Umayyad Mosque
Encyclopedia
The Umayyad Mosque, also known as the Great Mosque of Damascus ' onMouseout='HidePop("40903")' href="/topics/Arabic_transliteration">transliteration
Ğām' Banī 'Umayya al-Kabīr) or formerly the Basilica of Saint John the Baptist , is located in the old city of Damascus
, is one of the largest and oldest mosque
s in the world. It is considered the fourth-holiest place in Islam
.
,
After the Arab conquest of Damascus in 634, the mosque was built on the site of a Christian basilica dedicated to John the Baptist
(Yahya) since the time of the Roman emperor Constantine I
. The mosque holds a shrine which today may still contain the head of John the Baptist, honored as a prophet
by both Christians and Muslims alike. The tomb of Saladin
stands in a small garden adjoining the north wall of the mosque.
was the capital of the Aramaean state Aram-Damascus during the Iron Age
. The Arameans of western Syria followed the cult of Hadad-Ramman
, the god of thunderstorms and rain, and erected a temple dedicated to him at the site of the present-day Umayyad Mosque. It is not known exactly how the temple looked, but it is believed to have followed the traditional Semitic
-Canaan
ite architectural form, resembling the Temple of Jerusalem. The site likely consisted of a walled courtyard, a small chamber for worship, and a tower-like structure typically symbolizing the "high place" of storm gods, in this case Hadad. One stone remain from the Aramaean temple, dated to the rule of King Hazael
, has survived and is currently on display in the National Museum of Damascus
.
The Temple of Hadad-Ramman continued to serve a central role in the city and when the Romans
conquered Damascus in 64 CE they assimilated Hadad with their own god of thunder, Jupiter
. Thus, they engaged in a project to reconfigure and expand the temple under the direction of Damascus-born architect Apollodorus
who created and executed its design. The symmetry and dimensions of the new Greco-Roman
temple impressed the local population. With the exception of the much increased scale of the building, most of its original Semitic design was preserved; the walled courtyard was largely left intact. In the center of the courtyard stood the cella, an image of the god which followers would honor. There was one tower at each of courtyard's four corners. The towers were used for rituals in line with ancient Semitic religious traditions where sacrifices were made on high places.
The sheer size of the compound suggested the religious hierarchy of the temple, sponsored by the Romans, was a major influence in the city's affairs. The Roman temple which later became the center of the pagan cult of Jupiter intended to serve as a response to the Hebrew temple in Jerusalem. Instead of being dedicated to one god, the Roman temple combined all of the pagan gods affiliated with heaven that were worshiped in the region such as Hadad, Ba'al-Shamin
and Dushara
into the "supreme-heavenly-astral Zeus." The Temple of Jupiter would attain further additions during the early period of Roman rule of the city, mostly initiated by high priests who collected contributions from the wealthy citizens of Damascus. The eastern gateway of the courtyard was expanded during the reign of Septimius Severus
(145-211 CE.)
By the 4th-century CE, the temple was especially renowned for its size and beauty. It was separated from the city by two sets of walls. The first, wider wall spanned a wide area that included a market and the second wall surrounded the actual sanctuary of Jupiter. It was the largest temple in Roman Syria. Towards the end of the 4th-century, in 391, the Temple of Jupiter was converted into the Cathedral of Saint John by the Christian emperor of the Byzantine Empire
(a continuation of the Roman Empire), Theodosius I
. During its transformation into a Christian cathedral it was not immediately dedicated to John the Baptist
, but later in the 6th century it came to be associated with him. Legend had it that Saint John's head was buried there. It served as the seat of the Bishop of Damascus who ranked second to the Patriarchate of Antioch.
led by Khalid ibn al-Walid
in 634. Decades later, the Islamic Caliphate came under the rule of the Umayyad dynasty which chose Damascus to be the administrative capital of the Muslim world
. The sixth Umayyad caliph
, al-Walid I, then commissioned the construction of a mosque
on the site of the Byzantine cathedral in 706. Prior to this, the cathedral was still in use by the local Christians, but a prayer room (musalla) for Muslim
s had been constructed on the southeastern part of the building. Al-Walid, who personally supervised the project, had most of the cathedral including the musalla demolished. The construction of the mosque completely altered the layout of the building. The new house of worship was meant to serve as a large congregational mosque for the citizens of Damascus and as a tribute to the city. Because of Christian protest at the move, al-Walid ordered the all other confiscated churches in the city to be returned to the Christians as compensation. The mosque was completed in 715 by the caliph, Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik
, shortly after the death of al-Walid that same year.
According to 10th-century Persian historian Ibn al-Faqih
, somewhere between 600,000 and 1,000,000 dinar
s were spent on the project. Coptic craftsmen as well as Persian, India
n, Greek
and Moroccan
laborers provided the bulk of the work force which consisted of 12,000 people. Ibn al-Faqih also relays the story that during the construction of the mosque, workers found a cave-chapel which had a box containing the head of St. John the Baptist
, or Yaḥyā ibn Zakarīyā in Islam. Upon learning of that and examining it, al-Walid I ordered the head buried under a specific pillar in the mosque that was later inlaid with marble.
Following the uprising that ended Umayyad rule in 750, the Abbasid dynasty came to power and moved the capital of the Caliphate to Baghdad
. Apart from the attention given for strategic and commercial purposes, the Abbasids had no interest in Damascus. As such, the Umayyad Mosque reportedly suffered under their rule, with little recorded building activity between the 8th and 10th centuries. However, the Abbasids did consider the mosque to be a major symbol of Islam
's triumph and thus, it was spared the systematic eradication of the Umayyad legacy in the city. The Abbasid governor of Damascus, al-Fadl ibn Salih ibn Ali
, built the Dome of the Clock in the eastern section of the mosque in 780. Nine years later, he initiated the construction of the Dome of the Treasury
(Bayt al-Mal) with the purpose of housing the mosque's funds. The 9th-century Arab
geographer, al-Muqaddasi
, credited the Abbasids for building the northern minaret
(Madhanat al-'Arous; "Minaret of the Bride") of the mosque in 831 during the reign of the caliph al-Ma'mun. This was accompanied by al-Ma'mun's removal and replacement of Umayyad inscriptions in the mosque.
By the early 10th-century, a monumental clock had been installed by the entrance in the western part of the southern wall of the mosque (Bāb al-Ziyāda.) This clock seems to have stopped functioning by the middle of the 12th century. Abbasid rule over Syria
began crumbling during the mid-10th-century, and for the decades that followed it subsequently came under the control of autonomous kingdoms who were only nominally under Abbasid authority. The Fatimid
s of Egypt
, who adhered to Shia Islam, conquered Damascus in 970, but few recorded improvements of the mosque were undertaken by the new rulers. Because of the Umayyad Mosque's prestige, the residents of Damascus established the city as a center for Sunni intellectualism and were able to maintain relative independence from Fatimid religious authority. In 1069, large sections of the mosque, particularly the northern wall, were destroyed in a fire as a result of an uprising by the city's residents against the Fatimid's Berber
army who were garrisoned there.
had the central dome
restored in a more spectacular form, the two piers supporting it were reinforced and the original Umayyad mosaics of the northern inner facade
were renewed. The northern riwaq
("portico") was rebuilt in 1089. The Seljuk prince of Damascus, Toghtekin
, repaired the northern wall in 1110 and two inscribed panels located above its doorways were dedicated to him. In 1113, the Seljuk Atabeg
of Mosul
, Sharaf al-Din Mawdud
, was assassinated in the Umayyad Mosque. As the conflict between Damascus and the Crusader
s intensified in the mid-1100s, the mosque was used as a principle rallying point calling on Muslims to defend the city and return Jerusalem to Muslim hands. Prominent imam
s, including Ibn 'Asakir, preached jihad
("holy struggle") and when the Crusaders advanced towards Damascus in 1148, the city's residents heeded their calls; the Crusader army withdrew as a result of their resistance.
