The Kizimkazi Mosque is a mosque

Mosque

A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...

 situated on the southern tip of the island of Zanzibar

Zanzibar

Zanzibar ,Persian: زنگبار, from suffix bār: "coast" and Zangi: "bruin" ; is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja , and Pemba...

 in Tanzania

Tanzania

The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...

 and is one of the oldest Islamic buildings

Islamic architecture

Islamic architecture encompasses a wide range of both secular and religious styles from the foundation of Islam to the present day, influencing the design and construction of buildings and structures in Islamic culture....

 on the East Africa

East Africa

East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...

n coast. Despite its name, it is located in Dimbani

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 .Dimbani's most notable feature is Kizimkazi Mosque, one of the oldest...

, not Kizimkazi

Kizimkazi

Kizimkazi - officially Kizimkazi Mkunguni, but also known as Kizimkazi Mtendeni - is a fishing village on the southern coast of Zanzibar, Tanzania, and was once a walled city. It is situated three miles southeast of the Kizimkazi Mosque...

, which is three miles away (this is because the official names of these two joined villages are Kizimkazi Dimbani and Kizimkazi Mtendeni). According to a preserved kufic

Kufic

Kufic is the oldest calligraphic form of the various Arabic scripts and consists of a modified form of the old Nabataean script. Its name is derived from the city of Kufa, Iraq, although it was known in Mesopotamia at least 100 years before the foundation of Kufa. At the time of the emergence of...

 inscription, it was built in 1107 by settlers from Shiraz

Shiraz

Shiraz may refer to:* Shiraz, Iran, a city in Iran* Shiraz County, an administrative subdivision of Iran* Vosketap, Armenia, formerly called ShirazPeople:* Hovhannes Shiraz, Armenian poet* Ara Shiraz, Armenian sculptor...

. Although the inscription and certain coral

Coral

Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...

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

See also

• Shirazi (ethnic group)
  Shirazi (ethnic group)
  The Shirazi are a sub-group of the Swahili people living on the Swahili Coast of East Africa, especially on the islands of Zanzibar, Pemba and Comoros. Local traditions about their origin claim they are descended from merchant princes from Shiraz in Persia who settled along the Swahili Coast....