By Spahic Omer
The following is a brief description of two important and at the same time very beautiful historic mosques in Jeddah. The mosques are: the mosque of ‘Uthman b. ‘Affan, and al-Hanafi mosque. In the course of the rapid and ubiquitous modernisation of the city, the two mosques and their stories were greatly neglected. However, the recent national developments, which aim to revive and restore the country’s cultural heritage, including a great many historic mosques, give cause for optimism.
The mosque of ‘Uthman b. ‘Affan
This is a small mosque in Harah al-Mazlum (al-Mazlum quarter), northward within a stone’s throw of al-Mi’mar mosque. It is a very historic mosque and among the oldest in the city about whose origination there is much disagreement. Some people even call it a “blessed mosque”.
The mosque was mentioned as early as in the 12th century by Ibn Jubayr. He described it as a mosque that had two pillars of ebony wood most probably in front of the mihrab. Because of those pillars and the type of wood they had been made of, the mosque was known as Masjid al-Abunus (the Ebony Mosque). Ibn Battutah similarly made reference to it in his 14th century travels. Yet some residents of Jeddah called the mosque the Zawiyah of ‘Uthman b. ‘Affan, in all probability owing to the building’s small size and the nature of the religious and other activities conducted therein.
According to some rather farfetched reports, the Prophet’s companion ‘Abdullah b. Abbas (d. 687 CE) used to come to Jeddah in winter, and he also used to perform during Ramadan the religious ritual of i’tikaf (spiritual retreat during the last ten days of Ramadan) in this mosque, i.e., in a mosque that might have existed at the same location. The latest time the mosque was rebuilt, according to ‘Abd al-Quddus al-Ansari, should have been between the 14th and 16th century.
It is habitually said about the mosque that it was a microcosm of the traditional Hijazi architecture. Today it is undergoing a complete renovation. The job seems to have just started. It will take some time before it is completed and before the mosque reopens its doors to visitors and users.
Like all traditional mosques in Jeddah, this mosque too is made of coral stone. It is a single story prayer hall. It has an oblong shape, making it somewhat longer than wide. It has a wooden roof that rests through the medium of arches on six pillars. The pillars are arranged in three rows parallel to the qiblah. There are two pillars and three arches in each row. Thus they create four brief arcades.
The pillars are further connected with each other through wooden beams for the firmness and stability purposes. Moreover, projecting from or built against the wall are buttresses that are meant to reinforce the wall. Buttresses, generally, “counteract side thrust (lateral force), preventing a wall from bulging and buckling by pushing against it, transferring the force to the ground.”
There are two main entrances, on the southern and northern sides. Since the mosque is built on a mild slope, upon entering from the southern side one must descend a few steps in order to reach the mosque’s level. From the opposite northern side, however, upon entering one steps directly into the mosque. The mosque has five huge windows fitted with dense wooden jali. There are three windows on the northern and two on the southern side.
The mosque had an immense minaret. However, that minaret is non-existent today. What stands today at the south-western corner is a relatively modern two-tiered minaret. It has no balconies. It only has a few loudspeakers that are randomly placed near the top.
The minaret is square. Its shaft abruptly ends after rising about six meters above the level of the prayer hall’s roof, and is then as abruptly and even distastefully topped by a conical cap. The square shaft is a framework held principally by eight vertical flank supports, forming in this manner two vertical arched openings on each side. The openings are then filled with precast concrete screens that feature some basic geometric patterns.
When all is said and done, the minaret appears to be at odds with the mosque proper and with whatever remains of traditional mosque and residential architecture in the vicinity. It looks unfriendly, so to speak, and out of place – just as all those “uncultured” modern buildings near the mosque do, while increasingly invading the mosque’s space, scenery, peace and visibility. One gets a feeling that were it not for the latest intervention of the local and central authorities, the mosque might yet have been taken over and swallowed up by its escalating next-door developments.
It goes without saying that creating such a crude and unskilful minaret, where once a huge and certainly delightful minaret had stood as an integral part of a local architectural jewel as the mosque of ‘Uthman b. ‘Affan was always known – that attests to people’s thoughtlessness insofar as enjoying and respecting tradition are concerned.
In addition, conceiving and placing such a haphazard minaret against the backdrop of such an opulent history and tradition personified by the presence and contour of the mosque, bear out that people’s architectural vision, direction and culture are yet to be sufficiently fine-tuned to cope with the challenges posed by the fading tradition and invading modernity. The minaret reminds of the prevalent tensions between old and new and how a marriage of convenience between them is not the ideal path to follow.