During the reign of Nur ad-Din Zangi which began in 1154, a second monumental clock, the Jayrun Water Clock
was built on his personal orders. It was constructed outside the eastern entrance to the mosque (Bāb Jayrūn) by architect Muḥammad al-Sāʿātī and was rebuilt by al-Sāʿātī following a fire in 1167 and was eventually repaired by his son, Riḍwān, in the early 13th-century. It may have survived into the 14th century. Arab geographer, al-Idrisi, visited the mosque in 1154.
Damascus witnessed the establishment of several religious institutions under the Ayyubids, but the Umayyad Mosque retained his place as the center of religious life in the city. Muslim traveller Ibn Jubayr
described the mosque as containing many different zawaya for religious and Quranic studies. In 1173, the northern wall of the mosque was damaged again by fire and was rebuilt by the Ayyubid sultan, Saladin
(reign 1174-1193), along with the Minaret of the Bride, which had been destroyed in the 1069 fire. During the internal feuds between later Ayyubid princes, the city was dealt a great deal of damage, and the mosque's eastern minaret–known as the "Minaret of Jesus"–was destroyed at the hands of as-Salih Ayyub
while besieging as-Salih Ismail
in 1245. The minaret was later rebuilt with little decoration. Saladin, along with many of his successors, were buried around the Umayyad Mosque.
, in alliance with Crusader forces, captured Damascus from the Ayyubids in 1260. Bohemond VI of Antioch, a leading general in the invasion, ordered Catholic Mass
to be performed in the Umayyad Mosque. The Mamluk
s led by Qutuz
and Baibars
soon wrested control of the city the same year. In 1270, Baibars, by now the Mamluk sultan, ordered extensive restorations in the mosque, particularly its marble, mosaics and gildings. According to Baibars' biographer, Ibn Shaddad
, the restorations cost the sultan a sum of 20,000 dinars. Among the largest mosaic fragments restored was a 34.5 by segment in the western portico called the "Barada panel". The mosaics that decorated the mosque were a specific target of the restoration project and the art form became a major influence in Mamluk architecture in Syria and Egypt.
In 1285, the Muslim scholar Ibn Taymiyya started teaching Qur'an exegesis
in the mosque and when the Il-Khan Mongols
under Ghazan invaded the city in 1300, Ibn Taymiyya preached jihad, urging the citizens of Damascus to resist their occupation. The Mamluks under Qalawun
drove out the Mongols later that year. When Qalawun's forces entered the city, the Mongols attempted to store several catapults in the Umayyad Mosque because the Mamluks had started fires around the citadel to prevent Mongol access to it. The attempt failed as the Mamluks proceeded to burn the catapults before they were placed in the mosque.
The Mamluk governor of Damascus, Tankiz, carried out restoration work in the mosque in 1326-28. He reassembled the mosaics on the qibla
wall and replaced all the marble tiles in the prayer hall. Mamluk sultan al-Nasir Muhammad
also undertook major restoration work for the mosque in 1328. He demolished and completely rebuilt the unstable qibla wall and moved the Bab al-Ziyadah gate to the east. Much of the that work was damaged during a fire that burned the mosque in 1339. Islamic art
expert, Finbarr B. Flood, describes the Bahri Mamluks' attitude towards the mosque as an "obsessive interest" and their efforts at maintaining, repairing and restoring the mosque were unparalleled by any other period of Muslim rule. Arab astronomer Ibn al-Shatir
worked as the chief muwaqqit ("religious timekeeper
") and the chief muezzin
at the Umayyad Mosque from 1332 until his death in 1376. He erected a large sundial
on the mosque's northern minaret in 1371. The Minaret of Jesus was burnt down in a fire in 1392.
The Mongols under Timurlane sacked Damascus in 1400. Timurlane ordered the burning of the city on March 17, and the fire ravaged the Umayyad Mosque. The eastern minaret was reduced to rubble, and the central dome collapsed. A southwestern minaret was added to the mosque in 1488 during the reign of Mamluk sultan Qaitbay
.
s under Selim I
conquered Damascus from the Mamluks in 1516. The first Friday prayer in the Umayyad Mosque was attended by Selim I and it was performed in his name. The Ottomans used an endowment system (waqf
) for religious sites as a means to link the local population with the central authority. The waqf of the Umayyad Mosque was the largest in the city, employing 596 people. Supervisory and clerical positions were reserved for Ottoman officials while religious offices were held mostly by members of the local ulema. Although the awqaf (plural form of "waqf") were taxed, the waqf of the Umayyad Mosque was not. In 1518, the Ottoman governor of Damascus and supervisor of the mosque's waqf, Janbirdi al-Ghazali
, had the mosque repaired and redecorated as part of his architectural reconstruction program for the city.
Prominent Sufi scholar, Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi
, taught regularly at the Umayyad Mosque starting in 1661.
The mosque's extensive mosaic, and its marble panelling were once again ravaged by fire in 1893, and had to be restored. The fire also destroyed the inner fabric of the prayer hall and caused the collapse of the mosque's central dome. A laborer engaging in repair work accidentally started the fire when he was smoking his nargila (water pipe). The Ottomans fully restored the mosque, but largely maintained the original structure.
rule over Syria and in 1954 and 1963 under the Syrian Republic. In the 1980s and in the early 1990s, Syrian president Hafez al-Assad
ordered a wide-scale renovation of the mosque. The measures and concepts of al-Assad's restoration project was heavily criticized by UNESCO
. The general approach in Syria, however, was that the mosque was more of a symbolic monument rather than a historical one and thus, its renovation could only enhance the mosque's symbolism.
In 2001 Pope John Paul II visited the mosque, primarily to visit the relics of John the Baptist. It was the first time a pope paid a visit to a mosque. On March 15, 2011, the first significant protests related to the 2011 Syrian Uprising
, began at the Umayyad Mosque when 40-50 worshipers gathered outside the complex and chanted pro-democracy slogans. Syrian security forces swiftly quelled the protests and have since cordoned off the area during Friday prayers to prevent large-scale demonstrations.
occupies the northern part of the mosque complex, while the haram
("sanctuary") covers the southern part. The courtyard is enclosed by four exterior walls. The level of the stone pavement had become uneven over time due to several repairs throughout the mosque's history, but recent work on the courtyard has restored it to its consistent Umayyad-era levels. Arcade
s (riwaq
) surround the courtyard supported by alternating stone columns and piers. There is one pier in between every two columns. Because the northern part of the courtyard had been destroyed in an earthquake in 1759, the arcade is not consistent; when the northern wall was rebuilt the columns that were supporting it were not.
Three arcades make up the interior space of the sanctuary. They are parallel to the direction of prayer which is towards Mecca
in modern-day Saudi Arabia
. The arcades are supported by two rows of stone Corinthian column
s. Each of the arcades contain two levels. The first level consists of large semi-circular arch
es, while the second level is made up of double arches. This pattern is the same repeated by the arcades of the courtyard. The three interior arcades intersect in the center of the sanctuary with a larger, higher arcade that is perpendicular to the qibla
("direction of prayer") wall and faces the mihrab
(niche
in the wall which indicates the qibla) and the minbar
("pulpit
"). The central transept divides the arcades into two halves each with eleven arches. The entire sanctuary measures 136 metres (446.2 ft) by 37 metres (121.4 ft) and takes up the southern half of the mosque complex.
