Mosque of Omar (Jerusalem)

Mosque of Omar
Minaret of the Mosque in the courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Basic information
Location	Jerusalem
Affiliation	Islam
Completed	1193

The Mosque of Omar (Arabic: مسجد عمر بن الخطاب‎) in Jerusalem is located opposite the southern courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Muristan. After the Siege of Jerusalem in 637 by the Rashidun army under the command of Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah, Patriarch Sophronius refused to surrender except to the Caliph Omar (579-644) himself. Omar traveled to Jerusalem and accepted the surrender. He then visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where Sophronius invited him to pray inside the Church, but Omar declined so as not to set a precedent and thereby endanger the Church's status as a Christian site. Instead he prayed outside in the courtyard, in a place where David was believed to have prayed.

The Mosque of Omar was built in its current shape by the Ayyubid Sultan Al-Afdal ibn Salah ad-Din in 1193 in memory of this event. It has a 15 metres (49 ft) high minaret that was built before 1465 and was renovated by Ottoman sultan Abdulmecid I (1839–1860).

Gallery

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  In this 1915 map, the Mosque appears south of the Holy Sepulchre in Muristan, near the vertical middle of the map.

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  The Mosque has been reserved for religious activities

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  Minaret

Coordinates: 31°46′40.21″N 35°13′46.52″E / 31.7778361°N 35.2295889°E