It is assumed that the original mosque at Kufa was built by
Chaliph Omar when he established the city around 16 AH. However,
in 686 AD or 67 AH during the second Islamic Civil war, the city
of Kufa sided with Ibn Zubayr against Damascus, choosing Ibn
Zubayr's qibla of Mecca in Saudi Arabia as their Qibla: When
the armies of Kufa met ibn Zubayr, Bujayr ibn 'Abdallah al Musli
spoke: Praise be to God who has tested us with shackles and has
tested you by your forgiving us. Ibn Zubayr, we are people who
turn to the same Qibla as you. (Tabari 21:112)
Some believe that the mosque plan was made by Ziyad ibn Abihi
around 50 AH but some place its reconstruction later, after the
end of the Second Civil War (131 AH); based on the lack of manpower
and political will due to the intense fighting and reccocuring
famine. The new mosque faced Mecca in Saudi Arabia and was surrounded
by a trench and an arcade of marble columns that extended 20
meters in length. It measured approximately 100 square meters
with the side of the qibla organized into five aisles and the
others arranged into two. According to early literary sources,
the aisles were demarcated by masonry block columns that rose
to the height of the mosque's flat roof, which is described as
being rather high. Creswell posits that the design was reminiscent
of an apadana, an architectural structure referring to a "Hall
of Columns" for Persian kings.
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This mosque is revered for many reasons: It is
claimed to be the place where Ali was fatally wounded by
a poison-coated sword while prostrating in the Fajr prayer. It
also contains the tombs of Muslim ibn Aqil, Hani ibn Urwa,
and Mukhtar al-Thaqafi. There are markers within the mosque indicating
the locations for where the court of Ali used to preside,
where he was claimed to perform miracles, and where Ali
ibn Husayn and Jafar as-Sadiq used to perform salat. Islamic
traditions relate that it was the dwelling place of Noah and
that this was the place where he built the Ark. According to
Shia belief, it was from this mosque that the diluvium of Noah
started submerging earth, as well as being the place from where
the water was re-absorbed - also marked within the Mosque. Imam
Jafar as-Sadiq said that up to twelve miles of land in
all directions from the mosque are blessed by its holiness. Ja'far
al-Sadiq was also recorded as remarking that the "mosque
in Kufa is superior to that of Jerusalem" and that "performing
two prostrations of prayer here would be better for me than ten
others at any mosque." There are also Shia traditions which
state that performing one prayer in this mosque is the same as
having performed one thousand prayers elsewhere, and performing
one obligatory prayer here is equal to having performed an accepted
Hajj. The secretariat of Al-Kufa Mosque and its shrines describes
the mosque as being one of the sole four dignified mosques to
which Muslims must travel, and that it comes in third place after
the Kaaba and the mosque of Prophet." |