Four mihrabs line the sanctuary's rear wall, the main one being the Great Mihrab which has located roughly at the center of the wall. The Mihrab of the Companions of the Prophet (named after the Sahaba
) is situated in the eastern half. According to ancient Muslim engineer Musa ibn Shakir, the latter mihrab was built during the mosque's initial construction and it became the third niche-formed mihrab in Islam's history.
s. The Minaret of the Bride (Madhanat al-Arous) was the first one built and is located on the mosque's northern wall. The exact year of the minaret's original construction is unknown. The bottom part of the minaret most likely dates back to the Abbasid era in the 9th-century. While it is possible that the Umayyads built it, there is no indication that a minaret on the northern wall was a part of Caliph al-Walid
's initial concept. Geographer al-Muqaddasi
visited the minaret in 985 when Damascus was under Abbasid control and described it as "recently built." The upper segment was constructed in 1174. This minaret is used by the muezzin
for the call to prayer (adhan
) and there is a spiral staircase of 160 stone steps that lead to the muezzins calling position.
The Minaret of the Bride is divided into two sections; the main tower and the spire which are separated by a lead
roof. The oldest part of the minaret, or the main tower, is square in shape, has four galleries, and consists of two different forms of masonry
; the base consists of large blocks, while the upper section is built of dressed stone. There are two light openings near the top of the main tower, before the roof, with horseshoe arches and cubical capitals enclosed in a single arch. A smaller arched corbel is located below these openings. According to local legend, the minaret is named after the daughter of the merchant who provided the lead for the minaret's roof who was married to Syria's ruler at the time. Attached to the Minaret of the Bride is the 18th-century replica of the 14th-century sundial built by Ibn al-Shatir
.
The Minaret of Jesus (Madhanat Issa), located on the eastern corner of the mosque complex, is around 77 metres (252.6 ft) in height and the tallest of the three minarets. Some sources claim it was originally built by the Abbasids in the 9th-century, while other sources attribute the original structure to the Umayyads. The main body of the current minaret was built by the Ayyubids in 1247, but the upper section was constructed by the Ottomans. The main body of the minaret is square-shaped and the spire
is octagonal. It tapers to a point and is surmounted by a crescent (as are the other two minarets.) Two covered galleries are situated in the main body and two open galleries are located on the spire. Islamic belief holds that Jesus
will descend from heaven before the Day of Judgement to confront the Antichrist
. According to local Damascene tradition, he will reach earth via the Minaret of Jesus, hence its name. Ibn Kathir
, a a prominent 14th-century Muslim scholar, backed this notion.
The Western Minaret (Madhanat al-Gharbiye) also known as the "Minaret of Qaitbay" was built by Mamluk sultan Qaitbay in 1488 and is named after him. The Western Minaret displays strong Islamic-era Egyptian architectural influence typical of the Mamluk period. The minaret is octagonal in shape and is built in receding sections with three galleries. It is generally believed that both the Minaret of Jesus and the Western Minaret were built on the foundation of Ancient Roman towers (temenos), but some scholars find this to be questionable because of the absence of corner towers in other former Roman temples.
and Baybars Mosque
in Cairo
, the Great Mosque of Cordoba in Spain
, and the Bursa Grand Mosque
and Selimiye Mosque
in Turkey
.
, made to walk here from Iraq
, following the battle of Karbalā
. Furthermore it was the place where they were imprisoned for 60 days.
The following are structures found within the Mosque that bear great importance:
West Side:
South Wing (main hall):
East Wing:
Arabic transliteration
Different approaches and methods for the romanization of Arabic exist. They vary in the way that they address the inherent problems of rendering written and spoken Arabic in the Latin alphabet; they also use different symbols for Arabic phonemes that do not exist in English or other European...
Ğām' Banī 'Umayya al-Kabīr) or formerly the Basilica of Saint John the Baptist , is located in the old city of Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
, is one of the largest and oldest 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...
s in the world. It is considered the fourth-holiest place in Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
.
,
After the Arab conquest of Damascus in 634, the mosque was built on the site of a Christian basilica dedicated to John the Baptist
John the Baptist
John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
(Yahya) since the time of the Roman emperor Constantine I
Constantine I
Constantine the Great , also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was Roman Emperor from 306 to 337. Well known for being the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, Constantine and co-Emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious tolerance of all...
. The mosque holds a shrine which today may still contain the head of John the Baptist, honored as a prophet
Prophet
In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
by both Christians and Muslims alike. The tomb of Saladin
Mausoleum of Saladin
The Mausoleum of Saladin holds the resting place and grave of the medieval Ayyubid Sultan Saladin. It is located next to the northwest corner of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria. The mausoleum was built in 1196, three years after the death of Saladin...
stands in a small garden adjoining the north wall of the mosque.
Pre-Islamic period
DamascusDamascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
was the capital of the Aramaean state Aram-Damascus during the Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
. The Arameans of western Syria followed the cult of Hadad-Ramman
Hadad
Haddad was a northwest Semitic storm and rain god, cognate in name and origin with the Akkadian god Adad. Hadad was often called simply Ba‘al , but this title was also used for other gods. The bull was the symbolic animal of Hadad. He appeared as a bearded deity, often shown as holding a club and...
, the god of thunderstorms and rain, and erected a temple dedicated to him at the site of the present-day Umayyad Mosque. It is not known exactly how the temple looked, but it is believed to have followed the traditional Semitic
Semitic
In linguistics and ethnology, Semitic was first used to refer to a language family of largely Middle Eastern origin, now called the Semitic languages...
-Canaan
Canaan
Canaan is a historical region roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and the western parts of Jordan...
ite architectural form, resembling the Temple of Jerusalem. The site likely consisted of a walled courtyard, a small chamber for worship, and a tower-like structure typically symbolizing the "high place" of storm gods, in this case Hadad. One stone remain from the Aramaean temple, dated to the rule of King Hazael
Hazael
Hazael was a court official and later an Aramean king who is mentioned in the Bible. Under his reign, Aram-Damascus became an empire that ruled over large parts of Syria and Palestine....
, has survived and is currently on display in the National Museum of Damascus
National Museum of Damascus
The National Museum of Damascus is a large museum in the heart of Damascus, Syria. The most popular part of the museum is the reconstruction of the 2nd century CE Dura-Europos synagogue.- Location :...
.
The Temple of Hadad-Ramman continued to serve a central role in the city and when the Romans
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
conquered Damascus in 64 CE they assimilated Hadad with their own god of thunder, Jupiter
Jupiter (mythology)
In ancient Roman religion and myth, Jupiter or Jove is the king of the gods, and the god of the sky and thunder. He is the equivalent of Zeus in the Greek pantheon....
. Thus, they engaged in a project to reconfigure and expand the temple under the direction of Damascus-born architect Apollodorus
Apollodorus of Damascus
Apollodorus of Damascus was a Greek engineer, architect, designer and sculptor who flourished during the 2nd century AD, from Damascus, Roman Syria. He was a favourite of Trajan, for whom he constructed Trajan's Bridge over the Danube for the 105-106 campaign in Dacia. He also designed the Forum...
who created and executed its design. The symmetry and dimensions of the new Greco-Roman
Greco-Roman world
The Greco-Roman world, Greco-Roman culture, or the term Greco-Roman , when used as an adjective, as understood by modern scholars and writers, refers to those geographical regions and countries that culturally were directly, protractedly and intimately influenced by the language, culture,...
temple impressed the local population. With the exception of the much increased scale of the building, most of its original Semitic design was preserved; the walled courtyard was largely left intact. In the center of the courtyard stood the cella, an image of the god which followers would honor. There was one tower at each of courtyard's four corners. The towers were used for rituals in line with ancient Semitic religious traditions where sacrifices were made on high places.