The mosque of ‘Uthman b. ‘Affan
Al-Hanafi mosque
This is another very important traditional mosque. As per a stone inscription above one of its entrances, the mosque was built in 1240 AH (1825 CE). The inscription is in Turkish. Apart from a brief description of the mosque’s history, the script also includes some poetry lines.
The mosque is situated in Harah al-Sham (the Levantine quarter) with its qiblah side bordering the Dhahab Street. The mosque has two main entrances, on the southern and northern sides. Its additional historical significance lies in the fact that King ‘Abd al-‘Aziz bin Sa’ud used to pray in it.
The mosque was named al-Hanafi presumably in order to commemorate Imam Abu Hanifah, one of the four Imams of Sunni jurisprudence (fiqh), who became the eponymous founder of the Hanafi madhhab (school of thought within fiqh). Needless to say that the Hanafi madhhab was the official madhhab of the Ottoman Empire. It stands to reason, thenceforth, that the rationale behind the naming of the mosque was similar to the one behind the naming of al-Shafi’i mosque.
At the moment the mosque is subjected to serious renovation works. The undertaking is part of a massive national Programme for the Reconstruction of Historical Mosques, which has been adopted by the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage in partnership with the Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Aturath Charitable Foundation.
As of 2018, the Programme has identified more than 1140 historical mosques in Saudi Arabia, restored and rehabilitated 80 historical mosques, identified a priority list of 130 historical mosques targeted in different Saudi Arabian regions, in addition to the implementation of the Architectural and Historical Documentation Project (Atlas of Historic Mosques).
However, what could be gathered from the mosque’s exterior as well as secondary sources shows that the mosque is an archetypal example of the traditional Hijazi mosque architecture inspired and directed by the Ottoman standards. The mosque was built from the local coral stone. It is a rectangular structure in terms of its plan. It has a wooden roof that is supported by a series of octagonal pillars with the intermediary of semi-circular or round arches.
The pillars are of stone, plastered and whitewashed. They form a series of arcades that run parallel to the qiblah wall. The pillars are further reinforced by a grid of wooden beams; while the main wall’s additional strengthening is through a number of enormous buttresses. In the past, there were shops adjacent to the mosque. They were part of the mosque’s endowment strategy.
The middle bay of the second arcade, parallel to the qiblah wall and just behind the bay in front of the minbar and mihrab area, is covered by a wooden dome. In terms of its appearance, size, function and position, the dome resembles those in al-Shafi’i and al-Mi’mar mosques. It likewise has an octagonal drum that is pierced with 24 windows, three windows for every side.
Moreover, the entrances are simple arched portals topped by trefoil arches. This is a blueprint that was partially imported from the language of the architecture of al-Shafi’i mosque. The same rather decorative type of the arch is found above some window frames and the mihrab as well.
The mosque furthermore features a wooden mukabbiriyyah (a platform for mu’adhdhin or caller to prayers). In the middle of the fifth arcade, it is raised to a height of about 2.5 meters. It is an independent component inside the prayer hall, resting on four slender pillars. One can climb to it via a flight of spiralling wooden stairs.
It follows that the mukabbiriyyah, the dome, and the central qiblah zone that includes an arched and deeply recessed mihrab together with a recessed minbar and its protruding platform, establish the prayer hall’s central axis along which everything else has been planned and arranged.
The mosque has a single pencil-shaped minaret at its south-western corner. It is slender, tall and made-of-stone, bearing all the hallmarks of the Ottoman minarets. It is one of the tallest minarets in the city. It is octagonal and has two balconies supported by exquisite muqarnas.
At regular intervals, the minaret’s shaft is slightly perforated for the purposes of lighting and ventilating the interior which contains long spiralling stairs. The stairs swirl around a central pier. While rising throughout the height of the shaft, the pier provides a central stability around which the structural distribution of the minaret was supported.
Historically, the mosque is said to have been a true religious, social and educational hub. It was people’s, as it were, mosque. The spiritual aura that it was able to generate, above all during some special occasions such as on Fridays and during the holy month of Ramadan, was exceptional. It is hoped that those days are not permanently over and that similar spectacles in some form or other are forthcoming.***
Al-Hanafi mosque