imported>Richard Nevell: removed Category:Mamluk architecture in Palestine; added Category:Mamluk mosques in Palestine using HotCat

2025-05-18T11:28:04Z

removed Category:Mamluk architecture in Palestine; added Category:Mamluk mosques in Palestine using HotCat

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{{Short description|Mosque in Gaza City, Palestine}}
{{Infobox religious building
| image =
| image_size =
| caption =
| building_name = Katib al-Wilaya Mosque
| location = [[Zaytun Quarter]], [[Gaza City]], [[Gaza Strip]]
| map_type = Palestine Gaza
| map_caption = Location within Gaza
| map_size = 275
| geo = {{coord|31.5039|34.4623|type:landmark_region:PS|display=inline,title}}
| religious_affiliation = [[Islam]]
| country = [[Palestine]]
| status = unknown
| website =
| architect =
| architecture_type = Mosque
| architecture_style = [[Mamluk architecture|Mamluk]]
| year_completed = 1344 or 1432
| date_destroyed = December 28th 2023
| capacity =
| dome_quantity =
| minaret_quantity = 1
| minaret_height =
}}
'''Katib al-Wilaya Mosque''' or '''Welayat Mosque''' ({{langx|ar|جامع الولايات}}) was a small historic [[mosque]] located along [[Omar Mukhtar Street]] in [[Gaza City]], [[Palestine]] in the [[Zaytun Quarter]] of the Old City. The mosque was built by the [[Burji dynasty|Burji Mamluk]]s in 1432,<ref>Jacobs, Daniel. (1998). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=JXoY2vCZ5AEC&pg=RA3-PA12-IA6&dq=Welayat+Mosque+Gaza&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=0_1#PRA3-PA455,M1 Israel and the Palestinian Territories]'' Rough Guides, p.455.</ref> however, the structure could date further back to 1344. Additions to the western part of the mosque were commissioned in 1584 by Ahmed Bey, the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] clerk of the [[Damascus Vilayet]] (Province of Damascus). Damascus Vilayet's Arabic transliteration was ''Wilayat Dimashq'', hence the name of the mosque ''Katib al-Wilaya'' ("the clerk of the state").<ref>[http://www.mideasttravelling.net/palestine/gaza/gaza_culture.htm Travel in Gaza] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130823050026/http://www.mideasttravelling.net/palestine/gaza/gaza_culture.htm |date=2013-08-23 }} MidEastTraveling.</ref><ref>[http://www.webgaza.net/gaza_strip/tour/Kateb_Al-Welayah_Mosque.htm Kateb Al-Welayah Mosque] WebGaza.</ref>

The mosque was damaged as part of the [[Bombing of the Gaza Strip]], as result of the Israeli airstrike at the nearby Church of Saint Porphyrius.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Saber |first=Indlieb Farazi |title=A ‘cultural genocide’: Which of Gaza’s heritage sites have been destroyed? |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/14/a-cultural-genocide-which-of-gazas-heritage-sites-have-been-destroyed |access-date=2024-03-22 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}}</ref>

==Architecture==
The main body of the mosque was its prayer hall, which was rectangular in shape and dates to the Mamluk period. The entrance was located at the ''[[qibla]]'' (indicator of direction towards [[Mecca]]) wall.<ref name="MWF">Museum With No Frontiers, 2013, IX.1.e. Mosque of Katib al-Wilaya.</ref>

===Minaret===
The [[minaret]] of the mosque, rising above the mosque's eastern wall,<ref name="MWF"/> was adjacent to the bell tower of the [[St. Porphyrius Church]]. Palestinian historian [[Aref al-Aref]] says local legend attributes this positioning of the building to the [[Rashidun Caliphate|Rashidun]] caliph [[Umar ibn al-Khattab]]'s orders to the Muslim general [[Amr ibn al-'As]] to build a mosque next to every church in the lands conquered by the Muslims. Another anecdote claims the mosque had earlier been a [[monastery]] known as Deir Salm al-Fada'il. Both of these accounts lack any verifiable basis other than local folklore.<ref>Sharon, 2009, p. 161.</ref>

In 1432, the minaret was restored by [[Sayf ad-Din Inal]], the Burji ''[[mamluk]]'' who later became [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|sultan]] in 1453.<ref>Sharon, 2009, p. 162.</ref>

== History ==

=== 2023 Israeli bombing of the mosque ===
During the [[Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip]], the [[Israeli Air Force]] bombed the mosque on 17 October 2023, which led to the mosque sustaining damage. The [[Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor|Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor]] accused Israel of “intentionally destroying” historical and cultural monuments in Gaza. The organization demanded an international investigation into Israel's destruction of Palestinian cultural heritage.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Post |first=Jusoor |title=Jusoor Post » Crimes against history: Israeli occupation destroys ancient places in Gaza |url=https://jusoorpost.com/en/posts/30331/crimes_against_history_israeli_occupation_destroys_ancient_places_in_gaza |access-date=2024-04-19 |website=Jusoor Post |language=en}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
* {{Citation|title=Pilgrimage, Sciences and Sufism: Islamic Art in the West Bank and Gaza|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kTrdBAAAQBAJ&q=katib+wilaya&pg=PT404|author=Museum With No Frontiers|year=2013|publisher=Museum With No Frontiers|isbn=9783902782113}}
* {{Citation|title=Handbook of oriental studies: Handbuch der Orientalistik. The Near and Middle East. Corpus inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae (CIAP)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P2LtyFVNJmcC&q=Uthman|first1= Moshe|last1=Sharon|year=2009|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-17085-8}}
{{refend}}

{{Mosques in Palestine}}
{{Gaza City}}

[[Category:Mamluk mosques in Palestine]]
[[Category:Mosques in Gaza City]]
[[Category:Mosques completed in the 1580s]]
[[Category:Religious buildings and structures completed in 1584]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1432]]
[[Category:Mosques completed in the 1430s]]
[[Category:Zaytun Quarter]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures demolished in 2023]]
[[Category:Mosques destroyed as a result of Arab–Israeli armed engagements]]
[[Category:2023 disestablishments in Palestine]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures destroyed during the Israel–Hamas war]]
[[Category:Gaza City in the Israel–Hamas war]]

Katib al-Wilaya Mosque - Revision history

imported>Richard Nevell: removed Category:Mamluk architecture in Palestine; added Category:Mamluk mosques in Palestine using HotCat