Jawatha Mosque ( ar, مَسْجِد جَوَاثَا, Masjid Jawāthā), also incorrectly spelled ''Al-Jawan'', is located in the Jawāthā, about northeast of

Hofuf Al-Hofuf ( ar, ٱلْهُفُوف ', also spelled Hofuf or Hufuf, also known as "Al-Hasa", "Al-Ahsa" or "Al-Hassa") is the major urban city in the Al-Ahsa Oasis in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, with a population of 858,395 (as of 202 ...

, Al-Ahsa,

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the Ara ...

. It was the earliest known mosque built in

eastern Arabia Eastern Arabia, historically known as al-Baḥrayn ( ar, البحرين) until the 18th century, is a region stretched from Basra to Khasab along the Persian Gulf coast and included parts of modern-day Bahrain, Kuwait, Eastern Saudi Arabia, Unite ...

, and most of the original structure is in ruins. Nevertheless, the site is still used for

prayer Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deifie ...

Construction

Sources give the date of the mosque's original construction as either 628 CE (7 AH) or 635-636 CE. It was built at the hands of the Bani Abd al-Qays tribe, which lived there before and during the early Islamic period. This mosque is believed to be the first mosque built in Eastern Province and where the second Friday congregation prayer in Islam was offered, the first being held in the

Prophet's Mosque Al-Masjid an-Nabawi (), known in English as the Prophet's Mosque, is a mosque built by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the city of Medina in the Al Madinah Province of Saudi Arabia. It was the second mosque built by Muhammad in Medina, after Qub ...

Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...

. According to legend, when the Hajr Al-Aswad (Black Stone) was stolen from

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow v ...

by the

Qarmatians The Qarmatians ( ar, قرامطة, Qarāmiṭa; ) were a militant Isma'ili Shia movement centred in al-Hasa in Eastern Arabia, where they established a religious-utopian socialist state in 899 CE. Its members were part of a movement that ...

, it was kept in this mosque for nearly 22 years. Most of the mosque's original structure has been lost and it remains in danger of collapse. Only a small number of its arches from the historic mosque today, probably dating from around the 9th century AD. These remains include two pointed keel arches from one arcade of the mosque and a part of 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 ...

'' wall consisting of three keel-arch niches. The central niche of the ''qibla'' wall is larger than the other two and acts as the mihrab, which projects from the outer side of the wall. In modern times, sometime before 1983, these remains were cleared of sand and enclosed by a structure of concrete walls and covered with a protective roof, which remains today.

References

7th-century mosques Mosques in Saudi Arabia History of Saudi Arabia Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia Mosques completed in 629 {{SaudiArabia-mosque-stub

Construction

See also

References