Conversion of non-Islamic places of worship into mosques

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Conversion of church buildings

Europe

Albania

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Fethija Mosque in Bihac, Bosnia Bihac - Fethija dzamija 1.jpg
Fethija Mosque in Bihać, Bosnia

The Fethija Mosque (since 1592) of Bihać was a Catholic church devoted to Saint Anthony of Padua (1266). [1]

Contents

Greece

Painting of the ruins of the Parthenon and the Ottoman mosque built after 1715, in the early 1830s Parfenon-mechet' posle vzryva.jpg
Painting of the ruins of the Parthenon and the Ottoman mosque built after 1715, in the early 1830s

Numerous orthodox churches were converted to mosques during the Ottoman period in Greece. After the Greek War of Independence, many of them were later reconverted into churches. Among them:

The Rotunda of Galerius in Thessaloniki, initially a Mausoleum of Roman Emperor Galerius, a church (326-1590), then a mosque and again a church after 1912 Rotunda of Galerius (February 2009).jpg
The Rotunda of Galerius in Thessaloniki, initially a Mausoleum of Roman Emperor Galerius, a church (326–1590), then a mosque and again a church after 1912

Hungary

Following the Ottoman conquest of the Kingdom of Hungary, a number of churches were converted into mosques. Those that survived the era of Ottoman rule, were later reconverted into churches after the Great Turkish War.

Spain

A Catholic church dedicated to Saint Vincent of Lérins, was built by the Visigoths in Córdoba; during the reign of Abd al-Rahman I, it was converted into a mosque. [2] [3] [4] In the time of the Reconquista, Christian rule was reestablished and the building became a church once again, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption. [2] [3] [4]

Middle East and North Africa

Iraq

The Islamic State converted a number of churches into mosques after they occupied Mosul in 2014. The churches were restored to their original function after Mosul was liberated in 2017. [5]

Israel and Palestinian territories

After the conquest of Hebron, this holy place was "taken over from the Jewish tradition" by the Muslim rulers. The cave and the surrounding Herodian enclosure was converted into a mosque. Patriarch tomb.JPG
After the conquest of Hebron, this holy place was "taken over from the Jewish tradition" by the Muslim rulers. The cave and the surrounding Herodian enclosure was converted into a mosque.

Lebanon

Syria

Turkey

Istanbul

Hagia Sophia

Following the Ottoman conquest of Anatolia, virtually all of the churches of Istanbul were converted into mosques except the Church of Saint Mary of the Mongols. [10]

Other churches
  • Chora Church in Istanbul (2019) [16]

Conversion of Hindu temples

Temple NameMosque NameImagesCityCountryRulerNotesCurrent Status
Kashi Vishwanath Temple Gyanvapi Mosque Kashi-gyanvapi (1).jpg Varanasi, UP India Aurangzeb The temple was demolished under the orders of Aurangzeb, who then constructed the Gyanvapi Mosque atop the original Hindu temple. The demolition was motivated by the rebellion of local zamindars (landowners) associated with the temple. [17] The demolition was intended as a warning to the anti-Mughal factions and Hindu religious leaders in the city. [18] Mosque; temple reconstructed adjacent to Mosque
Keshavdeva Temple Shahi Edgah The Idgah, Mathura 1949.jpg Mathura, UP India Aurangzeb attacked Mathura, destroyed the Keshavdeva Temple in 1670 and built the Shahi Eidgah in its place. [19] [20] Mosque; temple reconstructed adjacent to Mosque
Bindu Madhav Temple Alamgir Mosque Alamgir Mosque by the Ganges ghats, Varanasi.jpg Varanasi, U.P. India The Alamgir Mosque in Varanasi was constructed by Mughal Emperor Aurnagzeb built atop the ancient 100 ft high Bindu Madhav (Nand Madho) Temple after its destruction in 1682. [21] Mosque
Somnath Temple 1895 archive photo of the Somnath temple ruins, Veraval Gujarat, Exterior 21.jpg Veraval, Gujarat India Mahmud of Ghazni, Alauddin Khalji, Muzaffar Shah I, Mahmud Begada, Aurangzeb The temple was attacked, destroyed and rebuilt multiple times and was converted into an Islamic Mosque in the 19th century. [22] Temple rebuilt
Jain and Saraswati Temple Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra Adhai Din-ka-Jhonpra Screen wall (6133975257).jpg Ajmer, Rajasthan India Qutb ud-Din Aibak The original building was partially destroyed and converted into a mosque by Qutb ud-Din Aibak of Delhi in the late 12th century. [23] Iltutmish further built the mosque in AD 1213. [24] Mosque
Rudra Mahalaya Temple Jami Mosque Ruins of the Rudra Mala at Siddhpur, Gujarat, retouched.jpg Siddhpur, Gujarat India Ahmad Shah I The temple was dismantled during the siege of the city by Ahmed Shah I (1410–1444) of Muzaffarid dynasty; parts of it were reused in setting up a new congregational mosque. [25] Ruined, partly converted into Mosque

