The

Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty ( ar, الأيوبيون '; ) was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish origin, Saladin ...

Mosque of Omar ( ar, مسجد عمر بن الخطاب) is an

Islamic Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ma ...

place of worship inside the

Old City Old City often refers to old town, the historic or original core of a city or town. Old City may refer to several places: Historical cities or regions of cities ''(by country)'' *Old City (Baku), Azerbaijan * Old City (Dhaka), Bangladesh, also ca ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. It is located opposite the southern courtyard of the

Church of the Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, hy, Սուրբ Հարության տաճար, la, Ecclesia Sancti Sepulchri, am, የቅዱስ መቃብር ቤተክርስቲያን, he, כנסיית הקבר, ar, كنيسة القيامة is a church i ...

, in the

Muristan The Muristan ( he, מוריסטן, ar, مورستان) is a complex of streets and shops in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. The site was the location of the first Bimaristan (from Persian ''Bimārestān'' بیمارستان ...

area of the

Christian Quarter The Christian Quarter ( ar, حارة النصارى, ''Ḥārat al-Naṣārā''; he, הרובע הנוצרי, ''Ha-Rova ha-Notsri'') is one of the four quarters of the walled Old City of Jerusalem, the other three being the Jewish Quarter, ...

. The mosque is not open to tourists, and can be accessed only for praying.

History

According to local tradition, after the Siege of Jerusalem in 637 by the

Rashidun army The Rashidun army () was the core of the Rashidun Caliphate's armed forces during the early Muslim conquests in the 7th century. The army is reported to have maintained a high level of discipline, strategic prowess and organization, granti ...

under the command of

Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah ʿĀmir ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Jarrāḥ ( ar, عامر بن عبدالله بن الجراح; 583–639 CE), better known as Abū ʿUbayda ( ar, أبو عبيدة ) was a Muslim commander and one of the Companions of the Islamic prophet ...

, Patriarch Sophronius refused to surrender except to the Caliph Omar (579-644) himself. Omar travelled to Jerusalem and accepted the surrender. He then approached the

and Patriarch Sophronius invited the Caliph to pray inside the church, but Omar declined so as not to set a precedent and thereby endanger the church's status as a Christian site. Instead he prayed outside, on the steps east of the church. The Mosque of Omar was later built at that site, as evidenced by a stone plate with a

Kufic Kufic script () is a style of Arabic script that gained prominence early on as a preferred script for Quran transcription and architectural decoration, and it has since become a reference and an archetype for a number of other Arabic scripts. It ...

inscription found in 1897 in the area of the eastern or outer atrium of the Constantinian (4th-century) Church of the Holy Sepulchre, defining this area as a mosque. The current structure was built in its current shape by the Ayyubid Sultan

Al-Afdal ibn Salah ad-Din Al-Afdal ibn Salah ad-Din ( ar, الأفضل بن صلاح الدين, "most superior"; c. 1169 – 1225, generally known as Al-Afdal (), was one of seventeen sons of Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and thus of Kurdish descent. He succeeded ...

in 1193 to commemorate the prayer of the caliph Omar.

Architecture

The current structure was built in its current shape by the Ayyubid Sultan

in 1193 to commemorate the prayer of the caliph Omar. The entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre had by then moved from the east to the south of the church, as a result of repeated destructive events that affected the Holy Sepulchre and Muslim mosques during the 11th and 12th centuries. The current building of the mosque has a high

minaret A minaret (; ar, منارة, translit=manāra, or ar, مِئْذَنة, translit=miʾḏana, links=no; tr, minare; fa, گل‌دسته, translit=goldaste) is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generall ...

that was built sometime before 1465 during the Mamluk period, maybe after the 1458 earthquake, and was renovated by Ottoman sultan

Abdulmecid I Abdulmejid I ( ota, عبد المجيد اول, ʿAbdü'l-Mecîd-i evvel, tr, I. Abdülmecid; 25 April 182325 June 1861) was the 31st Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and succeeded his father Mahmud II on 2 July 1839. His reign was notable for the r ...

(r. 1839–1860). The

Al-Khanqah al-Salahiyya Mosque The Al-Khanqah al-Salahiyya Mosque ( ar, مسجد الخانقاه الصلاحية ) is an Islamic place of worship located in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, north of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It was named after Sala ...

, located on the other (northern) side of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, has an almost identical minaret, erected in 1418.El Khanqah-Moschee in Jerusalem
(German text and pictures at theologische-links.de)

Gallery

Image:Modern_jerusalem_1915.jpg, In this 1915 map, the Mosque appears south of the Holy Sepulchre in

, near the vertical middle of the map. File:Mosque of Omar in Jerusalem.jpg, The Mosque has been reserved for religious activities File:Mosque of Omar, Jerusalem1.jpg, Minaret

History

Architecture

Gallery

References

Further reading