5/5 Latif Hyder W. 1 year ago on Google • 438 reviews
A
very
Historical
and
Spiritual
Place.
The
Great
Mosque
of
Kufa
(Arabic:
مَسْجِد
ٱلْكُوفَة
ٱلْمُعَظَّم/ٱلْأَعْظَم,
romanized:
Masjid
al-Muʿaẓẓam/al-ʾAʿaẓam),
or
Masjid
al-Kufa,
is
located
in
Kufa,
Iraq
and
is
one
of
the
earliest
surviving
mosques
in
the
world.
The
mosque,
built
in
the
7th
century,
was
home
to
Ali
ibn
Abi
Talib,
the
4th
Rashidun
caliph;
and
contains
the
shrine
of
Muslim
ibn
Aqeel,
his
companion
Hani
ibn
Urwa,
and
the
revolutionary,
Al-Mukhtar.
The
mosque
has
been
significantly
rebuilt
and
restored
multiple
times
in
its
history.
The
first
main
mosque
of
Kufa
was
built
with
the
city's
foundation
in
638.
The
original
mosque
had
a
square
layout
and
many
entrances,
and
was
built
alongside
a
governor's
palace
(Dar
al-Imāra).
It
featured
a
roofed
colonnade
and
re-used
columns
from
the
nearby
former
Lakhmid
capital
of
al-Hira
and
from
former
churches.
The
governor's
palace
likely
served
as
both
a
residential
building
and
an
administrative
center.
Ali
ibn
Abi
Talib
a.s
was
assassinated
in
the
mosque
in
661.
The
family
members
of
the
first
Shi'ite
imams
and
their
early
supporters
were
buried
within
the
mosque,
including
Muslim
ibn
Aqil
and
Hani
ibn
Urwa.
In
670,
the
governor
of
the
city,
Ziyad
ibn
Abihi,
arranged
for
the
mosque
to
be
rebuilt
in
brick
and
expanded
into
a
much
more
monumental
form.
Craftsmen
from
other
regions
were
brought
in
and
materials
were
imported
from
Ahwaz
for
the
mosque's
columns.
The
governor's
palace,
or
Dar
al-Imara,
adjacent
to
the
south
side
of
mosque,
was
also
rebuilt.
Architectural
excavations
revealed
that
the
mosque
was
built
on
top
of
much
older
foundations.
It
was
in
the
Great
Mosque
of
Kufa
that
the
first
Abbasid
caliph
was
formally
proclaimed
in
749.
By
the
14th
century,
when
Ibn
Battuta
visited
the
site,
only
the
foundations
of
the
old
governor's
palace
still
remained.
The
mosque
underwent
various
other
restorations
throughout
its
history.
The
golden
dome
standing
today
over
the
tombs,
as
well
as
the
surrounding
tilework
decoration,
was
added
during
the
Safavid
period
in
the
17th
and
18th
centuries.
Kufa
mosque
in
2016
In
1998,
head
of
Dawoodi
Bohra
community,
Mohammed
Burhanuddin
started
reconstructing
and
renovating
the
mosque.: 97, 106
Work
was
completed
in
early
2010.
The
renovation
included
decorations
with
gold
and
silver,
the
mihrab
being
made
with
a
gold
zari,
and
the
whole
interior
being
surrounded
with
verse
of
the
Quran.
In
addition,
the
courtyard
is
covered
in
white
marble
from
Makrana,
India.
The
Great
Mosque
of
Kufa
was
the
place
where
Ali
ibn
Abi
Talib
was
fatally
wounded
by
a
poison-coated
sword
while
prostrating
in
the
Fajr
prayer.
Also,
the
mosque
contains
the
tombs
of
Muslim
ibn
Aqil,
Hani
ibn
Urwa,
and
Al-Mukhtar.
There
are
markers
within
the
mosque
indicating
the
locations
for
where
the
court
of
Ali
used
to
preside,
where
he
performed
miracles,
and
where
Zayn
al-Abidin
and
Ja'far
al-Sadiq
a.s
used
to
perform
Salah.
Additionally,
Islamic
traditions
relate
that
it
was
the
dwelling
place
of
Nuh
(Noah)
and
that
this
was
the
place
where
he
built
the
Ark.
According
to
Shia
belief,
it
was
from
this
mosque
that
the
diluvium
of
Noah
started
submerging
earth,
as
well
as
being
the
place
from
where
the
water
was
re-absorbed-
also
marked
within
the
Mosque.
Ja'far
al-Sadiq
a.s
said
that
up
to
twelve
miles
of
land
in
all
directions
from
the
mosque
are
blessed
by
its
holiness
Ja'far
al-Sadiq
a.s
was
also
recorded
as
remarking
that
the
"mosque
in
Kufa
is
superior
to
that
of
Jerusalem"[19]
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
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
Today,
the
outer
wall
of
the
mosque,
with
semi-circular
buttresses,
probably
still
dates
from
the
early
period
of
the
building's
history.The
building's
floor
level
has
also
been
raised
from
its
earlier
level.