Kairouan Mosque.. The oldest surviving mihrabs and minarets in the world

Arabiaweather.com - Ismail Qasimi - The city of Kairouan is one of the most important tourist cities that you should visit in Tunisia , and it is one of the most important historical Islamic cities that you can visit around the world. Kairouan is the first Islamic city in North Africa and the fourth city built by the Arab conquerors after Kufa and Basra in Iraq and Fustat in Egypt.

In the city of Kairouan, which was founded by the great companion Uqba bin Nafi, there are many historical monuments, the most important of which is without a doubt the Kairouan Mosque , which was founded by the conqueror Uqba bin Nafi in the year 670 AD as the first mosque in the Maghreb , and this great edifice still exists today as one of the oldest mosques in the world.

The construction of the Kairouan Mosque took five full years to complete the entire construction process in the year 675 AD, and despite the many renovations that affected the mosque, the renovators among the governors and princes were keen to preserve its original form, especially the mihrab, which was always defended by the jurists. And the construction of a new mihrab for the mosque, so the mihrab of Uqba bin Nafeh remained the oldest existing mihrab until today.

The mosque witnessed many additions and expansions after that, to preserve today its standards that it had during the era of the Aghlabid state, where the length of the qibla wall is 72 meters, while the depth of the qibla canopy reaches 36 meters, divided into 7 corridors parallel to the qibla wall, and there are 8 doors, the most prominent of which are " A gate to God is a gate, which is surmounted by a dome.

The mosque is similar in its construction to war fortresses in terms of its thick, high walls, and through the minaret or "silo" that resembles the fortified towers of war. It is a minaret built between the years 105 and 109 AH by Bishr bin Safwan and is considered the oldest remaining Islamic minarets intact to this day.