Beelshamen
Beelshamen , also known as Shamayim "lord of the heavens", was a supreme deity and the sky god of pre-Islamic Palmyra in ancient Syria. His attributes are the eagle and the lightning bolt...
and Dushara
Dushara
Dushara , also transliterated as Dusares, was an aniconic deity in the ancient Middle East worshipped by the Nabataeans at Petra and Madain Saleh . He was mothered by Manat the goddess of fate. In Greek times, he was associated with Zeus because he was the chief of the Nabataean pantheon as well as...
into the "supreme-heavenly-astral Zeus." The Temple of Jupiter would attain further additions during the early period of Roman rule of the city, mostly initiated by high priests who collected contributions from the wealthy citizens of Damascus. The eastern gateway of the courtyard was expanded during the reign of Septimius Severus
Septimius Severus
Septimius Severus , also known as Severus, was Roman Emperor from 193 to 211. Severus was born in Leptis Magna in the province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary succession of offices under the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Severus seized power after the death of...
(145-211 CE.)
By the 4th-century CE, the temple was especially renowned for its size and beauty. It was separated from the city by two sets of walls. The first, wider wall spanned a wide area that included a market and the second wall surrounded the actual sanctuary of Jupiter. It was the largest temple in Roman Syria. Towards the end of the 4th-century, in 391, the Temple of Jupiter was converted into the Cathedral of Saint John by the Christian emperor of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
(a continuation of the Roman Empire), Theodosius I
Theodosius I
Theodosius I , also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman Emperor from 379 to 395. Theodosius was the last emperor to rule over both the eastern and the western halves of the Roman Empire. During his reign, the Goths secured control of Illyricum after the Gothic War, establishing their homeland...
. During its transformation into a Christian cathedral it was not immediately dedicated to John the Baptist
John the Baptist
John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
, but later in the 6th century it came to be associated with him. Legend had it that Saint John's head was buried there. It served as the seat of the Bishop of Damascus who ranked second to the Patriarchate of Antioch.
Arab Caliphate era and construction of the mosque
Damascus was besieged and captured by Muslim Arab forcesRashidun army
The Rashidun Caliphate Army or Rashidun army was the primary military body of the Rashidun Caliphate's armed forces during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, serving alongside the Rashidun Navy...
led by Khalid ibn al-Walid
Khalid ibn al-Walid
Khālid ibn al-Walīd also known as Sayf Allāh al-Maslūl , was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He is noted for his military tactics and prowess, commanding the forces of Medina and those of his immediate successors of the Rashidun Caliphate; Abu Bakr and Umar...
in 634. Decades later, the Islamic Caliphate came under the rule of the Umayyad dynasty which chose Damascus to be the administrative capital of the Muslim world
Muslim world
The term Muslim world has several meanings. In a religious sense, it refers to those who adhere to the teachings of Islam, referred to as Muslims. In a cultural sense, it refers to Islamic civilization, inclusive of non-Muslims living in that civilization...
. The sixth Umayyad caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
, al-Walid I, then commissioned the construction of 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...
on the site of the Byzantine cathedral in 706. Prior to this, the cathedral was still in use by the local Christians, but a prayer room (musalla) for Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s had been constructed on the southeastern part of the building. Al-Walid, who personally supervised the project, had most of the cathedral including the musalla demolished. The construction of the mosque completely altered the layout of the building. The new house of worship was meant to serve as a large congregational mosque for the citizens of Damascus and as a tribute to the city. Because of Christian protest at the move, al-Walid ordered the all other confiscated churches in the city to be returned to the Christians as compensation. The mosque was completed in 715 by the caliph, Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik
Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik
Sulayman bin Abd al-Malik was an Umayyad caliph who ruled from 715 until 717. His father was Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, and he was a younger brother of the previous caliph, al-Walid I.-Early years:...
, shortly after the death of al-Walid that same year.
According to 10th-century Persian historian Ibn al-Faqih
Ibn al-Faqih
Ibn al-Faqih al-Hamadani was a 10th century Persian historian and geographer, famous for his Mukhtasar Kitab al-Buldan .-References:...
, somewhere between 600,000 and 1,000,000 dinar
Gold Dinar
The gold dinar is a gold coin first issued in 77 AH by Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. The name is derived from denarius, a Roman currency...
s were spent on the project. Coptic craftsmen as well as Persian, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n, Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
and Moroccan
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
laborers provided the bulk of the work force which consisted of 12,000 people. Ibn al-Faqih also relays the story that during the construction of the mosque, workers found a cave-chapel which had a box containing the head of St. John the Baptist
John the Baptist
John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
, or Yaḥyā ibn Zakarīyā in Islam. Upon learning of that and examining it, al-Walid I ordered the head buried under a specific pillar in the mosque that was later inlaid with marble.
Following the uprising that ended Umayyad rule in 750, the Abbasid dynasty came to power and moved the capital of the Caliphate to Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
. Apart from the attention given for strategic and commercial purposes, the Abbasids had no interest in Damascus. As such, the Umayyad Mosque reportedly suffered under their rule, with little recorded building activity between the 8th and 10th centuries. However, the Abbasids did consider the mosque to be a major symbol of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
's triumph and thus, it was spared the systematic eradication of the Umayyad legacy in the city. The Abbasid governor of Damascus, al-Fadl ibn Salih ibn Ali
Al-Fadl ibn Salih
Al-Fadl ibn Salih ibn Ali ibn Abdillah ibn Abbas was the Abbasid governor of a number of different provinces in what is now modern-day Syria during the late 8th-century CE. He was also governor of Egypt for a brief period of time...
, built the Dome of the Clock in the eastern section of the mosque in 780. Nine years later, he initiated the construction of the Dome of the Treasury
Qubbat al-Khazna
Qubbat al-Khazna , meaning the "Dome of the Treasury", is an old structure, located inside the courtyard of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria. It is an octagonal structure decorated with mosaics, standing on eight Roman columns...
(Bayt al-Mal) with the purpose of housing the mosque's funds. The 9th-century Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
geographer, al-Muqaddasi
Al-Muqaddasi
Muhammad ibn Ahmad Shams al-Din Al-Muqaddasi , also transliterated as Al-Maqdisi and el-Mukaddasi, was a medieval Arab geographer, author of Ahsan at-Taqasim fi Ma`rifat il-Aqalim .-Biography:Al-Muqaddasi, "the Hierosolomite" was born in Jerusalem in 946 AD...
, credited the Abbasids for building the northern minaret
Minaret
A minaret مناره , sometimes مئذنه) is a distinctive architectural feature of Islamic mosques, generally a tall spire with an onion-shaped or conical crown, usually either free standing or taller than any associated support structure. The basic form of a minaret includes a base, shaft, and gallery....
(Madhanat al-'Arous; "Minaret of the Bride") of the mosque in 831 during the reign of the caliph al-Ma'mun. This was accompanied by al-Ma'mun's removal and replacement of Umayyad inscriptions in the mosque.
