Great Mosque of al-Mansur

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The Great Mosque of al-Mansur, or simply the Great Mosque, was a congregational mosque built for the newly-formed Abbasid Caliphate in the 8th century by order of its second caliph, al-Mansur.^[1]^[2] It was located in the Quadrangle of the Persians subdistrict of Harbiyah, Baghdad.^[3]

History

The Great Mosque was centered in Baghdad, with various smaller mosques around the numerous neighborhoods. It welcomed all people of any class, served as a community center, and the call for prayer was heard city-wide. With this call echoing through the city, it drew its citizens to join together for prayer.^[2]

In the 860s, the Alamut Hidden One Basim Ibn Ishaq climbed atop a tower to view the neighborhoods of Baghdad.^[3] Investigating a building adjacent to the mosque, he found and recovered the book Kalila wa-Dimna after breaking through the building's locked door.^[4]

Behind the scenes

Historically, the Great Mosque of al-Mansur was located within the Round City adjacent to the Palace of the Green Dome, not within the Harbiyah district. The mosque later disappeared after the last confirmed date by Moroccan explorer Ibn Battutah on 1327.^[1]