{"id":137479,"date":"2020-02-18T15:54:13","date_gmt":"2020-02-18T15:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/?p=137479"},"modified":"2020-02-18T15:54:17","modified_gmt":"2020-02-18T15:54:17","slug":"a-tale-of-two-almost-forgotten-mosques-in-jeddah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/?p=137479","title":{"rendered":"A tale of two almost forgotten mosques in Jeddah"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Spahic Omer<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u02dcUthman b. \u02dcAffan, 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 countrys cultural heritage, including a great many historic mosques, give cause for optimism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mosque of \u02dcUthman b. \u02dcAffan<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a small mosque in Harah al-Mazlum <\/em>(al-Mazlum<\/em>\nquarter), northward within a stones throw of al-Mimar mosque. It is a very\nhistoric mosque and among the oldest in the city about whose origination there\nis much disagreement. Some people even call it a \u0153blessed mosque\u009d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mosque was mentioned as early as in the 12th<\/sup> century\nby Ibn Jubayr. He described it as a mosque that had two pillars of ebony wood\nmost probably in front of the mihrab<\/em>. Because of those pillars and the\ntype of wood they had been made of, the mosque was known as Masjid al-Abunus<\/em>\n(the Ebony Mosque). Ibn Battutah similarly made reference to it in his 14th<\/sup>\ncentury travels. Yet some residents of Jeddah called the mosque the Zawiyah<\/em>\nof \u02dcUthman b. \u02dcAffan, in all probability owing to the buildings small size and\nthe nature of the religious and other activities conducted therein. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to some rather farfetched reports, the Prophets\ncompanion \u02dcAbdullah b. Abbas (d. 687 CE) used to come to Jeddah in winter, and\nhe also used to perform during Ramadan the religious ritual of itikaf <\/em>(spiritual\nretreat during the last ten days of Ramadan) in this mosque, i.e., in a mosque\nthat might have existed at the same location. The latest time the mosque was\nrebuilt, according to \u02dcAbd al-Quddus al-Ansari, should have been\nbetween the 14th<\/sup> and 16th<\/sup> century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is habitually said about the\nmosque that it was a microcosm of the traditional Hijazi architecture. Today it is undergoing a complete renovation. The job\nseems to have just started. It will take some time before it is completed and\nbefore the mosque reopens its doors to visitors and users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like all traditional mosques in Jeddah, this mosque too is made of\ncoral stone. It is a single story prayer hall. It has an oblong shape, making\nit somewhat longer than wide. It has a wooden roof that rests through the\nmedium of arches on six pillars. The pillars are arranged in three rows\nparallel to the qiblah<\/em>. There are two pillars and three arches in each\nrow. Thus they create four brief arcades. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\npillars are further connected with each other through wooden beams for the firmness and\nstability purposes. Moreover, projecting from or built against the wall are\nbuttresses that are meant to reinforce the wall. Buttresses, generally,\n\u0153counteract side thrust (lateral force), preventing a wall from bulging and\nbuckling by pushing against it, transferring the force to the ground.\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two main entrances, on\nthe southern and northern sides. Since the mosque is built on a mild slope,\nupon entering from the southern side one must descend a few steps in order to\nreach the mosques level. From the opposite northern side, however, upon\nentering one steps directly into the mosque. The mosque has five huge windows\nfitted with dense wooden jali<\/em>. There are three windows on the northern\nand two on the southern side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mosque had an immense minaret.\nHowever, that minaret is non-existent today. What stands today at the\nsouth-western corner is a relatively modern two-tiered minaret. It has no\nbalconies. It only has a few loudspeakers that are randomly placed near the\ntop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The minaret is square. Its shaft\nabruptly ends after rising about six meters above the level of the prayer\nhalls roof, and is then as abruptly and even distastefully topped by a conical\ncap. The square shaft is a framework held principally by eight vertical flank\nsupports, forming in this manner two vertical arched openings on each side. The\nopenings are then filled with precast concrete screens that feature some basic\ngeometric patterns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When all is said and done, the\nminaret appears to be at odds with the mosque proper and with whatever remains\nof traditional mosque and residential architecture in the vicinity. It looks\nunfriendly, so to speak, and out of place \u201c just as all those \u0153uncultured\u009d\nmodern buildings near the mosque do, while increasingly invading the mosques\nspace, scenery, peace and visibility. One gets a feeling that were it not for\nthe latest intervention of the local and central authorities, the mosque might\nyet have been taken over and swallowed up by its escalating