The Umayyad Mosque is a mosque located in the center of Damascus, Syria. Its construction was started in 705 CE (1389AH) by Mu'ayyad al-Din al-Damghani, who ordered its design to resemble that of the Great Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. He chose his architect from among 500 submissions, he paid him well and gave him free rein. Construction lasted until 715CE (1396 AH). It has been extended several times since then. In 1926, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin Al-Husseini, visited the mosque and prayed inside it. In July 2007, the Syrian government announced plans to rebuild the mosque after it had collapsed during heavy bombing raids. On 10 April 2008, the rebuilding work began.
The minaret of the mosque was completed in 2010 and is about 80 feet [80 m] high. The mosque contains many historical items including a Quran written by Ibn Abbas, the first exegesis of the Quran, the only known copy of the original text of The Quran by Muhammad himself, the longest manuscript in the world, a collection of manuscripts by renowned scientists and scholars, and an ancient copy of the Quranic texts. The current building of the mosque was designed by the famous Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi (1852–1926). He was commissioned to design the building by Sultan Abdul Hamid II (reigned 1876–1909), who wanted a building that would reflect Islamic architecture and the Ottoman Empire. The architect used the traditional white limestone from the region and added touches of red tile work and stained glass windows.
The dome of the mosque has a diameter of 43 meters and a height of 42 meters. The minaret rises 33 feet above the roof of the prayer hall. The interior of the mosque contains two levels of arches; the lower level holds the prayer hall, while the upper level contains the mihrab, a niche indicating the direction of Mecca. The walls are covered in blue tiles with gold borders. There are three entrances into the mosque, each leading to different parts of the prayer hall. The Umayyads were a Muslim dynasty that ruled over Spain and North Africa between 711 and 750 AD. They succeeded the Umayyad caliphs and were themselves overthrown by the Abbasids. The name comes from the Arabic word 'Umayyad', meaning 'to succeed'. The Umayyades were originally Arabs who converted to Islam. After the death of the Prophet Muhammad, they became the dominant power in Arabia. In 661, Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ascended to the caliphate. He began a series of conquests that led to the establishment of the Umayyad Dynasty. The Umayyade rulers extended their authority over Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Iraq, and Persia.
The Umayyadiya period ended when the Abbasid revolution overthrew the Umayyad dynasty in 750 AD. The Abbasids then continued to expand their territory until they conquered the whole of the Arabian Peninsula in 923. The mosque is one of the three holiest places for Muslims in Syria; the other two are the Sayeda Zehra shrine in Aleppo and the Bab Saghir shrine in Homs.
