Jāmiʿ Khaṭwat al-Imām ʿAlī (The Mosque of Imam ʿAlī's Footstep), located in al-Zubayr, Basra, is considered the first mosque built in Islam outside Makkah and…
Jāmiʿ Khaṭwat al-Imām ʿAlī (The Mosque of Imam ʿAlī's Footstep), located in al-Zubayr, Basra, is considered the first mosque built in Islam outside Makkah and Madinah. It was founded in 635 CE by ʿUtba ibn Ghazwān, the governor of Basra, during the caliphate of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb. The mosque takes its devotional name from Imam ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, who prayed and delivered sermons there at the time of the Battle of the Camel (36 AH / 656 CE) — one of the most consequential moments in early Islamic history. It is venerated by the Shia community, who continue to visit and pray there to this day. Beyond its sacred significance, the mosque also served as the first school of Islamic jurisprudence, hadith, and rational theology in the Muslim world, counting among its teachers the great scholar Ibn ʿAbbās (Ḥibr al-Umma), the ascetic al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, and Wāṣil ibn ʿAṭāʾ, founder of the Muʿtazilite school.