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
began crumbling during the mid-10th-century, and for the decades that followed it subsequently came under the control of autonomous kingdoms who were only nominally under Abbasid authority. The Fatimid
Fatimid
The Fatimid Islamic Caliphate or al-Fāṭimiyyūn was a Berber Shia Muslim caliphate first centered in Tunisia and later in Egypt that ruled over varying areas of the Maghreb, Sudan, Sicily, the Levant, and Hijaz from 5 January 909 to 1171.The caliphate was ruled by the Fatimids, who established the...
s of Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, who adhered to Shia Islam, conquered Damascus in 970, but few recorded improvements of the mosque were undertaken by the new rulers. Because of the Umayyad Mosque's prestige, the residents of Damascus established the city as a center for Sunni intellectualism and were able to maintain relative independence from Fatimid religious authority. In 1069, large sections of the mosque, particularly the northern wall, were destroyed in a fire as a result of an uprising by the city's residents against the Fatimid's Berber
Berber people
Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...
army who were garrisoned there.
Seljuk and Ayyubid era
The Sunni Muslim Seljuk Turks gained control of the city in 1078 and restored the nominal rule of the Abbasid Caliphate. The Seljuk king Tutush initiated the repair of damage caused by the 1069 fire. In 1082, his vizier, Abu Nasr Ahmad ibn FadlAbu Nasr Ahmad ibn Fadl
Abu Nasr Ahmad ibn Fadl was the vizier of the Seljuk ruler of Damascus, Tutush.On his orders, the Umayyad Mosque was restored in 1082 following the severe damage inflicted upon it during a fire in 1069...
had the central dome
Dome
A dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long architectural lineage extending into prehistory....
restored in a more spectacular form, the two piers supporting it were reinforced and the original Umayyad mosaics of the northern inner facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
were renewed. The northern riwaq
Riwaq
A riwaq is an arcade or portico open on at least one side. Such structures are built in Iran and other Islamic countries, mostly in the bazaars or mosques....
("portico") was rebuilt in 1089. The Seljuk prince of Damascus, Toghtekin
Toghtekin
Zahir ad-Din Toghtekin was a Turkic military leader, who was atabeg of Damascus from 1104 to 1128. He was the founder of the Burid dynasty of Damascus.-Biography:...
, repaired the northern wall in 1110 and two inscribed panels located above its doorways were dedicated to him. In 1113, the Seljuk Atabeg
Atabeg
Atabeg, Atabek, or Atabey is a hereditary title of nobility of Turkic origin, indicating a governor of a nation or province who was subordinate to a monarch and charged with raising the crown prince...
of Mosul
Mosul
Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
, Sharaf al-Din Mawdud
Mawdud
Mawdud ibn Altuntash was a Turkic military leader who was atabeg of Mosul from 1109 to 1113...
, was assassinated in the Umayyad Mosque. As the conflict between Damascus and the Crusader
Crusader
- Military :* Crusader, a participant in one of the Crusades* Crusader states, states set up by the Europeans in the Middle East during The Crusades* Crusader tank, a British cruiser tank of World War II* HMS Crusader, three British naval ships...
s intensified in the mid-1100s, the mosque was used as a principle rallying point calling on Muslims to defend the city and return Jerusalem to Muslim hands. Prominent imam
Imam
An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...
s, including Ibn 'Asakir, preached jihad
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
("holy struggle") and when the Crusaders advanced towards Damascus in 1148, the city's residents heeded their calls; the Crusader army withdrew as a result of their resistance.
During the reign of Nur ad-Din Zangi which began in 1154, a second monumental clock, the Jayrun Water Clock
Jayrun Water Clock
The Jayrun Water Clock, a water clock built by the Arab engineer Muhammad al-Sa'ati, was positioned at the gate of Damascus, Syria, at the exit of the Umayyad Mosque in the 12th century during the reign of Nur ad-Din Zangi.-Construction:...
was built on his personal orders. It was constructed outside the eastern entrance to the mosque (Bāb Jayrūn) by architect Muḥammad al-Sāʿātī and was rebuilt by al-Sāʿātī following a fire in 1167 and was eventually repaired by his son, Riḍwān, in the early 13th-century. It may have survived into the 14th century. Arab geographer, al-Idrisi, visited the mosque in 1154.
Damascus witnessed the establishment of several religious institutions under the Ayyubids, but the Umayyad Mosque retained his place as the center of religious life in the city. Muslim traveller Ibn Jubayr
Ibn Jubayr
Ibn Jubayr was a geographer, traveler and poet from al-Andalus.-Early life:Born in Valencia in Spain, then the seat of an independent emirate. Ibn Jubayr was descendant of a tribe of Andalusian origins, Jubayr was the son of a civil servant...
described the mosque as containing many different zawaya for religious and Quranic studies. In 1173, the northern wall of the mosque was damaged again by fire and was rebuilt by the Ayyubid sultan, Saladin
Saladin
Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was an Arabized Kurdish Muslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led Muslim and Arab opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...
(reign 1174-1193), along with the Minaret of the Bride, which had been destroyed in the 1069 fire. During the internal feuds between later Ayyubid princes, the city was dealt a great deal of damage, and the mosque's eastern minaret–known as the "Minaret of Jesus"–was destroyed at the hands of as-Salih Ayyub
As-Salih Ayyub
Al-Malik as-Salih Najm al-Din Ayyub , also known as al-Malik al-Salih was the Ayyubid ruler of Egypt from 1240 to 1249.-Biography:...
while besieging as-Salih Ismail
As-Salih Ismail
Imad ad-Din "al-Malik as-Salih" Ismail bin Saif ad-Din Ahmad better known as as-Salih Ismail was the Ayyubid sultan based in Damascus in 1237 then in 1239-45.- Sultan of Damascus :...
in 1245. The minaret was later rebuilt with little decoration. Saladin, along with many of his successors, were buried around the Umayyad Mosque.
Mamluk rule
The Mongols under the leadership of KitbuqaKitbuqa
Kitbuqa Noyan was a Nestorian Christian and a member of the Naiman Turks, a group that was subservient to the Mongol Empire. He was a lieutenant and confidant of the Mongol Ilkhan Hulagu, assisting him in his conquests in the Middle East...
, in alliance with Crusader forces, captured Damascus from the Ayyubids in 1260. Bohemond VI of Antioch, a leading general in the invasion, ordered Catholic Mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
to be performed in the Umayyad Mosque. The Mamluk
Mamluk
A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...
s led by Qutuz
Qutuz
Saif ad-Din Qutuz, also spelled Kutuz, was the third of the Mamluk Sultans of Egypt in the Turkic line from 1259 until his death in 1260. It was under his leadership that the Mamluks achieved success against the Mongols in the key Battle of Ain Jalut...
and Baibars
Baibars
Baibars or Baybars , nicknamed Abu l-Futuh , was a Mamluk Sultan of Egypt. He was one of the commanders of the forces which inflicted a devastating defeat on the Seventh Crusade of King Louis IX of France and he led the vanguard of the Egyptian army at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260, which marked...
soon wrested control of the city the same year. In 1270, Baibars, by now the Mamluk sultan, ordered extensive restorations in the mosque, particularly its marble, mosaics and gildings. According to Baibars' biographer, Ibn Shaddad
Ibn Shaddad
This can refer to:*Antarah ibn Shaddad, a pre-Islamic Arab hero and poet or*Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad, a 12th century jurist and biographer of Saladin....
