THE GREAT UMMAYAD MOSQUE DAMASCUS SYRIA

Witness January 09, 2022

THE GREAT UMMAYAD MOSQUE DAMASCUS SYRIA

ISLAMIC HISTORY
THE UNFORGETTABLE...

The Umayyad Mosque, also known as the Great Mosque of Damascus, located in the old city of Damascus, is one of the largest and oldest mosques in the world.

The Great Umayyad Mosque originally built by the first imperial Islamic dynasty, The Umayyad Dynasty

The mosque is also important in Islam because of its historical and eschatological reports and events associated with the mosque.

Great Mosque of Damascus, also called Umayyad Mosque, the earliest surviving stone mosque, built between 705 and 715 CE by the Umayyad Caliph al-Walīd I, who proclaimed to his citizens:

“People of Damascus, four things give you a marked superiority over the rest of the world: your climate, your water, your fruits, and your baths. To these I add a fifth: this mosque.”

Outside The Mosque on The Northern side Adjacent to the mosque is the tomb of one of the most illustrious Muslim leaders, The Great Muslim General Salahudin Al Ayyubi, who recaptured Jerusalem from the Crusaders.

The mosque occupies a huge quadrangle 515 by 330 feet (157 by 100 metres) and contains a large open courtyard surrounded by an arcade of arches supported by slender columns.

The liwan, or hall of worship, running the length of the south side of the mosque, is divided into three long aisles by rows of columns and arches.

A transept with a central octagonal dome, originally wooden, cuts across the aisles at their midpoint.

The marble grilles that cover the windows in the south wall are the earliest example of geometric interlace in Islamic architecture.

The walls of the mosque were once covered with more than an acre of mosaics depicting a fanciful landscape thought to be the Qur'anic paradise, but only fragments survive.

The mosque was destroyed by Timur in 1401, rebuilt by the Arabs, and damaged by fire in 1893.

Although it could not be restored to its original splendour, the mosque is still an impressive architectural monument

The Great Umayyad Mosque currently situated within a UNESCO World Heritage Site, stood yet again as a battlefield during the recent Syrian War, but this time, lost its most significant and resilient element, an 11th-century Seljuk Minaret.