The Great Omari Mosque is one of the oldest and most ancient mosques in Gaza stripFounded during the reign of the Caliph Omar bin al-khattabIt is the third largest mosque in Palestine after Al-Aqsa Mosque And Ahmed Pasha Al-Jazzar Mosque.
It was a temple in the Roman era, then it was turned into a church. After the Islamic conquest, it became the largest mosque in the Gaza Strip. Ibn Battuta described it as a beautiful mosque.
the site
The Great Al-Omari Mosque is located in the heart of the old city of Gaza, known today as “Al-Balad,” in the Al-Daraj neighborhood, southeast of Palestine Square, next to the Al-Qaysaria Market (gold market) and the archaeological Al-Zawiya Market.
Space
The area of the Al-Omari Mosque is about 4,100 square metres, and its courtyard area is 1,190 square metres. It can accommodate more than 3,000 worshipers.
Architectural heritage
Its structure contains 38 marble columns that reflect the style of ancient architecture, surrounded by circular arches, with high domes in the middle, and it has 5 doors leading to ancient streets and alleys that emit the history of the civilizations that settled Gaza City.
The mosque was built of turquoise sandstone. Its outer courtyard is decorated with decorations that give it an Islamic character, in addition to its circular arches.
Its majestic minaret is distinguished by various decorations bearing the Mamluk architectural style. It was built in a square shape in its lower half and octagonal in the upper half, consisting of 4 levels.
Label
This historical edifice was transformed into a mosque after the Islamic conquest in the seventh century AD, and it was called “Al-Omari Mosque” in honor of Caliph Omar bin Al-Khattab, and “Al-Kabir” because it is one of the largest mosques in the Gaza Strip.
From a pagan temple to a church
Al-Omari Mosque witnessed many religions that passed through the Gaza Strip, starting with paganism. For more than two thousand years, this mosque was one of the largest temples of the pagans, as Gaza was the last Palestinian and Levantine city to adhere to paganism. It was a temple with strong fortresses with an area exceeding 70,000. Square meters. What they believed to be the god Zeus was erected in the place of his minaret today, and the temple contained between its corners the main gate to Gaza City.
The Christians in Gaza were converting to their religion in secret, because of the persecution and horrific executions they were facing at the hands of the pagans, which led to the first Palestinian saint, Hilarion, seeking refuge in Cyprus, where he died.
He was succeeded by the monk Priverius, who was with him and was appointed as a monk for the Christians of Gaza, but he encountered resistance to entering it, and this coincided with a period of drought and severe hunger that gripped the city for more than 6 months, and some of them considered it a divine punishment.
Which made the pagans go to Porphyrius to pray to God to solve this crisis, so they hosted him in the temple, and when the crisis lifted, they expelled him and pursued him on charges of plotting with his Lord to cast doubt on the worship of their gods.
Porphyry went to Constantinople, the Roman capital (currently Istanbul), to complain to Euphoxia “Helana,” the wife of the Roman Emperor “Theododius I,” about the persecution and torture Christians were suffering from the pagans, with the help of the Roman governor of Gaza, “Ilarius,” who allowed them to continue in exchange for bribes they paid him.
Ephedoxia promised Porphyry to put an end to the pagans in Gaza and its corrupt ruler, after she gave birth to her first child, who later became the Emperor of the Byzantine Empire, Theododius II. Indeed, after his birth, a fleet of the Roman army set off to liberate Gaza City from paganism, on the orders of her husband, Theododius I. He carried out a massacre against the pagans, as a result of which more than 10,000 people were killed.
Then, in the fifth century AD, Avdoxia ordered the burying of the idol of Zeus underground, and the conversion of the pagan temple into a church named after her. The collapse of the pagan state in Gaza was officially announced and Christianity was considered its official religion.
From church to mosque
Although Gaza was the last city in the region to convert to Christianity, it was one of the first cities that Muslims entered, in 635 AD under the leadership of Amr ibn al-Aas, during the reign of Caliph Omar ibn al-Khattab.