Conversion of synagogues

The Great Synagogue of Oran was the largest synagogue in North Africa until it was converted into the Abdellah Ben Salem Mosque in 1975. Mosquee Abdallah Ibn Salam (ancienne Synagogue d'Oran) en 2011.JPG
The Great Synagogue of Oran was the largest synagogue in North Africa until it was converted into the Abdellah Ben Salem Mosque in 1975.

North Africa

Algeria

Europe

France

  • Or Thora Synagogue of Marseille, built in the 1960s by Jews from Algeria, was turned into a mosque in 2016 after being bought by a conservative Muslim organization, the al-Badr organization. [27] [28]

The Netherlands

  • The Ashkenazi synagogue on Wagenstraat street of The Hague, built in 1844, became the Aqsa Mosque in 1981. The synagogue had been sold to the city by the Jewish community in 1976, on the grounds that it would not be converted into a church. In 1979 Turkish Muslim residents occupied the abandoned building and demanded it be turned into a mosque, citing alleged construction safety concerns with their usual mosque. [29] The synagogue was conceded to the Muslim community three years later. [30] [31]

Influence on Islamic architecture

The conversion of non-Islamic religious buildings into mosques during the first centuries of Islam played a major role in the development of Islamic architectural styles. Distinct regional styles of mosque design, which have come to be known by such names as Arab, Persian, Andalusian, and others, commonly reflected the external and internal stylistic elements of churches and other temples characteristic for that region. [32]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ https://www.inyourpocket.com/bihac/Fethija-Mosque_53865v
  2. 1 2 Christys, Ann (2017). "The meaning of topography in Umayyad Cordoba". In Lester, Anne E. (ed.). Cities, Texts and Social Networks, 400–1500. Routledge. It is a commonplace of the history of Córdoba that in their early years in the city, the Muslims shared with the Christians the church of S. Vicente, until ʿAbd al-Raḥmān I bought the Christians out and used the site to build the Great Mosque. It was a pivotal moment in the history of Córdoba, which later historians may have emphasised by drawing a parallel between Córdoba and another Umayyad capital, Damascus. The first reference to the Muslims' sharing the church was by Ibn Idhārī in the fourteenth century, citing the tenth-century historian al-Rāzī. It could be a version of a similar story referring to the Great Mosque in Damascus, which may itself have been written long after the Mosque was built. It is a story that meant something in the tenth-century context, a clear statement of the Muslim appropriation of Visigothic Córdoba.
  3. 1 2 Guia, Aitana (1 July 2014). The Muslim Struggle for Civil Rights in Spain, 1985–2010: Promoting Democracy Through Islamic Engagement. Sussex Academic Press. p. 137. ISBN   978-1-84519581-6. It was originally a small temple of Christian Visigoth origin. Under Umayyad reign in Spain (711–1031 CE), it was expanded and made into a mosque, which it would remain for eight centuries. During the Christian reconquest of Al-Andalus, Christians captured the mosque and consecrated it as a Catholic church.
  4. 1 2 Armstrong, Ian (2013). Spain and Portugal. Avalon Travel Publishing. ISBN   978-1-61237031-6. On this site originally stood the Visigoths' church of San Vicente, but when the Moors came to town in 758 CE they knocked it down and constructed a mosque in its place. When Córdoba fell once again to the Christians, King Ferdinand II and his successors set about Christianizing the structure, most dramatically adding the bright pearly white Renaissance nave where mass is held every morning.
  5. ↑ "Iraq: Daesh have robbed and demolished every church". Independent Catholic News. 6 March 2018. Archived from the original on 20 March 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  6. ↑ Tristram, Henry Baker (1865). The land of Israel : a journal of travels in Palestine, undertaken with special reference to its physical character. London: London Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. p. 394. The design is unique and patriarchal in its magnificent simplicity. One can scarcely tolerate the theory of some architectural writers, that this enclosure is of a period later than the Jewish. It would have been strange if any of the Herodian princes should here alone have raised, at enormous cost, a building utterly differing from the countless products of their architectural passion and Roman taste with which the land is strewn.
