice-yearly Eid prayers (''Eid al-Fitr, ʿĪd al-Fiṭr'' and '' ...

'') with a free-standing stone structure that consists of a

mihrab ''Mihrab'' (, ', 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'' wall". ...

(niche symbolising the

direction of prayer Prayer in a certain direction is characteristic of many world religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Bahá'í Faith. Judaism Jews traditionally pray in the direction of Jerusalem, where the presence of the transcendent God ...

) and an attached

minbar A minbar (; sometimes romanized as ''mimber'') is a pulpit in a mosque where the imam (leader of prayers) stands to deliver sermons (, ''khutbah''). It is also used in other similar contexts, such as in a Hussainiya where the speaker sits and le ...

(pulpit) that resembles a miniature

minaret A minaret is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally used to project the Muslim call to prayer (''adhan'') from a muezzin, but they also served as landmarks and symbols of Islam's presence. They can h ...

. This latter feature is very similar to one found in the nearby Mosque of Sheikh Hammali, built in the Ottoman period, which suggests that the structure also dates from this period or later.For the Sheikh Hammali Mosque, see:

References

External links

* Massawa Mosques in Eritrea 7th-century mosques Kingdom of Aksum {{Eritrea-struct-stub

History

See also

References

External links