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The Umayyad Mosque, also known as the Great Mosque of Damascus (Arabic: جامع بني أمية الكبير, Romanization Ğām' Banī 'Umayya al-Kabīr) or formerly the Basilica of Saint John the Baptist (Greek: Βασιλική του Αγίου Ιωάννη του Βαπτιστή, transliteration Vasilikí tou Agíou Ioánni tou Vaptistí), located in the old city of Damascus, is one of the largest and oldest mosques in the world. It is considered by some Muslims to be the fourth-holiest place in Islam.[1][2]
After the Arab conquest of Damascus in 634, the mosque was built on the site of a Christian basilica dedicated to John the Baptist (Yahya). The mosque holds a shrine which today may still contain the head of John the Baptist, honored as a prophet by both Christians and Muslims alike, and is believed to be the place where Isa (Jesus) will return at the End of Days. The tomb of Saladin stands in a small garden adjoining the north wall of the mosque.
History
Pre-Islamic period
Damascus was the capital of the Aramaean state Aram-Damascus during the Iron Age. The Arameans of western Syria followed the cult of Hadad-Ramman, the god of thunderstorms and rain, and erected a temple dedicated to him at the site of the present-day Umayyad Mosque. It is not known exactly how the temple looked, but it is believed to have followed the traditional Semitic-Canaanite architectural form, resembling the Temple of Jerusalem. The site likely consisted of a walled courtyard, a small chamber for worship, and a tower-like structure typically symbolizing the "high place" of storm gods, in this case Hadad.
One stone remains from the Aramaean temple, dated to the rule of King Hazael, has survived and is currently on display in the National Museum of Damascus.[3]
The Temple of Hadad-Ramman continued to serve a central role in the city, and when the Romans conquered Damascus in 64 CE they assimilated Hadad with their own god of thunder, Jupiter.[4] Thus, they engaged in a project to reconfigure and expand the temple under the direction of Damascus-born architect Apollodorus, who created and executed the new design.[5] The symmetry and dimensions of the new Greco-Roman Temple of Jupiter impressed the local population. With the exception of the much increased scale of the building, most of its original Semitic design was preserved; the walled courtyard was largely left intact. In the center of the courtyard stood the cella, an image of the god which followers would honor.[4] There was one tower at each of courtyard's four corners.
The towers were used for rituals in line with ancient Semitic religious traditions where sacrifices were made on high places.[6]
Arab Caliphate era and construction of the mosque
Damascus was besieged and captured by Muslim Arab forces led by Khalid ibn al-Walid in 634. Decades later, the Islamic Caliphate came under the rule of the Umayyad dynasty, which chose Damascus to be the administrative capital of the Muslim world. The sixth Umayyad caliph, al-Walid I (r. 705–715), commissioned the construction of a mosque on the site of the Byzantine cathedral in 706.[13] Prior to this, the cathedral was still in use by the local Christians, but a prayer room (musalla) for Muslims had been constructed on the southeastern part of the building. Al-Walid, who personally supervised the project, had most of the cathedral, including the musalla, demolished. The construction of the mosque completely altered the layout of the building. The new house of worship was meant to serve as a large congregational mosque for the citizens of Damascus and as a tribute to the city. In response to Christian protest at the move, al-Walid ordered all the other confiscated churches in the city to be returned to the Christians as compensation. The mosque was completed in 715, shortly after the al-Walid's death, by his successor, Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik (r. 715–717).[14][15]
According to 10th-century Persian historian Ibn al-Faqih, somewhere between 600,000 and 1,000,000 dinars were spent on the project. Coptic craftsmen as well as Persian, Indian, Greek and Moroccan laborers provided the bulk of the labor force which consisted of 12,000 people.[14][16] Ibn al-Faqih also relays the story that during the construction of the mosque, workers found a cave-chapel which had a box containing the head of St. John the Baptist, or Yaḥyā ibn Zakarīyā in Islam. Upon learning of that and examining it, al-Walid I ordered the head buried under a specific pillar in the mosque that was later inlaid with marble.[17]
Ottoman era
The Ottomans under Selim I conquered Damascus from the Mamluks in 1516. The first Friday prayer performed in Selim's name in the Umayyad Mosque was attended by the sultan himself.[47][48] The Ottomans used an endowment system (waqf) for religious sites as a means to link the local population with the central authority. The waqf of the Umayyad Mosque was the largest in the city, employing 596 people. Supervisory and clerical positions were reserved for Ottoman officials while religious offices were held mostly by members of the local 'ulema.[49] Although the awqaf (plural form of "waqf") were taxed, the waqf of the Umayyad Mosque was not.[50] In 1518, the Ottoman governor of Damascus and supervisor of the mosque's waqf, Janbirdi al-Ghazali, had the mosque repaired and redecorated as part of his architectural reconstruction program for the city.[51]
