Zaytuna Mosque
Encyclopedia
Al-Zaytuna Mosque, or Ez-Zitouna or Ezzitouna Mosque is a major mosque
in Tunis
, Tunisia
.
The mosque is the oldest in the Capital of Tunisia and covers an area of 5000 square metres (1.2 acre) with nine entrances.
It has 160 authentic columns brought originally from the ruins of the old city of Carthage
. The mosque is known to host one of the first and greatest universities in the history of Islam. Many Muslim
scholars were graduated from the Al-Zaytuna for over a thousand years. From Ibn 'Arafa, one of the greatest scholars of Islam, Imam Maziri, the great traditionalist and jurist to the famous Tunisian poet Aboul-Qacem Echebbi
and countless others all taught there.
and the Maghreb
region after the Mosque of Uqba in Al-Kairouan
. The exact date of building varies according to source. Ibn Khaldun
and Al-Bakri wrote that it was built in 116 Hijri
(731 C.E.
) by Obeid-Allah Ibn Al-Habhab.
A second source states that the Umayyad Hisham Ibn Abdel-Malek ordered the building; however, Ahmed In Abu Diyaf
and Ibn Abi Dinar attributed the order to Hassan Ibnu-Noauman who led the conquest of Tunis and Carthage. Most scholars agreed that the third possibility is the strongest by evidence as it is unlikely that the city of Tunis remained a long time without a mosque, after its conquest in 79 Hijri. Thus the closest date is 84 Hijri (703 C.E), and what Al-Habhab did was in fact enlarge the mosque and improve its architecture.
It was used as a place of prayer by the Muslim conqueror Hassan Ibn an-No'man.
was the early center of learning and intellectual pursuits in Tunisia and North Africa in General. But starting from the 13th century, Tunis became the capital of Ifriqiya
under the Hafisid dynasty.
This shift in power helped al-Zaytuna to flourish and become one of the major centers of Islamic learning, and Ibn Khaldun, the first social historian in history was one of its products.
The flourishing university attracted students and men of learning from all parts of the known world at the time. Along theology
; mainly the Qur'an
, the university taught jurisprudence
, history
, grammar
, science
and medicine
. When it comes to books and libraries, Al-Zaytuna libraries were the richest among North African counterparts. It had several collections totaling in the tens of thousands of books. One of its libraries, al-Abdaliyah included a large collection of rare and unique manuscripts. The manuscripts covered almost all subjects and sciences, including grammar, logic
, documentations, etiquette of research, cosmology
, arithmetic
, geometry
, minerals, vocational training, etc..
Al-Zaytuna mosque followed the design and architecture of previous mosques, mainly the Mosque of Uqba, and was an inspiration for later mosques such as the Great Mosque of Cordoba. The courtyard is accessible via nine lateral doorways and forms a rectangle surrounded by galleries supported by columns made variously of marble
, granite
or porphyry
and which were taken from ancient monuments (primarily from Carthage
), as were those in the prayer hall. The square minaret rises from the northwest corner of the courtyard. Built in 1894, the minaret is 43 metres (141.1 ft) high and imitates the decoration of the Almohad minaret of the Kasbah Mosque
with its limestone strap-work on a background of ochre sandstone.
Presidents Bourguiba and Ben Ali carried out major restoration work and rehabilitation, especially during the 1960s and 1990s.
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
in Tunis
Tunis
Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....
, Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
.
The mosque is the oldest in the Capital of Tunisia and covers an area of 5000 square metres (1.2 acre) with nine entrances.
It has 160 authentic columns brought originally from the ruins of the old city of Carthage
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
. The mosque is known to host one of the first and greatest universities in the history of Islam. Many Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
scholars were graduated from the Al-Zaytuna for over a thousand years. From Ibn 'Arafa, one of the greatest scholars of Islam, Imam Maziri, the great traditionalist and jurist to the famous Tunisian poet Aboul-Qacem Echebbi
Aboul-Qacem Echebbi
Abou-Al-kacem El-chebbi was a Tunisian poet. He is probably best known for writing the final two verses of the current National Anthem of Tunisia, Humat al-Hima , that was written originally by the Egyptian poet Mustafa Sadik el-Rafii.Echebbi was born in Tozeur, Tunisia, on 24 February 1909, the...
and countless others all taught there.
