Mahmoudiya Mosque

{{Short description|Mosque in Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Israel}} {{use mdy dates|date=July 2025}} {{Infobox religious building | building_name = Mahmoudiya Mosque | native_name = {{lang|ar|مسجد المحمودية}}<br/>{{lang|he|מסגד מחמודיה}} | native_name_lang = ar; he | image = סביל סולימאן יפו העתיקה.jpg | image_upright = 1.4 | caption = | location = 4 Ruslan Street, [[Jaffa]], [[Tel Aviv]] | country = [[Israel]] | map_type = Israel center ta | map_size = 250px | map_alt = | map_relief = 1 | map_caption = Location of the mosque in Tel Aviv District, [[Israel]] | mapframe = yes | coordinates = {{coord|32.054917|34.75548|region:IL_type:landmark|format=dms|display=it}} | religious_affiliation = [[Islam]] | tradition = [[Sunni]] | status = [[Mosque]] | functional_status = Active | website = | architect = | architecture_type = {{nowrap|[[Mosque architecture]]}} | architecture_style = [[Ottoman architecture|Ottoman]] | founded_by = {{ubl|Sheikh Muhammad al-Khalili {{small|(1730)}}|[[Muhammad Abu-Nabbut]] {{small|(1812)}}}} | groundbreaking = 1730 [[Common Era|CE]] | year_completed = 1812 | construction_cost = | capacity = | dome_quantity = Six | dome_height_outer = | dome_dia_outer = | minaret_quantity = One | minaret_height = | materials = }} The '''Mahmoudiya Mosque''' ({{langx|ar|مسجد المحمودية}}; {{langx|he|מסגד מחמודיה}}) is the largest and most significant [[mosque]] in [[Jaffa]], [[Tel Aviv]], in the [[Tel Aviv District]] of [[Israel]]. It is composed of a complex of buildings arranged around two large courtyards and a third, smaller, courtyard. The buildings, gates, and courtyards were built at different stages throughout the 18th and 19th centuries while [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] was under [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] rule.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |url=https://archnet.org/sites/3533 |title=Masjid al-Mahmudiyya |website=ArchNet.org |date=n.d. |access-date=2020-03-25}}</ref>

==History== [[File:Mahmudija167.jpg|thumb|left|Courtyard of the mosque]] Construction of the Mahmoudiya Mosque occurred in 1730 on the orders of governor Sheikh [[Muhammad al-Khalili]]. A ''[[Sebil (fountain)|sabil]]'' (fountain), embedded in the southern wall of the mosque, is attributed to [[Sulayman Pasha al-Adil|Sulayman Pasha]], governor of [[Acre, Israel|Acre]] in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.<ref name=":0" />

Most of the current mosque was built in 1812 by the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] governor of [[Gaza City|Gaza]] and Jaffa, [[Muhammad Abu-Nabbut]]. The main courtyard, located in the western part of the mosque, with its arcades and large rectangular prayer hall covered by two big shallow domes, and with its slender [[minaret]] are accredited to him. Traces of earlier construction are hardly noticeable, but research contends that Abu-Nabbut's mosque was built on the foundations of a smaller mosque that belonged to the Bibi family of Jaffa.<ref name=":0" /> The building reuses [[Roman Empire|Roman]] columns from [[Caesarea Maritima|Caesarea]] and [[Ashkelon]].<ref>Dumper, Stanley, and Abu-Lughod, 2007, p.202.</ref>

==Location== The Mahmoudiya Mosque used to occupy the northeast corner of [[Old Jaffa]]. In the middle of the 19th century, the walls of Jaffa were gradually dismantled, thus allowing for another major addition to the mosque to be made. Around the turn of the 20th century, the center of government moved to the east of the mosque, just outside the ancient walls. In order to facilitate access to the mosque from the government building, a new gate was built in the eastern wall of the mosque, facing the clock-tower plaza. The gate, named "the gate of the governors", reflects the design of Sabil Sulayman, built in [[Jerusalem]] in the 17th century by [[Suleiman the Magnificent]].<ref name=":0" />

Today, the exterior walls of the mosque are largely concealed by shops. However, in some places the two shallow domes of the prayer hall and the multitude of ancillary domes are still visible from the surrounding streets. The tall and refined silhouette of the minaret is still prominent in what remains of the fabric of Old Jaffa and its surroundings.<ref name=":0" />

== See also == {{stack|{{portal|Islam|Israel}}}} * [[Islam in Israel]] * [[List of mosques in Israel]]

==References== {{reflist}}

==Bibliography== {{refbegin}} * {{cite book |title=Cities of the Middle East and North Africa: A Historical Encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3SapTk5iGDkC&q=Cities+of+the+Middle+East |first1=Michael|last1=Dumper |first2=Bruce E. |last2=Stanley |first3=J. |last3=Abu-Lughod |authorlink3=Janet Abu-Lughod |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2007 |isbn=9781576079195}} * {{cite book |author=Kana`an, Ruba |year=2001 |url=http://www.archnet.org/library/pubdownloader/pdf/10380/doc/DPC1870.pdf |archive-date=2011-06-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604200257/http://archnet.org/library/documents/one-document.jsp?document_id=10380 |chapter=Waqf, Architecture, and Political Self-Fashioning: The Construction of the Great Mosque of Jaffa by Muhammad Aga Abu Nabbut |title=Muqarnas XVIII: An Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture |editor=Necipoglu, Gülru |location=Leiden |publisher=E. J. Brill |access-date= }}{{dead link|date=February 2024|bot=medic}}) * {{cite book |title=A Gazetteer of Buildings in Muslim Palestine (British Academy Monographs in Archaeology) |url=https://www.academia.edu/21539664|volume =I |first=Andrew |last=Petersen |year=2001 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-727011-0 |pages=[https://www.academia.edu/21539664/Gazetteer_4_D-J 164−165]}} {{refend}}

== External links == {{commons category-inline|Mahmoudiya mosque in Jaffa}}

[[Category:19th-century mosques in Israel]] [[Category:Jaffa]] [[Category:Mosque buildings with domes in Israel]] [[Category:Mosque buildings with minarets in Israel]] [[Category:Mosques completed in the 1810s]] [[Category:Mosques in Tel Aviv]] [[Category:Ottoman mosques in Israel]] [[Category:Religious buildings and structures completed in 1812]]