Al-Arba'een Mosque
Mosque in Tikrit, Iraq From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Al-Arba'een Mosque (Arabic: جامع الأربعين شهيداً) was a historic mosque in the city of Tikrit, Iraq. It contained a shrine for Amr ibn Jundab Al-Ghafari, and another shrine for Sitt Nafisa.[1]
| Al-Arba'een Mosque | |
|---|---|
 Al-Arba'een Mosque before the destruction by ISIL in 2014. | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Sunni Islam |
| Ecclesiastical or organisational status | Mosque |
| Patron | Amr ibn Jundab Al-Ghafari |
| Status | Under reconstruction work |
| Location | |
| Location | Tikrit, Iraq |
| Geographic coordinates | 34°35′56″N 43°40′34″E |
| Architecture | |
| Type | Islamic architecture |
| Demolished | 2014 |
| Specifications | |
| Minaret(s) | 0 |
| Shrine(s) | 2 |
The building dates back to the 5th century AH.[1] The name of the mosque, "Al-Arba'een" (The Forty), is derived[2] from a belief that forty martyrs killed during an Islamic conquest of Tikrit[3] were buried under the mosque, although this claim is contested as reports of the forty graves are weak.[1]
The building was used as an Islamic university in 1262 AD.[4]
The mosque building was a square shape, with five domes. Each side was approximately forty-seven meters long.[1] Its dimensions are 36.5 x 35.5 meters.[2] Gravel and plaster were mostly used to construct the building[1] and the two venerated rooms are ten meters tall.[1]
One of these venerated rooms was a shrine that contained a tomb of Amr ibn Jundab Al-Ghafari,[3] a companion of the Rashidun caliph Umar ibn Al-Khattab. There was also a cellar in the building which is believed by locals to house the resting place of a female saint, Sitt Nafisa.[5]
The mosque was destroyed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in 2014 by explosives.[4] The explosion completely destroyed the shrines but did not damage the rest of the mosque. The surrounding cemetery was damaged.
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