, the restorations cost the sultan a sum of 20,000 dinars. Among the largest mosaic fragments restored was a 34.5 by segment in the western portico called the "Barada panel". The mosaics that decorated the mosque were a specific target of the restoration project and the art form became a major influence in Mamluk architecture in Syria and Egypt.
In 1285, the Muslim scholar Ibn Taymiyya started teaching Qur'an exegesis
Exegesis
Exegesis is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious text. Traditionally the term was used primarily for exegesis of the Bible; however, in contemporary usage it has broadened to mean a critical explanation of any text, and the term "Biblical exegesis" is used...
in the mosque and when the Il-Khan Mongols
Ilkhanate
The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate , was a Mongol khanate established in Azerbaijan and Persia in the 13th century, considered a part of the Mongol Empire...
under Ghazan invaded the city in 1300, Ibn Taymiyya preached jihad, urging the citizens of Damascus to resist their occupation. The Mamluks under Qalawun
Qalawun
Saif ad-Dīn Qalawun aṣ-Ṣāliḥī was the seventh Mamluk sultan of Egypt...
drove out the Mongols later that year. When Qalawun's forces entered the city, the Mongols attempted to store several catapults in the Umayyad Mosque because the Mamluks had started fires around the citadel to prevent Mongol access to it. The attempt failed as the Mamluks proceeded to burn the catapults before they were placed in the mosque.
The Mamluk governor of Damascus, Tankiz, carried out restoration work in the mosque in 1326-28. He reassembled the mosaics on the qibla
Qibla
The Qiblah , also transliterated as Qibla, Kiblah or Kibla, is the direction that should be faced when a Muslim prays during salah...
wall and replaced all the marble tiles in the prayer hall. Mamluk sultan al-Nasir Muhammad
Al-Nasir Muhammad
Al-Nasir Muhammad b. Cairo 1285, d...
also undertook major restoration work for the mosque in 1328. He demolished and completely rebuilt the unstable qibla wall and moved the Bab al-Ziyadah gate to the east. Much of the that work was damaged during a fire that burned the mosque in 1339. Islamic art
Islamic art
Islamic art encompasses the visual arts produced from the 7th century onwards by people who lived within the territory that was inhabited by or ruled by culturally Islamic populations...
expert, Finbarr B. Flood, describes the Bahri Mamluks' attitude towards the mosque as an "obsessive interest" and their efforts at maintaining, repairing and restoring the mosque were unparalleled by any other period of Muslim rule. Arab astronomer Ibn al-Shatir
Ibn al-Shatir
Ala Al-Din Abu'l-Hasan Ali Ibn Ibrahim Ibn al-Shatir was an Arab Muslim astronomer, mathematician, engineer and inventor who worked as muwaqqit at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria.-Astronomy:...
worked as the chief muwaqqit ("religious timekeeper
Timekeeper
A timekeeper is an instrument or person that measures the passage of time; in the case of the latter, often with the assistance of a clock or stopwatch...
") and the chief muezzin
Muezzin
A muezzin , or muzim, is the chosen person at a mosque who leads the call to prayer at Friday services and the five daily times for prayer from one of the mosque's minarets; in most modern mosques, electronic amplification aids the muezzin in his task.The professional muezzin is chosen for his...
at the Umayyad Mosque from 1332 until his death in 1376. He erected a large sundial
Sundial
A sundial is a device that measures time by the position of the Sun. In common designs such as the horizontal sundial, the sun casts a shadow from its style onto a surface marked with lines indicating the hours of the day. The style is the time-telling edge of the gnomon, often a thin rod or a...
on the mosque's northern minaret in 1371. The Minaret of Jesus was burnt down in a fire in 1392.
The Mongols under Timurlane sacked Damascus in 1400. Timurlane ordered the burning of the city on March 17, and the fire ravaged the Umayyad Mosque. The eastern minaret was reduced to rubble, and the central dome collapsed. A southwestern minaret was added to the mosque in 1488 during the reign of Mamluk sultan Qaitbay
Qaitbay
Al-Ashraf Sayf al-Din Qa'it Bay was the eighteenth Burji Mamluk Sultan of Egypt from 872-901 A.H. . He was Circassian by birth, and was purchased by the ninth sultan Barsbay before being freed by the eleventh sultan Jaqmaq...
.
Ottoman era
The OttomanOttoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
s under Selim I
Selim I
Selim I, Yavuz Sultân Selim Khan, Hâdim-ül Haramain-ish Sharifain , nicknamed Yavuz "the Stern" or "the Steadfast", but often rendered in English as "the Grim" , was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to...
conquered Damascus from the Mamluks in 1516. The first Friday prayer in the Umayyad Mosque was attended by Selim I and it was performed in his name. The Ottomans used an endowment system (waqf
Waqf
A waqf also spelled wakf formally known as wakf-alal-aulad is an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law, typically denoting a building or plot of land for Muslim religious or charitable purposes. The donated assets are held by a charitable trust...
) for religious sites as a means to link the local population with the central authority. The waqf of the Umayyad Mosque was the largest in the city, employing 596 people. Supervisory and clerical positions were reserved for Ottoman officials while religious offices were held mostly by members of the local ulema. Although the awqaf (plural form of "waqf") were taxed, the waqf of the Umayyad Mosque was not. In 1518, the Ottoman governor of Damascus and supervisor of the mosque's waqf, Janbirdi al-Ghazali
Janbirdi al-Ghazali
Janbirdi al-Ghazali was the first governor of Damascus Province under the Ottoman Empire from February 1518 until his death in February 1521.-Viceroy of Hama and Governor of Damascus:...
, had the mosque repaired and redecorated as part of his architectural reconstruction program for the city.
Prominent Sufi scholar, Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi
Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi
Shaykh Abd al-Ghani al-Nablusi , an eminent Muslim scholar and Sufi, was born in Damascus in 1641 into a family of Islamic scholarship. His father, Isma'il Abd al-Ghani, was a jurist in the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam and a contributor to Arabic literature...
, taught regularly at the Umayyad Mosque starting in 1661.
The mosque's extensive mosaic, and its marble panelling were once again ravaged by fire in 1893, and had to be restored. The fire also destroyed the inner fabric of the prayer hall and caused the collapse of the mosque's central dome. A laborer engaging in repair work accidentally started the fire when he was smoking his nargila (water pipe). The Ottomans fully restored the mosque, but largely maintained the original structure.
Modern era
The Umayyad Mosque underwent major restorations in 1929 during French MandateFrench Mandate of Syria
Officially the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon was a League of Nations mandate founded after the First World War and the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire...
rule over Syria and in 1954 and 1963 under the Syrian Republic. In the 1980s and in the early 1990s, Syrian president Hafez al-Assad
Hafez al-Assad
Hafez ibn 'Ali ibn Sulayman al-Assad or more commonly Hafez al-Assad was the President of Syria for three decades. Assad's rule consolidated the power of the central government after decades of coups and counter-coups, such as Operation Wappen in 1957 conducted by the Eisenhower administration and...
ordered a wide-scale renovation of the mosque. The measures and concepts of al-Assad's restoration project was heavily criticized by UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
. The general approach in Syria, however, was that the mosque was more of a symbolic monument rather than a historical one and thus, its renovation could only enhance the mosque's symbolism.
In 2001 Pope John Paul II visited the mosque, primarily to visit the relics of John the Baptist. It was the first time a pope paid a visit to a mosque. On March 15, 2011, the first significant protests related to the 2011 Syrian Uprising
2011 Syrian uprising
The 2011 Syrian uprising is an ongoing internal conflict occurring in Syria. Protests started on 26 January 2011, and escalated into an uprising by 15 March 2011...