Prominent Sufi scholar Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi taught regularly at the Umayyad Mosque starting in 1661.[52]
The mosque's extensive mosaics and its marble panelling were once again ravaged by fire in 1893, and had to be restored.[53] The fire also destroyed the inner fabric of the prayer hall and caused the collapse of the mosque's central dome. A laborer engaging in repair work accidentally started the fire when he was smoking his nargila (water pipe). The Ottomans fully restored the mosque, but largely maintained the original structure.[54]
Until 1899 the mosque's library included the "very old" Qubbat al-Khazna collection;[55] "most of its holdings were given to the German emperor William II and only a few pieces kept for the National Archives in Damascus."[56]
French mandate era
The Umayyad Mosque underwent major restorations in 1929 during French Mandate rule over Syria and in 1954 and 1963 under the Syrian Republic.[57]
Post colonial era
In the 1980s and in the early 1990s, Syrian president Hafez al-Assad ordered a wide-scale renovation of the mosque.[58] The methods and concepts of al-Assad's restoration project were heavily criticized by UNESCO,[clarification needed] but the general approach in Syria was that the mosque was more of a symbolic monument rather than a historical one and thus, its renovation could only enhance the mosque's symbolism.[59]
In 2001 Pope John Paul II visited the mosque, primarily to visit the relics of John the Baptist. It was the first time a pope paid a visit to a mosque.[60] On March 15, 2011, the first significant protests related to the Syrian civil war, began at the Umayyad Mosque when 40–50 worshipers gathered outside the complex and chanted pro-democracy slogans. Syrian security forces swiftly quelled the protests and have since cordoned off the area during Friday prayers to prevent large-scale demonstrations.[61][62]
Architecture
Courtyard and sanctuary
The ground plan of the Umayyad Mosque is rectangle in shape and measures 97 meters (318 ft) by 156 meters (512 ft). A large courtyard occupies the northern part of the mosque complex, while the haram ("sanctuary") covers the southern part. The courtyard is enclosed by four exterior walls. The level of the stone pavement had become uneven over time due to several repairs throughout the mosque's history, but recent work on the courtyard has restored it to its consistent Umayyad-era levels. Arcades (riwaq) surround the courtyard supported by alternating stone columns and piers. There is one pier in between every two columns. Because the northern part of the courtyard had been destroyed in an earthquake in 1759, the arcade is not consistent; when the northern wall was rebuilt the columns that were supporting it were not.[63]
Three arcades make up the interior space of the sanctuary. They are parallel to the direction of prayer which is towards Mecca in modern-day Saudi Arabia. The arcades are supported by two rows of stone Corinthian columns. Each of the arcades contain two levels. The first level consists of large semi-circular arches, while the second level is made up of double arches. This pattern is the same repeated by the arcades of the courtyard. The three interior arcades intersect in the center of the sanctuary with a larger, higher arcade that is perpendicular to the qibla ("direction of prayer") wall and faces the mihrab (niche in the wall which indicates the qibla) and the minbar ("pulpit").[63] The central transept divides the arcades into two halves each with eleven arches. The entire sanctuary measures 136 meters (446 ft) by 37 meters (121 ft) and takes up the southern half of the mosque complex.[64]
Four mihrabs line the sanctuary's rear wall, the main one being the Great Mihrab which is located roughly at the center of the wall. The Mihrab of the Companions of the Prophet (named after the Sahaba) is situated in the eastern half. According to ancient Muslim engineer Musa ibn Shakir, the latter mihrab was built during the mosque's initial construction and it became the third niche-formed mihrab in Islam's history.[64]
Domes
The largest dome of the mosque is known as the "Dome of the Eagle" (Qubbat an-Nisr) and located atop the center of the prayer hall. The original wooden dome was replaced by one built of stone following the 1893 fire. It receives its name because it is thought to resemble an eagle, with the dome itself being the eagle's head while the eastern and western flanks of the prayer hall represent the wings.[65] With a height of 36 meters (118 ft), the dome rests on an octagonal substructure with two arched windows on each of its sides. It is supported by the central interior arcade and has openings along its parameter.[63]
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