History
Al-Zaytuna was the second mosque to be built in IfriqiyaIfriqiya
In medieval history, Ifriqiya or Ifriqiyah was the area comprising the coastal regions of what are today western Libya, Tunisia, and eastern Algeria. This area included what had been the Roman province of Africa, whose name it inherited....
and the Maghreb
Maghreb
The Maghreb is the region of Northwest Africa, west of Egypt. It includes five countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Mauritania and the disputed territory of Western Sahara...
region after the Mosque of Uqba in Al-Kairouan
Kairouan
Kairouan , also known as Kirwan or al-Qayrawan , is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia. Referred to as the Islamic Cultural Capital, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The city was founded by the Arabs around 670...
. The exact date of building varies according to source. Ibn Khaldun
Ibn Khaldun
Ibn Khaldūn or Ibn Khaldoun was an Arab Tunisian historiographer and historian who is often viewed as one of the forerunners of modern historiography, sociology and economics...
and Al-Bakri wrote that it was built in 116 Hijri
Islamic calendar
The Hijri calendar , also known as the Muslim calendar or Islamic calendar , is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to date events in many Muslim countries , and used by Muslims everywhere to determine the proper day on which to celebrate Islamic...
(731 C.E.
Common Era
Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...
) by Obeid-Allah Ibn Al-Habhab.
A second source states that the Umayyad Hisham Ibn Abdel-Malek ordered the building; however, Ahmed In Abu Diyaf
Ahmad ibn Abi Diyaf
Ahmad ibn Abi Diyaf , known colloquially as Bin Diyaf, was the author of a chronicle of Tunisian history; he was also a long-time and trusted official in the Beylical government of Tunisia...
and Ibn Abi Dinar attributed the order to Hassan Ibnu-Noauman who led the conquest of Tunis and Carthage. Most scholars agreed that the third possibility is the strongest by evidence as it is unlikely that the city of Tunis remained a long time without a mosque, after its conquest in 79 Hijri. Thus the closest date is 84 Hijri (703 C.E), and what Al-Habhab did was in fact enlarge the mosque and improve its architecture.
It was used as a place of prayer by the Muslim conqueror Hassan Ibn an-No'man.
Scholarship and the University
For centuries, Al-QayrawanKairouan
Kairouan , also known as Kirwan or al-Qayrawan , is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia. Referred to as the Islamic Cultural Capital, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The city was founded by the Arabs around 670...
was the early center of learning and intellectual pursuits in Tunisia and North Africa in General. But starting from the 13th century, Tunis became the capital of Ifriqiya
Ifriqiya
In medieval history, Ifriqiya or Ifriqiyah was the area comprising the coastal regions of what are today western Libya, Tunisia, and eastern Algeria. This area included what had been the Roman province of Africa, whose name it inherited....
under the Hafisid dynasty.
This shift in power helped al-Zaytuna to flourish and become one of the major centers of Islamic learning, and Ibn Khaldun, the first social historian in history was one of its products.
The flourishing university attracted students and men of learning from all parts of the known world at the time. Along theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
; mainly the Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
, the university taught jurisprudence
Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...
, history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, grammar
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
, science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
. When it comes to books and libraries, Al-Zaytuna libraries were the richest among North African counterparts. It had several collections totaling in the tens of thousands of books. One of its libraries, al-Abdaliyah included a large collection of rare and unique manuscripts. The manuscripts covered almost all subjects and sciences, including grammar, logic
Logic
In philosophy, Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science...
, documentations, etiquette of research, cosmology
Cosmology
Cosmology is the discipline that deals with the nature of the Universe as a whole. Cosmologists seek to understand the origin, evolution, structure, and ultimate fate of the Universe at large, as well as the natural laws that keep it in order...
, arithmetic
Arithmetic
Arithmetic or arithmetics is the oldest and most elementary branch of mathematics, used by almost everyone, for tasks ranging from simple day-to-day counting to advanced science and business calculations. It involves the study of quantity, especially as the result of combining numbers...
, geometry
Geometry
Geometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers ....
, minerals, vocational training, etc..
Architecture
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
, granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
or porphyry
Porphyry (geology)
Porphyry is a variety of igneous rock consisting of large-grained crystals, such as feldspar or quartz, dispersed in a fine-grained feldspathic matrix or groundmass. The larger crystals are called phenocrysts...
and which were taken from ancient monuments (primarily from Carthage
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
), as were those in the prayer hall. The square minaret rises from the northwest corner of the courtyard. Built in 1894, the minaret is 43 metres (141.1 ft) high and imitates the decoration of the Almohad minaret of the Kasbah Mosque
Kasbah Mosque
Kasbah Mosque is a mosque in Tunis, Tunisia, located in the Medina area of the city. It is a listed Historical Monument. The mosque was built in 1230....
with its limestone strap-work on a background of ochre sandstone.
Presidents Bourguiba and Ben Ali carried out major restoration work and rehabilitation, especially during the 1960s and 1990s.