Mosque of Omar
General Information
There are discussions among scholars considering the location of the Mosque of Omar. Some believe that it was in the eastern part of Al-Aqsa Mosque while others say that the Mosque was located at the place of today’s al Jami’ al-Aqsa. On top of the ongoing discussions, it is highly likely that Omar (ra) built the Mosque based on the Qiblah which makes the southern wall argument more convenient (Al-Ratrout, 2002).
Architecture
Before Omar’s (ra) conquest of the city, the Masjid al-Aqsa enclave was in ruins and the basement of the southern part was not established before the reconstruction of Masjid al-Aqsa by Umayyads. Therefore, the Mosque of Omar was built where its ground was six meters lower than today’s floor. According to the calculations done by Al-Ratrout (2002), the Mosque of Omar was around 2310 𝑚2 which refers to a capacity of around 3000 people. Architecturally, The Mosque was inspired by the Mosque of the Prophet in Madina (Al-Ratrout, 2002). To construct the Mosque, it is believed that wood and planks were used (Al-Ratrout, 2002). Therefore, there is no physical evidence left (TİKA, 2013). In the following years, Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan who was appointed by the Caliph Omar (ra) as the governor of Syria enlarged the mosque, but some say he built the mosque again (Laurent and Awwad, 2013). Today, there is a small room in al Jami’ al-Aqsa in memory of Hz. Omar and his mosque (TİKA, 2013).
References
Al-Ratrout, H. (2002). The Architectural Development of Al-Aqsa Mosque In Islamic Jerusalem in the Early Islamic Period Sacred Architecture In the Shape Of "The Holy" [PhD thesis, University Of Strathclyde]. Department Of Architecture And Building Science University Of Strathclyde. 10.48730/h1k1-q778
Laurent, B. S., & Awwad, I. (2013). The Marwani Musalla in Jerusalem: New Findings. Jerusalem Quarterly, 54, 7–30.
TİKA. (2013). Mescid-i Aksa Rehberi (Harem-i Şerif). http://www.passia.org/media/filer_public/67/73/67730ca8-a5ec-4c08-a9e5-a574688852b6/aqsa-tr-compressed.pdf
