Siksik Mosque (; ) is a

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

in the Old City of

Jaffa Jaffa (, ; , ), also called Japho, Joppa or Joppe in English, is an ancient Levantine Sea, Levantine port city which is part of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

History and Construction

Siksik Mosque was constructed in the 1880s by the prominent Jaffa's Siksik family.

Mahmoud Yazbak Mahmoud Yazbak (, ) is an Israeli Arab academic. He is the first Arab elected as President of the Middle East & Islamic Studies Association of Israel, (MEISAI), the main scholarly association of researchers on the Middle East and Islam in Israel. ...

names Hajj Abd alQadir al-Siksik as the principal founder of the mosque. It was built on the land of Siksik family’s orchard on the Jaffa Jerusalem road. It is the second mosque, constructed outside the city walls. The mosque stopped being used for worship in 1919. In 1948, the mosque's courtyard and part of the prayer hall were transformed into a café, and it was finally confiscated in 1965. The building also hosted a factory for the manufacture of plastic tools, while the second floor became a club for Bulgarian Jews. In 2009, however, the mosque was renovated and is now once again a functioning place of worship.

Description

Siksik Mosque's Sebil

The mosque has a public fountain (

sebil A sabil or sebil (; ) is a small kiosk in the Islamic architectural tradition where water is freely dispensed to members of the public by an attendant behind a grilled window. The term is sometimes also used to refer to simple unmanned fountain ...

), which has the same name. It is built in the same style as Mahmudi fountain of nearby Mahmoudiya Mosque. The fountain building is decorated with a double-pointed arch. The upper part of the front wall is divided into six fields by bands. All those fields are empty. The slab with the inscription was attached by iron hooks to the middle top field. The lower part of the fountain wall has three decorative arches at the bottom of each tap, from which the water flows. The slab with an inscription, sized 120 to 100 cm, is attached to the top middle front wall of the fountain. It has five lines, divided by bands. There is a

tughra A tughra (; ) is a calligraphy, calligraphic monogram, Seal (emblem), seal or signature of a sultan that was affixed to all official documents and correspondence. Inspired by the Tamga, tamgha, it was also carved on his seal and stamped on the co ...

of the sultan

Abdul Hamid II Abdulhamid II or Abdul Hamid II (; ; 21 September 184210 February 1918) was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1876 to 1909, and the last sultan to exert effective control over the fracturing state. He oversaw a Decline and modernizati ...

above the inscription.

References

{{Mosques in Israel Arab Israeli culture in Tel Aviv Mosques in Tel Aviv Jaffa TelAvivYafo SiksikMosque 19th-century mosques in Israel Mosques completed in the 1880s Religious buildings and structures completed in 1883 Mosque buildings with domes in Israel Mosque buildings with minarets in Israel