Mosque of Uqba Bin Nafe at Tunisia

One of the oldest mosques of Arab planet is the Mosque of Uqba bin Nafe, situated in the ancient town of Kairouan in Tunisia. This remarkable monument is considered as the biggest worship location for Muslims in North Africa. It covers an area of 9,000 square meters and UNESCO has also enlisted it as a monument of Planet Heritage. The Mosque of Uqba was constructed in 670 AD by Uqba Bin Nafe who was one of the companions of the prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) and he was also involved in the Muslim victories in this region. He was a military Basic and founder of Kairouan city as a military base.

Image © DeCyner

The mosque was also identified as the well-known institute not only for the Quranic learning but also for the secular studies and attracted a large quantity of pupils. The Mosque of Uqba is a enormous structure of a huge prayer hall, massive courtyard and a massive minaret. This is certainly a excellent example of Islamic architecture of that time.

The circumferential walls of the entire location of the mosque are made of bricks. Even though exterior view of the mosque does not carry the aesthetic attraction as it consists of  a series of rough brick braces fixed for strengthening the outer walls firmly. The purpose could be the cattle preserve on the all sides of the outer walls. Even so the inner portions of the mosques are decorated with basic but impressive Islamic art. The big minaret of the mosque is square shaped and consisting of massive walls and a staircase. Historians believe that the concept for its erection was derived from the Roman lighthouse of Salakta.

The prayer hall of The Mosque of Uqba is an Arabic-kind hypostyle hall in which all the installed columns had been brought from Roman buildings. It is covered with a wide and high ceiling. The courtyard of the mosque is getting six entrances, facing northeast and southwest. The entry to the prayer hall is also from the courtyard, along with two sheltered doorways from the side. The arch is positioned proper in the center of the Qibla wall and it was constructed by Abu Ibrahim Ahmed. Its special marble work is worth seen as most of the tiles were brought from Mesopotamia.

The Uqba Mosque is deemed to be the important architecture in the North African area as it set a new trend for building in this area. It provided the base for evolving the orthodox style of developing in Africa.