#nmenam

[leroibobo]

kruszyniany mosque in kruszyniany, poland. this is the oldest lipka tatar mosque in poland.

the town of kruszyniany was assigned to tatars who participated on the side of the polish-lithuanian commonwealth in their war against the ottoman empire. after lipka tatars settled in the city, they built this mosque, most likely in the late eighteenth century; though there are documents which mention it going back to 1717. the village was settled by repatriates and belarusian muslims following world war ii.

[leroibobo]

the mosque in the village of larabanga, ghana. there's some differing theories over when exactly the mosque was built and by who, but it's thought to date back to 1421. this makes it the oldest in west africa.

one common story of its founding goes that it was built by a muslim trader named ayuba, who had a dream instructing him to build a mosque. when he awoke, he found the foundations were already laid, and he built the rest. his remains are thought to be buried under the baobab tree nearby.

the mosque is built in the sudanese architecture style, one of a few similar styles associated with grassland regions in west africa south of the sahara desert. the wood jutting out of the walls are support beams.

[leroibobo]

the papier-mache walls of the shrine in kanqah naqshband sahib in srinagar, kashmir, built in its current form in 1633. the complex is dedicated to bukharan baha' al-din naqshband, who founded the naqshbandi sufi order, and is a mausoleum for one of his descendants. the shrine is a site for ziyarat as it contains what's said to be a lock of the prophet muhammad's hair.

[leroibobo]

thazhathangady juma mosque in kottayam, kerala, india. like judaism and christianity, islam first reached present-day kerala via trade and migration from the middle east to the malabar coast from antiquity. the mosque dates back to the 9th-10th centuries.

[leroibobo]

details of the painted mosque in tetovo, north macedonia. the mosque was originally built in 1438, and later rebuilt in 1833. unlike other local mosques from the classical ottoman period, it bears byzantine influence.

[leroibobo]

khanqah-e-moula and shah-i-hamadan mosque in srinagar, kashmir, commissioned by sultan sikandar butshikan of kashmir in 1395. it was built in honor of mir sayyid ali hamadani, a persian sufi traveller (and now saint) who was heavily involved in the widespread conversion to islam in kashmir a few decades prior. it's the first khanqah (place for sufi orders/brotherhoods to meet, study, and worship) and one of the first muslim sites in general in kashmir. the decorations on the walls inside are made with papier-mache.

kashmir's traditional wooden architecture, of which this is an example, was built tall and sturdy in order to withstand earthquakes. the combination of papier-mache and wood also unfortunately makes khanqah-e-moula susceptible to fire - it's suffered three. the most recent was in 2017, after which it was restored.

[leroibobo]

pictures from the annual maintenance of the great mosque of djenné in djenné, mali. the mosque was first built in the 13th century but the current structure dates to 1907.

it (like much of the rest of djenné) is built with sun-baked earth bricks, and its smooth look comes from a coating of plaster applied over it. weather erodes the walls slowly over time, so a new coating of mud and plaster is required to be applied to it every year. the maintenance is also an annual festival which djennéans take part in.

[leroibobo]

mosque of the companions in massawa, eritrea. it was reportedly built by companions of the prophet muhammad who fled to africa due to persecution they faced in mecca. it possibly dates to 620-630 ce, which would make it the oldest purpose-built mosque in the world. however, some of the current structure was most likely built in the late 7th-9th centuries, as the mihrab and minaret as we know them hadn't been developed at the time.

[leroibobo]

afaq khoja mausoleum and mosques in kashgar, east turkistan. the complex was built in the 1640s.

the mausoleum houses the body of muhammad yusuf khoja, a central asian naqshbandi sufi master who played a role in spreading sufism both in the region and in china proper. it also contains the remains of five generations of his family including the famed political figure afaq khoja.

[leroibobo]

niujie mosque in beijing, china. it was constructed during the liao dynasty period in 996. this makes it the oldest mosque in beijing and one of the oldest in china.

it was renovated several times, one time being in 1443 (ming dynasty), after having been destroyed by the armies of genghis khan about 200 years prior. the mosque is located in the niujie area of beijing's xicheng district - an area that's still heavily hui and generally muslim today.

[leroibobo]

the mausoleum of timur in samarkand, uzbekistan. completed in 1404, it served as an important influence for the architecture of mughal tombs built later.

timur was the founder of the timurid empire, which he'd established seeing himself as the heir of genghis khan and rightful restorer of his empire (despite the fact that he didn't descend from him). the conquests he lead throughout central and west asia killed 5% of the world's population. though the mausoleum was intended for muhammad sultan, timur's grandson and heir apparent, timur himself was buried in it after the passes to the mausoleum originally intended to house his body were snowed in.

a legend goes that inside his tomb is written "when i rise from the dead, the world shall tremble", and "whoever disturbs my tomb will unleash an invader even more terrible than myself." soviet archaeologists excavated his body in 1941, two days before the nazi invasion of the soviet union. in reality, this warning isn't written inside of his tomb, only an islamic prayer and a list of timur's ancestors.

[leroibobo]

the king mosque in berat, albania, built in 1492. though islam first reached albania as far back as the 13th century, most albanians converted under ottoman rule. the king the mosque is named for is ottoman sultan bayezid II.

[leroibobo]

the mosque in the village of priveli maisi ("may first" in georgian), adjara, georgia. it was constructed in 1865 and is one of the oldest mosques in the country. adjara is home to a significant population of muslims who's ancestors converted during ottoman rule in the 16th-17th centuries.