  7. ↑ Morocco. Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Travel Guides. 2006. p. 133.
  8. ↑ "Great Mosque (Tangier)". Archnet. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  9. ↑ Hillenbrand, R. "Masdjid. I. In the central Islamic lands". In P.J. Bearman; Th. Bianquis; C.E. Bosworth; E. van Donzel; W.P. Heinrichs (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam Online. Brill Academic Publishers. ISSN   1573-3912.
  10. ↑ Mamboury (1953), p. 221.
  11. ↑ "Archnet". Archived from the original on 5 January 2009. Retrieved 13 February 2009.
  12. ↑ Magdalino, Paul; et al. "Istanbul: Buildings, Hagia Sophia". Grove Art Online. Archived from the original on 10 December 2010. Retrieved 28 February 2010.
  13. ↑ "Ayasofya'yı camiden müzeye dönüştüren Bakanlar Kurulu kararı iptal edildi".
  14. ↑ "Hagia Sophia: Turkey turns iconic Istanbul museum into mosque". BBC . 10 July 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  15. ↑ Calian, Florin George (25 March 2021). "Opinion | The Hagia Sophia and Turkey's Neo-Ottomanism". The Armenian Weekly. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  16. ↑ YACKLEY, AYLA JEAN (2 July 2020). "From museum to mosque? Turkish court to rule on Hagia Sophia's fate". politico.eu. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  17. ↑ Truschke, Audrey (16 May 2017). Aurangzeb: The Life and Legacy of India's Most Controversial King. Stanford University Press. ISBN   9781503602595.
  18. ↑ Catherine B. Asher (24 September 1992). Architecture of Mughal India. Cambridge University Press. pp. 278–279. ISBN   978-0-521-26728-1.
  19. ↑ Audrey Truschke (1 February 2018). Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth. Penguin Random House India Private Limited. pp. 95–96. ISBN   978-0-14-343967-7.
  20. ↑ A. W. Entwistle (1 January 1987). Braj: Centre of Krishna pilgrimage. E. Forsten. pp. 125, 319–320. ISBN   9789069800165.
  21. ↑ Rastogi, Saurabh (27 March 2018). "Alamgir Mosque - Lost Vishnu Temple of Varanasi". Varanasi Guru. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
  22. ↑ Shokoohy, Mehrdad (2012). "The Legacy of Islam in Somnath". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 75 (2): 305. doi:10.1017/S0041977X12000493. JSTOR   23259581.
  23. ↑ K.D.L. Khan (2 September 2007). "Ajmer's Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra". The Tribune Spectrum. Chandigarh.
  24. ↑ "Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra". Archaeological Survey of India. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  25. ↑ Patel, Alka (2004). "Architectural Histories Entwined: The Rudra-Mahalaya/Congregational Mosque of Siddhpur, Gujarat". Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. 63 (2): 144–163. doi:10.2307/4127950. JSTOR   4127950.
  26. ↑ "Great Synagogue at Oran, Algeria | Archive | Diarna.org". Diarna. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  27. ↑ "À Marseille, une synagogue va être transformée en mosquée". La Croix (in French). 27 April 2016. ISSN   0242-6056 . Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  28. ↑ "The Marseille synagogue that is becoming a mosque". BBC News. 6 May 2016. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  29. ↑ "Moslems Want to Retain Synagogue". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 20 March 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  30. ↑ "The Hague". Jewish Cultural Quarter. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  31. ↑ "Wagenstraat Synagogue in Den Haag". Religiana. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  32. ↑ Patrick D. Gaffney (2004). "Masjid". In Richard C. Martin (ed.). Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World. MacMillan Reference.
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