, began at the Umayyad Mosque when 40-50 worshipers gathered outside the complex and chanted pro-democracy slogans. Syrian security forces swiftly quelled the protests and have since cordoned off the area during Friday prayers to prevent large-scale demonstrations.
Courtyard and sanctuary
The ground plan of the Umayyad Mosque is rectangle in shape and measures 97 metres (318.2 ft) by 156 metres (511.8 ft). A large courtyardSahn
A sahn , in Islamic architecture, is a courtyard. As per the traditional Islamic architectural style, almost every mosque has a sahn, which is surrounded by an arcade from all sides. In Persian architecture, the sahn usually contains a howz, a symmetrical pool, where ablutions are performed...
occupies the northern part of the mosque complex, while the haram
Haram
The Arabic term has a meaning of "sanctuary" or "holy site" in Islam.-Etymology:The Arabic language has two separate words, and , both derived from the same triliteral Semitic root . Both of these words can mean "forbidden" and/or "sacred" in a general way, but each has also developed some...
("sanctuary") covers the southern part. The courtyard is enclosed by four exterior walls. The level of the stone pavement had become uneven over time due to several repairs throughout the mosque's history, but recent work on the courtyard has restored it to its consistent Umayyad-era levels. Arcade
Arcade (architecture)
An arcade is a succession of arches, each counterthrusting the next, supported by columns or piers or a covered walk enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides. In warmer or wet climates, exterior arcades provide shelter for pedestrians....
s (riwaq
Riwaq
A riwaq is an arcade or portico open on at least one side. Such structures are built in Iran and other Islamic countries, mostly in the bazaars or mosques....
) surround the courtyard supported by alternating stone columns and piers. There is one pier in between every two columns. Because the northern part of the courtyard had been destroyed in an earthquake in 1759, the arcade is not consistent; when the northern wall was rebuilt the columns that were supporting it were not.
Three arcades make up the interior space of the sanctuary. They are parallel to the direction of prayer which is towards Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
in modern-day Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
. The arcades are supported by two rows of stone Corinthian column
Corinthian order
The Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...
s. Each of the arcades contain two levels. The first level consists of large semi-circular arch
Arch
An arch is a structure that spans a space and supports a load. Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamian brick architecture and their systematic use started with the Ancient Romans who were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures.-Technical aspects:The...
es, while the second level is made up of double arches. This pattern is the same repeated by the arcades of the courtyard. The three interior arcades intersect in the center of the sanctuary with a larger, higher arcade that is perpendicular to the qibla
Qibla
The Qiblah , also transliterated as Qibla, Kiblah or Kibla, is the direction that should be faced when a Muslim prays during salah...
("direction of prayer") wall and faces the mihrab
Mihrab
A mihrab is semicircular niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the qibla; that is, the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca and hence the direction that Muslims should face when praying...
(niche
Niche
Niche may refer to:*Niche , an exedra or an apse that has been reduced in size;*Niche , Colombian/Spanish football player, full name Víctor Manuel Micolta Armero*Niche , a British Thoroughbred racehorse...
in the wall which indicates the qibla) and the minbar
Minbar
A minbar is a pulpit in the mosque where the imam stands to deliver sermons or in the Hussainia where the speaker sits and lectures the congregation...
("pulpit
Pulpit
Pulpit is a speakers' stand in a church. In many Christian churches, there are two speakers' stands at the front of the church. Typically, the one on the left is called the pulpit...
"). The central transept divides the arcades into two halves each with eleven arches. The entire sanctuary measures 136 metres (446.2 ft) by 37 metres (121.4 ft) and takes up the southern half of the mosque complex.
Four mihrabs line the sanctuary's rear wall, the main one being the Great Mihrab which has located roughly at the center of the wall. The Mihrab of the Companions of the Prophet (named after the Sahaba
Sahaba
In Islam, the ' were the companions, disciples, scribes and family of the Islamic prophet...
) is situated in the eastern half. According to ancient Muslim engineer Musa ibn Shakir, the latter mihrab was built during the mosque's initial construction and it became the third niche-formed mihrab in Islam's history.
Domes
The largest dome of the mosque is known as the "Dome of the Eagle" (Qubbat an-Nisr) and located atop the center of the prayer hall. The original wooden dome was replaced by one built of stone following the 1893 fire. It receives its name because it is thought to resemble an eagle, with the dome itself being the eagle's head while the eastern and western flanks of the prayer hall representing the wings. With a height of 36 metres (118.1 ft), the dome rests on an octagonal substructure with two arched windows on each of its sides. It is supported by the central interior arcade and has openings along its parameter.Minarets
Within the Umayyad Mosque complex are three minaretMinaret
A minaret مناره , sometimes مئذنه) is a distinctive architectural feature of Islamic mosques, generally a tall spire with an onion-shaped or conical crown, usually either free standing or taller than any associated support structure. The basic form of a minaret includes a base, shaft, and gallery....
s. The Minaret of the Bride (Madhanat al-Arous) was the first one built and is located on the mosque's northern wall. The exact year of the minaret's original construction is unknown. The bottom part of the minaret most likely dates back to the Abbasid era in the 9th-century. While it is possible that the Umayyads built it, there is no indication that a minaret on the northern wall was a part of Caliph al-Walid
Al-Walid
al-Walid may refer to:* Khalid ibn al-Walid , one of the two famous Arab generals of the Rashidun army during the Muslim conquests of the 7th Century* Al-Walid I , an Umayyad caliph who ruled from 705 - 715....
's initial concept. Geographer al-Muqaddasi
Al-Muqaddasi
Muhammad ibn Ahmad Shams al-Din Al-Muqaddasi , also transliterated as Al-Maqdisi and el-Mukaddasi, was a medieval Arab geographer, author of Ahsan at-Taqasim fi Ma`rifat il-Aqalim .-Biography:Al-Muqaddasi, "the Hierosolomite" was born in Jerusalem in 946 AD...
visited the minaret in 985 when Damascus was under Abbasid control and described it as "recently built." The upper segment was constructed in 1174. This minaret is used by the muezzin
Muezzin
A muezzin , or muzim, is the chosen person at a mosque who leads the call to prayer at Friday services and the five daily times for prayer from one of the mosque's minarets; in most modern mosques, electronic amplification aids the muezzin in his task.The professional muezzin is chosen for his...
for the call to prayer (adhan
Adhan
The adhān is the Islamic call to prayer, recited by the muezzin at prescribed times of the day. The root of the word is meaning "to permit"; another derivative of this word is , meaning "ear"....
) and there is a spiral staircase of 160 stone steps that lead to the muezzins calling position.
The Minaret of the Bride is divided into two sections; the main tower and the spire which are separated by a lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
roof. The oldest part of the minaret, or the main tower, is square in shape, has four galleries, and consists of two different forms of masonry
Masonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...
; the base consists of large blocks, while the upper section is built of dressed stone. There are two light openings near the top of the main tower, before the roof, with horseshoe arches and cubical capitals enclosed in a single arch. A smaller arched corbel is located below these openings. According to local legend, the minaret is named after the daughter of the merchant who provided the lead for the minaret's roof who was married to Syria's ruler at the time. Attached to the Minaret of the Bride is the 18th-century replica of the 14th-century sundial built by Ibn al-Shatir
Ibn al-Shatir
Ala Al-Din Abu'l-Hasan Ali Ibn Ibrahim Ibn al-Shatir was an Arab Muslim astronomer, mathematician, engineer and inventor who worked as muwaqqit at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria.-Astronomy:...
