Located on an elevated site in the historic Imam Qasim neighbourhood of northern Kirkuk, the Talabani Takiyyah is an important Qadiri spiritual lodge, mosque…
Located on an elevated site in the historic Imam Qasim neighbourhood of northern Kirkuk, the Talabani Takiyyah is an important Qadiri spiritual lodge, mosque and burial complex. Its origins are associated with Mulla Mahmud Zangana, regarded as an ancestor of the Talabani religious family and an early leader of the Qadiri-Talabani tradition. The complex was subsequently developed by Shaykh Ahmad Talabani and substantially rebuilt by Shaykh ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Khalisi al-Qadiri during the nineteenth century. Its principal mosque became known as Jamiʿ al-Majidiyyah, named after Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid I. The complex contains prayer and gathering halls, accommodation historically used for students, travellers and the poor, a library, and several graves traditionally attributed to prominent Talabani and Qadiri shaykhs, including Mulla Mahmud, Shaykh Ahmad Talabani and Shaykh ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Khalisi. It remains an active religious centre known for Qur’anic teaching, hospitality, gatherings of dhikr and its historic role in bringing together Kirkuk’s Kurdish, Arab and Turkmen communities.