Publication Date
63 BC. M. - 1917 AD
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Record ID
monument;ISL;pa;Mon01;13;ar
Library Location
It is located near the southwestern corner of the Old City, Hebron, Palestine
Date
63 BC. M. - 1917 AD
Notes
The Abrahamic Mosque is attributed to the father of the prophets, Abraham. It is considered the fourth Islamic holy place, and the second holy place in Palestine after the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Ibrahimi Mosque consists of a large building with a rectangular layout, with an area of about 60 m x 34 m. The building is surrounded from the outside by huge walls built of large polished stones, some of which are more than 7 m long, approximately 1.5 m high, and sometimes more than 2.5 m thick. The building includes two minarets dating back to the Mamluk era, each of which is about 15 meters high from the roof of the building. The first minaret stands on the southeast corner, and the second on the northwest corner. The building has more than one entrance, the most famous of which is the northern entrance. Inside the building, it includes a mosque, an open courtyard, corridors, rooms, corridors, domes, and a ground vault known as “the cave,” in addition to a group of graves belonging to the prophets Abraham and Jacob and their wives. The main prayer hall in the Ibrahimi Mosque has a rectangular plan, and its dimensions are 28 m x 21 m. It consists of three aisles, the middle of which is the highest and the largest. This is the layout of a church originally built by the Franks in the Romanesque/Gothic style after their destruction of the mosque in the year 492 / AD 1099. When Saladin al-Ayyubid regained the city of Hebron in the year 583 / AD 1187, he converted the church building into a mosque and added to it the current mihrab, without making any fundamental change. As for the wooden pulpit that stands today to the right of the mihrab, it dates back to the Fatimid period. Badr al-Jamali ordered its construction in the year 484 / AD 1092, and it was later brought by Saladin from Ashkelon to the Ibrahimi Mosque. This pulpit is considered one of the oldest Islamic wooden pulpits that are still in use. It is in good condition and is considered a miracle of precision and beauty. The walls of the prayer hall are covered with colored marble, and it is one of the works carried out in AH 733 / AD 1332 by Amirtanks. In the northern wall of the prayer hall, where the opening of the Noble Cave is located, there is the Dikkah al-Muml, which was built in 732 / 1331 and consists of marble columns and capitals bearing marble panels. The Mamluk-style memorial graves in the building date back to the Mamluk era. It demonstrates the precision of construction and the beauty of the ironwork representing Mamluk art. To the north of the mosque is an open courtyard surrounded by corridors and rooms, and in its northwestern corner is the Malikiyah Chapel, which is a rectangular iwan in whose southern wall there is a beautiful mihrab that Sultan Barquq ordered to be built. There is a corridor extending along the western wall of the mosque, which is known today as the Women’s Mosque, and was added by Prince Shihab al-Din al-Yaghmuri in the year 796 / 1393-1394. Among the landmarks of the Ibrahimi Mosque is the al-Jawli Mosque, which is difficult to separate from the Ibrahimi Mosque, and its walls cannot be seen from the outside. Its western wall is the same as the eastern wall of Hayr (fort) of the Sanctuary, and its eastern wall is cut into the rock and cannot be viewed from the outside. The same applies to the northern and front walls, which were cut into the rock. This mosque was built in 720 / 1320 by Prince Alam al-Din Sanjar al-Jawli. The mosque consists of three corridors arched with intersecting arches carried on huge stone supports. In the middle of the mosque is a graceful stone dome. At its corners are muqarnas, and at its neck is a series of windows. On the direction of the Qibla, there is a mihrab carved into the rock, covered with colored marble and provided with a beautiful cover decorated with colored marble as well. The mosque rises in the form of a mastaba from the corridor leading to the Ibrahimi Mosque, because it was cut into the rock, especially from the eastern side. The northern part of the mosque was raised slightly from the floor of the mosque, for the purpose of separating the part designated for women from the rest of the mosque.
Sample Text
Yusuf al-Natsheh “The Ibrahimi Mosque” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;pa;Mon01;13;ar
