Mosque of the Companions

Mosque in Massawa, Northern Red Sea, Eritrea

15°36′43″N 39°28′50″E / 15.61194°N 39.48056°E / 15.61194; 39.48056ArchitectureTypeMasjidFounderCompanions of MuhammadDate established620s or 630sSpecificationsDome(s)1Minaret(s)1

The Mosque of the Companions (Arabic: مَسْجِد ٱلصَّحَابَة‎, romanized: Masjid aṣ-Ṣaḥābah)^{[citation needed]} is a mosque in the city of Massawa, Eritrea. Possibly dating to the early 7th century C.E., it is believed by some to be the first mosque built in Africa.^[1]

History

The mosque was reportedly built by companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad who travelled to Africa to flee persecution by people in the Hejazi city of Mecca, present-day Saudi Arabia.^[1] According to Richard J. Reid, it may have been constructed in the 620s or 630s by members of Muhammad's family.^[1] The mosque of Quba, which is the first mosque built by Muhammad, in what is now Medina, dates to around the same time.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] The current structure is of much later construction, as some features, like the mihrab (late 7th century) and the minaret (9th century), did not develop until later in Islamic architecture.^[6]^{[unreliable source]}

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Reid, Richard J. (2012). A History of Modern Africa: 1800 to the Present. John Wiley & Sons. p. 106. ISBN 978-0-470-65898-7.
^ Michigan Consortium for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (1986). Goss, V. P.; Bornstein, C. V. (eds.). The Meeting of Two Worlds: Cultural Exchange Between East and West During the Period of the Crusades. Vol. 21. Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University. p. 208. ISBN 0918720583.
^ Mustafa Abu Sway. "The Holy Land, Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Qur'an, Sunnah and other Islamic Literary Source" (PDF). Central Conference of American Rabbis. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-28.
^ Dyrness, W. A. (2013-05-29). Senses of Devotion: Interfaith Aesthetics in Buddhist and Muslim Communities. Vol. 7. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 25. ISBN 978-1620321362.
^ Macca, A. A.; Aryanti, T. (16–18 November 2016). "The Domes: El Wakil's Traditionalist Architecture of Quba Mosque". 1st Annual Applied Science and Engineering Conference (AASEC). IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, Volume 180. Bandung, Indonesia: The International Conference on Sport Science, Health, and Physical Education (ICSSHPE). doi:10.1088/1757-899X/180/1/012092.
^ "as-Sahaba Mosque". Madain Project. Retrieved 2 April 2019.