Al Jame'e Al Kabeer | Qirawan

Building Analysis  -  Al Jame'e Al Kabeer | Qirawan 

The foundation of the great mosque of Kairouan goes back to ʿUqbah ibn Nāfiʿ, a Companion of the Prophet and the conqueror of North Africa, and it is therefore one of the oldest mosques in existence and the first of all the mosques in the Maghrib, the Muslim West. 

Several times rebuilt, its present form is no earlier than 836 A.D., but the very sobriety of its style, linked to a masterly use of space, is evocative of the first lightning expan sion of Islam. The very extensive prayer-hall, with a flat roof supported by arcades, opens out on to a vast courtyard as if to welcome an entire host of fighters for the faith.

This courtyard extends lengthwise along the axis of the miḥrāb, and this axis is strongly emphasized on one side by the central nave of the oratory, which is constructed at a higher level and adorned with a dome at each end, and on the other side by the imposing minaret, a kind of three-stepped donjon, which is perhaps the most ancient of all surviving minarets.

The arcades of the prayer-hall are arrayed in depth and not parallel to the wall of the qiblah as they are in the Umayyad mosque of Damascus. But their progress is interrupted at various points by arcades which cut frontally across them.

 How ever, one span which is broader than the others along the wall of the qiblah comes together with the central nave in the shape of a letter T, and this was to be typical of mosques of this family, and answers, moreover, to the requirements of the liturgy.

Seen from above, an assembly of worshippers at prayer in an open space has the shape of a  bird with outspread wings; the bird’s head is the imām who leads the prayers; and the first ranks behind him, which extend most broadly—there being a certain merit in praying directly behind the imām—are the quill-feathers of its wings, whose contours then retract gradually in the direction of the tail formed by the late arrivals, who group themselves along the axis of the miḥrāb.  This shape fits easily into the plan of the oratory.

 Kairouan is situated in a great plain, and the vast courtyard of the mosque reflects the natural surroundings. The oratory’s flat roofs and the porticos surrounding the courtyard, as well as the domes and the heavy enclosing walls, are whitened with lime, and this itself, although it is only on the surface and is not very durable, does contribute greatly to the appearance of the sanctuary which the white light falling from the sky envelops with a peace that is both sepulchral and serene.

Inside the mosque, the whiteness of the walls is made mellow by the spreading of honey- colored mats. Large, conically-tiered chandeliers are hung between the arcades. These are reminiscent of the Umayyad Mosque of Damascus and, beyond that, of Byzantine architecture, but already suggest typical Maghribī art, far removed from Rome in their supple outlines.

The Mihrab of the great Mosque of Kairouan is one of the most ancient known. It dates from 862-863 A.D. and has the shape of a perfectly concave niche, flanked by two columns, which support a projecting arch. This arch and the surrounding wall are liberally adorned in ceramic tiles embellished with metallic glaze.

The walls of the niche are covered with sculptured marble panels forming a trellis beyond which the presence of the background wall can be felt; for pilgrims visiting this famous mosque, this decoration onceals the original miḥrāb before which ʿUqbah ibn Nāfiʿ, the venerated Companion of the Prophet, used to pray.