Nablus
The Great Masjid, known in Nablus as al-Jami' al-Kabir and al-Jami' al-Salahi, is the oldest and largest mosque in the city. It stands on the site of a…
The Great Masjid, known in Nablus as al-Jami' al-Kabir and al-Jami' al-Salahi, is the oldest and largest mosque in the city. It stands on the site of a basilica of the third century and the Byzantine cathedral shown on the Madaba mosaic map, which became a mosque in the early Islamic period. The Crusaders turned it back into a church, and Salahuddin restored it as a mosque in 1187. The building is long and narrow, and its main entrance keeps the carved arched portal of the Crusader church. Ibn Battuta saw a pool of fresh water in the middle of the mosque in the fourteenth century. The minaret was rebuilt in 1641, and the dome and minaret were restored in 1935 after the earthquake of 1927. The mosque stands at the eastern end of the old city's main market streets.