Al-Qaymariyya Mosque

Al-Qaymariyya Mosque, or Al-Sitt Qamrah Mosque, is one of the oldest and most famous mosques in the city of Jerusalem. It is located within the walls of the Old City in the Christian Quarter, specifically to the right of those entering from Bab Al-Jadid. The building that stands today dates back to the Ottoman era in Palestine.

Description

The mosque has a simple entrance leading to an open courtyard, in the western part of which there is a square-shaped prayer hall, topped by a shallow dome approximately 50 metres high. The dome rests on an octagonal base consisting of the four original corners of the prayer hall and four arched corners, each of which is erected on a wall. There is a mihrab in the middle of the southern facade of the prayer hall, which is a niche hollowed out inside the wall. As for the southern part of the open courtyard, there is a small room that contains the shrine. The total area of the mosque is 48 square metres.

History

The report broadcast by Al-Ghad Channel stated that the construction dates back to the thirteenth century, indicating that the building inside the mosque dates back to the Mamluk period, as it was built in the style of four Mamluk columns that support a dome above them.

Documents from the Islamic Heritage Revival and Research Foundation contain references to the mosque's affairs and staff, and its use as a prayer hall until 1948, when Zionist gangs inflicted significant damage on it during the Nakba War they waged that year.

In 1950, the Jerusalem Municipality, in coordination with the Jerusalem Endowments Administration, began to rebuild the destroyed parts.The reconstruction process continued after the June 1967 war, when the military fortifications opposite it were removed.The municipality then handed it over to the Jerusalem Endowments, which requested that electricity be reconnected to it in 1973. It also reclaimed an 80-square-meter plot of land adjacent to the mosque and annexed it to the mosque in 1987.Three years later, the Jerusalem Endowments Department carried out comprehensive renovations.

In 1992, the idea of introducing an educational function to the mosque's functions began, as the Al-Aqsa Mosque Charitable Society requested the use of the land belonging to the mosque and its annexes to establish a kindergarten and a library and hold religious classes. The efforts culminated in the establishment of Al-Huda School to teach children up to the age of twelve (sixth grade).

The label

It is named after some of the mujahid princes who died in Jerusalem and were buried in the Qaymariyah Dome, and they are:

• Prince Hussam al-Din Abu al-Hasan ibn Abi al-Fawaris al-Qaymiri, who died in the year (648 AH / 1250 AD).
• Prince Diaa al-Din Musa ibn Abi al-Fawaris, who died in the year (661 AH / 1262 AD).
• Prince Nasser al-Din bin Hassan al-Qaymiri, who died in the year (665 AH / 1266 AD).
• Prince Nasser al-Din Muhammad Jabir Bey, one of the princes of the Tabalkhana in the Levant and the supervisor of the Two Holy Mosques in Jerusalem and Hebron, who died in the year (776 AH / 1374 AD).

Archaeologist Ahmed Taha says that the mosque is related to the Dome of the Rock, which is located near the shrine of Sayyidna Akasha, located to the west of the walls of Jerusalem. He also believes that its origin may have been a corner that included the mosque and the shrine of its founder.