THE MUTAWAKKEL MOSQUE (in Samarra, Iraq)

The Mosque of the Caliph al Moutawakkel ala Llah is considered as the outstanding monument of the city of Samarra, and it still occupies the major position as far as splendour, architectural exactitude, and beauty are concerned, among all antique mosques in the Islamic world, as it remained intact despite the human and natural destructions throughout the centuries.

Samarra is the city where aspects of the Abbassid dynasty's civilizational style are most apparent. The city was founded in the north of Baghdad, by orders of the Caliph Moatassem in the year 221 in Hijri year, 836 A.D. It remained the capital of the caliphate of the Abbassid Empire for more than 50 years during which 7 Caliphs tried to make of it a city comparable to Baghdad as far as constructions and monuments are concerned. The main monuments of Samarra are the great Samarra Mosque and Abu Dalaf Mosque that is set 50 km to the north of the city.

The Caliph al Moutawakkel ala Allah ordered the construction of the Samraa Mosque, from 234- 237 in Hijri year, 849- 852 A.D. It has a rectangular shape (240 meters by 158 meters) and it can gather up to 80,000 faithful. The plan of the Moutawakkel Mosque is the same as that of Bassrah, Koofa, and Wasset Mosques, composed of a prayer room, two side aisles and a rear part surrounding a rectangular nave, where there was a fountain with a round shape, composed of a single peace of granite stone that is said was brought from Egypt then transferred to the Sharabiya school in Baghdad.

The Moutawakkel mosque is characterized with its winding minaret that is one of the oldest monumental minarets of Iraq, and is unique among the minarets of the Islamic world with its design. Erected 27 meters up from the northern wall of the mosque, it is located on the central axis of its mihrab. As for the body of the minaret, it has a spiral shape, and stands on a double-decked square basis. The lower one is 31.80 m and the upper 30.50 m. This base is 4.20 m above earth level. It is decorated with pointed-knot curbs, nine in each side except in the southern side where there are only seven as the remaining two are covered by the sloping stairs leading to the base. The most wonderful thing in the upper part of this minaret is a row of 8 mihrab pendant lamps which crown the Mosque's body. Their knots are propped up by compact semi-cylindrical brick pillars. The minaret is about 50 m high except the base, which distinguishes it as a unique model among the old and new mosque minarets of the Islamic world.

Note:- This article is written by Dr. Mustafa Husain Kalhoro, Taagrraai of Ripri who is the 1st history writer of Ripri. There are his 08 published books and several unpublished. His most popular books are “HISTORY OF RIPRI & RAAT JI REHANN”.