.
The Minaret of Jesus (Madhanat Issa), located on the eastern corner of the mosque complex, is around 77 metres (252.6 ft) in height and the tallest of the three minarets. Some sources claim it was originally built by the Abbasids in the 9th-century, while other sources attribute the original structure to the Umayyads. The main body of the current minaret was built by the Ayyubids in 1247, but the upper section was constructed by the Ottomans. The main body of the minaret is square-shaped and the spire
Spire
A spire is a tapering conical or pyramidal structure on the top of a building, particularly a church tower. Etymologically, the word is derived from the Old English word spir, meaning a sprout, shoot, or stalk of grass....
is octagonal. It tapers to a point and is surmounted by a crescent (as are the other two minarets.) Two covered galleries are situated in the main body and two open galleries are located on the spire. Islamic belief holds that Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
will descend from heaven before the Day of Judgement to confront the Antichrist
Antichrist
The term or title antichrist, in Christian theology, refers to a leader who fulfills Biblical prophecies concerning an adversary of Christ, while resembling him in a deceptive manner...
. According to local Damascene tradition, he will reach earth via the Minaret of Jesus, hence its name. Ibn Kathir
Ibn Kathir
Ismail ibn Kathir was a Muslim muhaddith, Faqih, historian, and commentator.-Biography:His full name was Abu Al-Fida, 'Imad Ad-Din, Isma'il bin 'Umar bin Kathir, Al-Qurashi, Al-Busrawi...
, a a prominent 14th-century Muslim scholar, backed this notion.
The Western Minaret (Madhanat al-Gharbiye) also known as the "Minaret of Qaitbay" was built by Mamluk sultan Qaitbay in 1488 and is named after him. The Western Minaret displays strong Islamic-era Egyptian architectural influence typical of the Mamluk period. The minaret is octagonal in shape and is built in receding sections with three galleries. It is generally believed that both the Minaret of Jesus and the Western Minaret were built on the foundation of Ancient Roman towers (temenos), but some scholars find this to be questionable because of the absence of corner towers in other former Roman temples.
Influence on mosque architecture
The Umayyad Mosque is one of the few early mosques in the world to have maintained the same general structure and architectural features since its initial construction in the early 8th-century and its Umayyad character has not been significantly altered. Since its establishment, the mosque has served as a model for congregational mosque architecture in Syria as well as globally. According to art historian, Finnbar Barry Flood, "the construction of the Damascus mosque not only irrevocably altered the urban landscape of the city, inscribing upon it a permanent affirmation of Muslim hegemony, but by giving the Syrian congregational mosque its definitive form it also transformed the subsequent history of the mosque in general." Examples of the Umayyad Mosque's ground plan being used as a prototype for other mosques in the region include the al-Azhar MosqueAl-Azhar Mosque
Al-Azhar Mosque is a mosque in Islamic Cairo in Egypt. Al-Mu‘izz li-Dīn Allāh of the Fatimid Caliphate commissioned its construction for the newly established capital city in 970. Its name is usually thought to allude to the Islamic prophet Muhammad's daughter Fatimah, a revered figure in Islam...
and Baybars Mosque
Mosque of al-Zahir Baybars
-History:Sultan al-Zahir Baybars al-Bunduqdari was an influential leader and established a strong foundation for the Mamluk rule in Egypt. He was a successful statesman and warrior, united Syria and the Hijaz with Egypt, conquered important lands from Crusdaders, raided Little Armenia, and...
in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, the Great Mosque of Cordoba in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, and the Bursa Grand Mosque
Bursa Grand Mosque
Bursa Grand Mosque or Ulu Camii is a mosque in Bursa, Turkey. Built in the Seljuk style, it was ordered by the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I and edificed between 1396 and 1400. The mosque has 20 domes and 2 minarets.-The Mosque:...
and Selimiye Mosque
Selimiye Mosque
The Selimiye Mosque is an Ottoman mosque in the city of Edirne, Turkey. The mosque was commissioned by Sultan Selim II and was built by architect Mimar Sinan between 1569 and 1575...
in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
.
Religious significance
The Umayyad Mosque holds great significance to Shī‘ah and traditional Sunni Muslims, as this was the destination of the ladies and children of the family of MuhammadAhl al-Bayt
Ahl al-Bayt is an Arabic phrase literally meaning People of the House, or family of the House. The phrase "ahl al-bayt" was used in Arabia before the advent of Islam to refer to one's clan, and would be adopted by the ruling family of a tribe. Within the Islamic tradition, the term refers to the...
, made to walk here from Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, following the battle of Karbalā
Battle of Karbala
The Battle of Karbala took place on Muharram 10, in the year 61 of the Islamic calendar in Karbala, in present day Iraq. On one side of the highly uneven battle were a small group of supporters and relatives of Muhammad's grandson Husain ibn Ali, and on the other was a large military detachment...
. Furthermore it was the place where they were imprisoned for 60 days.
The following are structures found within the Mosque that bear great importance:
- The entrance gate (known as, "Bāb as-Sā‘at") – The door marks the location where the prisoners of Karbalā were made to stand for 72 hours before being brought inside. During this time, Yazīd IYazid IYazīd ibn Mu‘āwiya ibn Abī Sufyān , commonly known as Yazid I, was the second Caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate . He ruled for three years from 680 CE until his death in 683 CE. Many Muslims condemn Yazid's rule as contentious and unjust...
had the town and his palace decorated for their arrival.,
South Wing (main hall):
- Shrine of John the BaptistJohn the BaptistJohn the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
– According. Tafseer Durre Manthur Vol.6, p. 30-31. the Heavens and the Earth wept only for two people: John the BaptistJohn the BaptistJohn the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
and Husayn ibn ‘AlīHusayn ibn AliHussein ibn ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib was the son of ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib and Fātimah Zahrā... - A white pulpit – Marks the place where ‘Alī ibn Husayn addressed the court of Yazīd after being brought from Karbalā
- Raised floor (in front of the pulpit) – Marks the location where all the ladies and children (the household of MuhammadMuhammadMuhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
) were made to stand in the presence of Yazīd - Wooden balcony (directly opposite the raised floor) – Marks the location where Yazīd sat in the court
East Wing:
- A prayer rug and MihrābMihrabA mihrab is semicircular niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the qibla; that is, the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca and hence the direction that Muslims should face when praying...
encased in a glass cubicle – Marks the place where ‘Alī ibn Husayn used to pray while imprisoned in the castle after the Battle of Karbala - A metallic, cuboidal indentation in the wall – Marks the place where the head of HusaynHusayn ibn AliHussein ibn ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib was the son of ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib and Fātimah Zahrā...
(grandson of MuhammadMuhammadMuhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
) was kept for display by Yazīd - A metal cage – Marks the place where all the other heads of those who fell in Karbalā were kept within the Mosque
See also
- Great Mosque of AleppoGreat Mosque of AleppoThe Great Mosque of Aleppo or the Ummayad Mosque of Aleppo is the largest and oldest mosque in the city of Aleppo in northern Syria. The present mosque dates form the 13th century Mamluk period, only the Seljuk minaret of 1090 is older...
- Mezquita de Córdoba
- Islamic architectureIslamic architectureIslamic 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....
- Islamic artIslamic artIslamic art encompasses the visual arts produced from the 7th century onwards by people who lived within the territory that was inhabited by or ruled by culturally Islamic populations...
- List of the oldest mosques in the world
- Timeline of Islamic history
- Holiest sites in Islam