next-door\ndevelopments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It goes without saying that\ncreating such a crude and unskilful minaret, where once a huge and certainly\ndelightful minaret had stood as an integral part of a local architectural jewel\nas the mosque of \u02dcUthman b. \u02dcAffan was always known – that attests to peoples\nthoughtlessness insofar as enjoying and respecting tradition are concerned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, conceiving and placing\nsuch a haphazard minaret against the backdrop of such an opulent history and\ntradition personified by the presence and contour of the mosque, bear out that\npeoples architectural vision, direction and culture are yet to be sufficiently\nfine-tuned to cope with the challenges posed by the fading tradition and\ninvading modernity. The minaret reminds of the prevalent tensions between old\nand new and how a marriage of convenience between them is not the ideal path to\nfollow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The mosque of \u02dcUthman b. \u02dcAffan <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Al-Hanafi mosque<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is another very important traditional\nmosque. As per a stone inscription above one of its entrances, the mosque was\nbuilt in 1240 AH (1825 CE). The inscription is in Turkish. Apart from a brief\ndescription of the mosques history, the script also includes some poetry\nlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mosque is situated in Harah al-Sham<\/em> (the Levantine quarter) with its qiblah<\/em> side\nbordering the Dhahab<\/em> Street. The mosque has two main entrances, on the\nsouthern and northern sides. Its additional historical significance lies in the\nfact that King \u02dcAbd al-\u02dcAziz bin Saud used to pray\nin it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nmosque was named al-Hanafi<\/em> presumably in order to commemorate Imam Abu\nHanifah, one of the four Imams of Sunni jurisprudence (fiqh<\/em>), who became\nthe eponymous founder of the Hanafi madhhab<\/em> (school of thought within fiqh<\/em>).\nNeedless to say that the Hanafi madhhab<\/em> was the official madhhab<\/em>\nof the Ottoman Empire. It stands to reason, thenceforth, that the rationale\nbehind the naming of the mosque was similar to the one behind the naming of\nal-Shafii mosque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, what could be gathered from the mosques 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pillars are of stone, plastered and whitewashed. They form a series of arcades that run parallel to the qiblah<\/em> wall. The pillars are further reinforced by a grid of wooden beams; while the main walls additional strengthening is through a number of enormous buttresses. In the past, there were shops adjacent to the mosque. They were part of the mosques endowment strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The middle bay of the second arcade, parallel to the qiblah<\/em> wall\nand just behind the bay in front of the minbar<\/em> and mihrab<\/em> area,\nis covered by a wooden dome. In terms of its appearance, size, function and\nposition, the dome resembles those in al-Shafii and al-Mimar mosques. It likewise has an octagonal drum that is pierced with 24 windows,\nthree windows for every side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover,\nthe entrances are simple arched portals topped by trefoil arches. This is a\nblueprint that was partially imported from the language of the architecture of\nal-Shafii mosque. The same rather decorative type of the arch is found above\nsome window frames and the mihrab<\/em> as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nmosque furthermore features a wooden mukabbiriyyah<\/em> (a platform for muadhdhin<\/em>\nor caller to prayers). In the middle of the fifth arcade, it is raised to a\nheight of about 2.5 meters. It is an independent component inside the prayer\nhall, resting on four slender pillars. One can climb to it via a flight of\nspiralling wooden stairs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nfollows that the mukabbiriyyah<\/em>, the dome, and the central qiblah<\/em>\nzone that includes an arched and deeply recessed mihrab<\/em> together with a\nrecessed minbar<\/em> and its protruding platform, establish the prayer halls\ncentral axis along which everything else has been planned and arranged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nmosque has a single pencil-shaped minaret at its south-western corner. It is\nslender, tall and made-of-stone, bearing all the hallmarks of the Ottoman\nminarets. It is one of the tallest minarets in the city. It is octagonal and\nhas two balconies supported by exquisite muqarnas<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At\nregular intervals, the minarets shaft is slightly perforated for the purposes\nof lighting and ventilating the interior which contains long spiralling stairs.\nThe stairs swirl around a central pier. While rising throughout the height of the shaft, the pier provides a central\nstability around which the structural distribution of the minaret was\nsupported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historically, the mosque is said to have been a true religious, social and educational hub. It was peoples, 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.***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Al-Hanafi mosque <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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