Al-Muhdar Mosque ( ar, مَسْجِد ٱلْمُحْضَار, Masjid Al-Muḥḍār) or Al-Mihdar Mosque ( ar, مَسْجِد ٱلْمِحْضَار, Masjid Al-Miḥḍār) is one of the historical
mosque
A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...
s in the ancient city of
Tarim, in the
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
i
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
of
Hadramaut
Hadhramaut ( ar, حَضْرَمَوْتُ \ حَضْرَمُوتُ, Ḥaḍramawt / Ḥaḍramūt; Hadramautic: 𐩢𐩳𐩧𐩣𐩩, ''Ḥḍrmt'') is a region in South Arabia, comprising eastern Yemen, parts of western Oman and southern Saud ...
. It is attributed to Omar Al-Mihdar bin Abdul-Rahman Al-Saqqaf ( ar, عُمَر ٱلْمِحْضَار بِن عَبْد ٱلرَّحْمَٰن ٱلسَّقَّاف, ʿUmar al-Miḥḍār bin ʿAbd Ar-Raḥmān As-Saqqāf), a
Muslim leader who lived in the city during the 15th-century.
Architecture
The building is characterized by
Islamic geometric design. Its layout consists of an open courtyard surrounded by four corridors, the biggest of which contains the
qibla
The qibla ( ar, قِبْلَة, links=no, lit=direction, translit=qiblah) is the direction towards the Kaaba in the Sacred Mosque in Mecca, which is used by Muslims in various religious contexts, particularly the direction of prayer for the ...
h, which is adorned with three exquisite frescoes decorated with geometric, floral and scriptural motifs. In the center of the qibla corridor, there is the iconic
minaret, which at about high is the highest
mudbrick structure on Earth. It is square-shaped and there is a staircase reaching to the top inside. It was built around 1914
CE (1333
AH), and is built of
adobe. This minaret was designed by the architect 'Awad Salman 'Afif al-Tarimi ( ar, عَوَض سَلْمَان عَفِيْف ٱلتَّرِيْمِي, ʿAwaḍ Salmān ʿAfīf At-Tarīmī), who had already carried out many designs and constructions of clay lattices and domes, and the maintenance and supervision were conducted by Abu Bakr bin Shihab (d. 1345 AH). It is considered one of the most important architectural sites and destinations for visitors and researchers of the city of Tarim.
Al-Ahqaf Library
Al-Ahqaf Library occupies the ground floor of the mosque building, which was built to accommodate the need to store the large number of manuscripts in the city of Tarim and neighboring cities. Tarim has been considered a distinguished
Islamic scientific center since the 10th-century in Wadi Hadramaut region.
See also
*
List of mosques in Yemen
This is a list of mosques in the Republic of Yemen, in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula.
See also
* List of mosques in Sana'a
* Islam in Yemen
* Lists of mosques
Lists of mosques cover mosques, places of worship for Muslims. Th ...
References
External links
Archnet.org: Masjid al-MihdharMCID: Al-Muhdhar Mosque
Buildings and structures completed in 1914
Mosques completed in 1914
Mosques in Yemen
{{Yemen-mosque-stub