The majority of the city’s residents converted to the Islamic religion, and the first thing they presented to the Muslims was that they demanded that the largest church in the sector, the “Afdoxia” Church, be converted into a mosque, to become the “Great Omari Mosque.”
Period of the Crusades
The Crusades continued to invade the Gaza Strip, destroying the Great Omari Mosque and establishing the Church of St. John on its ruins in 1149. It remained standing until Saladin rebuilt it again after his victory over the Crusaders in 1187.
During the era of the Mamluks and the Ottoman Empire
The mosque remained as it was until the late thirteenth century AD during the Mamluk era, when it underwent several architectural repairs and renovations, but it was completely demolished by MongolsThen the Mamluks rebuilt it again and expanded it several years later.
The first minaret of the mosque was built in the Mamluk era. The signatures came on the mosque bearing the name Al-Nasir Qalawun Qaytbay and the Abbasid Caliph Al-Musta’in Billah, whose rule ranged between the 14th and 16th centuries AD. In addition to the signing of Musa Pasha, the Ottoman governor of Gaza, in 1663.
Gaza was struck by an earthquake that caused great damage to the mosque and it was impossible to repair it, which led to the damaged area being transformed into a street separating the old building from the expanded area, which was later transformed into a mosque called “Kateb Wilayah.”
With the entry of Palestine under the rule of Ottoman Empire The mosque was restored, its iwans expanded, the doors, windows, mihrab and pulpit were renewed, and a cistern was built to collect rainwater for drinking and ablution.
After World War I
A large part of the mosque was destroyed and its minaret fell during First World War As a result of the bombing by British aircraft, the Ottoman Empire took care of mosques in general and the Al-Omari Mosque in particular, and completely reconstructed it. The Supreme Islamic Council renewed its design in 1926, which restored its ancient splendor.
Al-Omari Mosque Library
Create Zahir Baybars A library was located in the Al-Omari Mosque more than 7 centuries ago (1277 AD). It was known in the past as Al-Zahir Library, which provided it with about 20 thousand books in various sciences and literature, and many manuscripts.
The library of the Al-Omari Mosque is one of the foundations of this great edifice, as it contains – in addition to its ancient books – about 187 manuscripts, the most prominent of which is the manuscript “Explanation of the Mysteries in the Science of Obligations” by Badr al-Din al-Mardini, which was copied approximately 500 years ago. In addition to the Gaza collection of “Ibn Zakaa,” which reflects the face of the Arab-Islamic heritage in Gaza.
The library witnessed many setbacks that led to the dispersion of its contents among the libraries of Cairo, Paris, and Berlin, coinciding with the launching of… French campaign against Egypt And the Levant in 1801.
No book was added to it after the French campaign until Sheikh Othman Al-Tabbaa came in the late 1920s and restored it and collected its pieces after communicating with the Supreme Islamic Sharia Council in Jerusalem. He revived the library with about 5,000 books, and after his death in 1950, it was taken over by Sheikh Jamil Al-Rayes, who followed the path of Advance payment.
After the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip in 1967, the library was dispersed again and was robbed by the occupation authorities, who forced Al-Rayes to remove 3 ancient manuscripts from it, and no one has been able to recover them since then.
The library challenges the deteriorating conditions of the siege and repeated wars on the Strip, amid the contributions of historians to preserve it. They began restoring and binding about 1,400 books, and enriching the library with about 3,000 books, between the years 1994 and 1998.
A pile of rubble
Al-Omari Mosque was bombed by Israeli occupation aircraft on the 8th of December 2023, which led to its almost complete destruction, during the aggression against the Gaza Strip that began on the 7th of October 2023 following an operation Al-Aqsa flood Carried out by the resistance in Gaza envelope settlements.
Israel previously destroyed parts of it in its war on Gaza in 2014.