Mosque Name: Zawilah Mosque
Country: Lybia
City: Zawilah
Year of construction (AH): 69
Year of construction (CE): 688
GPS: 26.165547 15.125548
Gibson Classification: Parallel
Rebuilt facing Mecca: Never
For a Link to the Qibla Tool Click Here
Description:
This mosque is claimed by some to be the first mosque in the Sahara Desert. It is in Lybia. This congregational mosque was subsequently partially excavated by Ziegert and Abdussalam (1969, 1973) and more substantially by Abdussaid (1979; see also the summary by el-Mahmoudi 1997). It is one of the largest mosques known in the Central Sahara, especially significant given its presumed date. The nearby tombs have some inscriptions using the Kufic script.
A sample from the mud brick of the mosque revealed that the mosque, was built between 670-857 AD. (OxA-26744 calibrated at 95.4%). This would fit with the dates of the other mosques in Africa that used a similar Qibla direction; for example, see the Graveyard of Sidi ‘Ukba.
For more information, see the paper: The origins and development of Zuwīla, Libyan Sahara: an archaeological and historical overview of an ancient oasis town and caravan centre, by David J. Mattingly, Martin J. Sterry & David N. Edwards (Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 2015) Dan Gibson has classified it as Parallel. To learn more about Parallel Qiblas click here.
The mosque is made mostly pf mud.
A floor plan of the mosque
Plaque in front of the mosque
Graves near the town.
References:
Abdussaid, Abdulhamed, 1980. “The Excavations of Zwela Mosque”, Libya Antiqua 15-16: 327-329.
Mattingly, David J., Sterry, Martin J., and David N. Edwards, 2015. “The Origins and Development of Zuwīla, Libyan Sahara: An Archaeological and Historical Overview of an Ancient Oasis Town and Caravan Centre”, Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 50(1): 27-75. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0067270X.2014.980126
ʿAbd al-Sayd, ʿAbd al-Hamd, Bādā, Idrīs Aḥmad, and ʿAbd al-Qādir Saʿīd al-Mazīnnī, 1980. “The Excavations of Zuwīla Mosque”, Libya Antiqua 15-16: 59-70, pl. 110-132 (in Arabic).
Ziegert, Helmut, and Abdussalam, Ali, 1973. “The White Mosque of Old Zuila”, Libya Antiqua 9⁄10: 221-222 and plates.
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