Great Mosque of Kairouan

A historic mosque in Kairouan, Tunisia, founded in the seventh century and rebuilt in the ninth. Its architecture and religious institutions helped shape Islamic life in North Africa.

Hypostyle mosque: A mosque whose roof is supported by rows of columns or piers. Its broad prayer hall is organized as a hypostyle space.
Kairouan: A city in central Tunisia founded in the seventh century as an early Islamic center in the Maghreb. The mosque’s history is inseparable from the city established around it.
Maliki school: One of the four major Sunni schools of Islamic jurisprudence, founded on the teachings of Malik ibn Anas. The mosque became a prominent center for Maliki learning in the Maghreb.
Kairouan Mosque mihrab: The decorated prayer niche in the Great Mosque of Kairouan’s qibla wall. Its marble and luster tiles make it one of the mosque’s most distinctive interior features.
Islamic architecture: The architecture of buildings created for Muslim societies and Islamic religious or civic life. The mosque is a major early example whose forms informed later buildings.
Mihrab: A niche in a mosque wall that indicates the direction of prayer. The mosque’s richly decorated mihrab marks the qibla wall.
Uqba ibn Nafi: An Arab commander associated with the seventh-century Muslim conquest of the Maghreb and the founding of Kairouan. Tradition connects the mosque’s first foundation with Kairouan’s founding by Uqba ibn Nafi.
Islamic jurisprudence: The interpretation and development of Islamic legal principles and rulings. Teaching and scholarly activity at the mosque helped sustain legal study in Kairouan.
Kairouan Mosque courtyard: The large open courtyard at the center of the Great Mosque of Kairouan. Its arcades, paving, and rainwater features illustrate the complex’s practical design.
Great Mosque of Córdoba: A major Umayyad mosque in Córdoba, Spain, begun in the eighth century and later converted into a cathedral. Its hypostyle prayer hall offers a western Islamic counterpart to Kairouan’s earlier North African monument.

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