Uwais al-Qarni Mosque

Uwais al-Qarni Mosque مسجد أويس القرني
The Uwais al-Qarni Mosque in 2009
Basic information
Location	Ar-Raqqah, Syria
Affiliation	Shia Islam
Status	Destroyed
Architectural description
Architectural type	Mosque
Completed	2003

Uwais al-Qarni Mosque (Arabic: مسجد أويس القرني) was a Shi'ite mosque in Ar-Raqqah, Syria.

History

Dedication

It contained the shrines of Ammar ibn Yasir and Uwais Qarni, who died in the Battle of Siffin in 657, which took place around 40 km west of Ar-Raqqah. It was adjacent to the Bab al-Baghdad, another major landmark in the city.^[1][2]

Construction

The original tombs were located in the old cemetery at the edge of the city. In 1988, Syrian President Hafez al Assad and the Supreme Leader of Shi'ite-majority Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini, initiated a project to develop a new mosque around the tombs. The work was completed in 2003 and a commemorative plaque credited President Bashar al Assad and Iranian President Mohammad Khatami with completing the project.^[3]

Destruction

The mosque was blown up and completely destroyed by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant on May 31, 2014 because it was a Shi'ite structure. More specifically, it was also built over graves and thus served as a shrine. This is contrary to ISIL's Salafi interpretation of Islamic law, which views this as shirk.

See also

• Destruction of cultural heritage by ISIL
• Destruction of early Islamic heritage sites
• Sayyidah Zaynab Mosque

References

1. Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar of Sehwan-Sharif - Page 87, Inam Mohammad - 1978
2. Religion and politics in Central Asia under Saljûqs - Page 198, Naseem Ahmad - 2003
3. "The Shiite crescent eclipsed". 16 April 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2014.