Mosque Name: Cordoba Mosque
Country: Spain
City: Cordoba
Year of construction (AH): 168 AH
Year of construction (AD): 784 AD
GPS: 37°52’45.23”N 4°46’46.46”W
ArchNet: http://archnet.org/sites/2715
Gibson Classification: Parallel
Rebuilt facing Mecca: never
For a Link to the Qibla Tool Click Here
Description:
The Great Mosque of Cordoba was considered a wonder of the medieval world by both Muslims and Christians. The mosque was built on an ancient site where building materials were readily available, with construction starting in 784 and completion in 786, under the direction of ‘Abd al-Rahman I, who escaped from Syria to the Iberian Peninsula after his family was massacred by a rival political dynasty.
The qibla of this mosque has puzzled researchers for many years, with a variety of explinations given about why this particular mosque might have faced this particular direction. However, the qibla used for the Cordoba mosque is very similar to that used by over 30 mosques is Spain and North Africa. These average around 155 degrees. The earliest mosque with this qibla direction was built in Mila in 59 AH (679 CE), apparently as a protest against the calaphate in Syria and afterwards this qibla direction was copied throughout North Africa. When the Muslims invaded the Iberian peninsula, they continue to use the popular Qibla rather than one facing Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Gibson has classified these mosques as ‘parallel’ since they all seem to have a qibla related to a line drawn from Petra to Mecca which is 155 degrees.
The last major renovation of the Cordoba mosque was in 987 AD, but it still maintained it’s southward facing qibla. For many years this mosque was the second largest in the world.
In Gibson’s study of mosque qiblas, the qibla used at the Cordoba Mosque is not at all unique. The first Parallel Qiblas started being used over a hundred years before the Cordoba Mosque was built.
The Cordoba Mosque Qibla
As you can see, the qibla of this mosque points parallel to a line drawn between Petra and Mecca
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