Nebi Akasha Mosque

Nebi Akasha Mosque

Nebi Akasha Mosque, also Okasha mosque or Ukasha mosque, is a historic mosque located in western Jerusalem.

History

Tomb of Nebi Akasha

The mosque was built in the 19th century beside the 12th-century tomb of Nebi Akasha Bin Mohsin, one of the disciples of the Prophet Muhammad.[1] According to Islamic tradition, Saladin's soldiers were buried at the site. Additions were made to the tomb by the Mamluks in the 13th-century.[2] There is also a tradition that Moses, Jesus and Muhammad were buried here, leading the British High Commissioner John Chancellor to name the nearby street Street of the Prophets.[1]

Park between the mosque and tomb

Over a 70-year period in the 1800s, the hill on which the tomb stands was used as a meeting place by students of the Vilna Gaon. These Jews rented the hill from its Arab owners and gathered for study and Friday-night prayers in a tent, joined by local Ashkenazi and Sephardi kabbalists.[3]

20th century

On August 26, 1929, during the 1929 Palestine riots, the mosque was attacked by a group of Jews in response to Arab massacres.[1] The mosque was badly damaged and the tombs were desecrated.[4] As a result of the Palestinian Arab exodus from western Jerusalem during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the mosque was abandoned. Today it is located in the middle of a park in a Haredi Jewish neighborhood.[2] It is situated near the junction of Straus Street and the Street of the Prophets.[1]

In December 2011 the mosque was defaced with graffiti by right-wing extremists who tried to set fire to it in a price tag attack.[5] The mosque is inactive and the Jerusalem Municipality uses it as a warehouse.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Gilad, Moshe (29 August 2012). "Peeking Through the Highrises: Famed Jerusalem street's old architectural glories". Haaretz. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  2. 1 2 Rosenberg, Oz (14 December 2011). "Jerusalem mosque set alight in suspected 'price tag' attack". Haaretz.
  3. ↑ Tagger, Mathilde A.; Kerem, Yitzchak (2006). Guidebook for Sephardic and Oriental Genealogical Sources in Israel. Avotaynu. p. 40. ISBN 1886223289.
  4. ↑ Shaw report, p. 65.
  5. ↑ "Vandals attack disused Jerusalem mosque". BBC News. 14 December 2011.

External links

Coordinates: 31°47′07.50″N 35°13′05.40″E / 31.7854167°N 35.2181667°E / 31.7854167; 35.2181667

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