Masjid al-Atiq

Rabat, Morocco

Constructed in the mid-12th c./6th c. AH, this is the oldest mosque in Rabat. The prayer hall of this mosque consists of  seven naves and three bays. The wider axial nave and the span running along the wall of the qibla form the T-shaped plan that is characteristic of Almohad architecture. 

A marble plaque on the facade indicates was built by Al-Moumen ben Ali 544 AH. It also states that the mihrab was oriented towards the north in keeping with the Lamohad theory that interpreted a Hadith as saying there is another qibla between the Mashriq and the Maghreb there is another qibla.  The only decoration on the mihrab was an inscriptin of a Qur’an verse (15:98-99):

The inscription goes on to indicate that the verses were later removed during renovations to the mosque in the era of Sidi Mohammed ben Aballah, at the hand of master craftsman Ahmed Al-‘Alaj Anajlizi, and that the minaret was connected to the mosque, near the wall of the qibla, in 1940.  

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