{{Short description|Mosque in Jerusalem}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2025}} {{Infobox religious building | building_name = Nebi Akasha Mosque | native_name = {{lang|ar|مسجد عُكَّاشة}} | native_name_lang = ar | image = Nebi Akasha Mosque, Jerusalem.jpg | image_upright = 1.4 | alt = | caption = The mosque minaret in 2012 | map_type = Jerusalem | map_size = 250 | map_relief = 1 | map_caption = Location of the mosque in [[Jerusalem]] | mapframe = yes | location = [[Straus Street]], [[West Jerusalem]] | country = [[Israel]] | coordinates = {{coord|31|47|07.50|N|35|13|05.40|E|scale:5000_source:enwiki|display=title,inline}} | religious_affiliation = [[Islam]] | tradition = [[Sunni]] | rite = | consecration_year = | status = {{ubl|[[Mosque]]|[[Maqam (shrine)|Maqam]]}} | functional_status = Active | heritage_designation = | leadership = | patron = | website = | architect = | architecture_type = | architecture_style = [[Ayyubid Dynasty|Ayyubid]] | founded_by = | funded_by = |general_contractor = |facade_direction = |groundbreaking = |year_completed = {{ubl|12th century {{small|(tomb)}}|19th century {{small|(mosque)}}}} |construction_cost = |capacity = |length = |width = |width_nave = |height_max = |dome_quantity = |dome_height_outer = |dome_height_inner = |dome_dia_outer = |dome_dia_inner = | minaret_quantity = One |minaret_height = | shrine_quantity = {{nowrap|One: [[Ukasha ibn al-Mihsan]]}} |materials = |nrhp = |added = |refnum = |designated = }} The '''Nebi Akasha Mosque''' ({{langx|ar|مسجد عُكَّاشة}}), also known as the '''Okasha mosque''' or the '''Ukasha mosque''', is a [[mosque]] and [[Maqam (shrine)|maqam]] on [[Straus Street]], north of the [[Old City (Jerusalem)|Old City]], in western [[Jerusalem]], [[Israel]].{{sfn|De'adle|2009|p=614}}{{sfn|Arnon|1992|p=30}}
== History == The tomb of [[Ukasha ibn al-Mihsan]], a [[sahaba|companion]] of the Islamic prophet [[Muhammad]] who settled in Jerusalem following the [[Siege of Jerusalem (637)|siege of Jerusalem]] in 637/38,{{sfn|Arnon|1992|p=63, note 58}} was built in the 12th century [[Common Era|CE]].<ref name=peek>{{cite web|url=https://www.haaretz.com/2012-08-29/ty-article/luxury-housing-obscures-jerusalem-gems/0000017f-db2e-d856-a37f-ffeeeb480000 |title=Peeking Through the Highrises: Famed Jerusalem street's old architectural glories|work=[[Haaretz]]|date=29 August 2012 |access-date=21 November 2012 |first=Moshe |last=Gilad}}</ref> According to Islamic tradition, [[Saladin]]'s soldiers were buried at the site; it became known as the “Tomb of the Martyrs”. Additions were made to the tomb by the [[Mamluk]]s in the 13th century.<ref name="Haaretz">{{cite web |last=Rosenberg|first=Oz|url=https://www.haaretz.com/news/national/jerusalem-mosque-set-alight-in-suspected-price-tag-attack-1.401330 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111214075907/http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/jerusalem-mosque-set-alight-in-suspected-price-tag-attack-1.401330 |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 14, 2011 |title=Jerusalem mosque set alight in suspected 'price tag' attack|work=Haaretz|date=14 December 2011}}</ref> 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]].<ref name=peek/>
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 Jews|Ashkenazi]] and [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardi]] [[Kabbalah|kabbalists]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MlRmAAAAMAAJ&q=ezrat+yisrael+neighborhood |title=Guidebook for Sephardic and Oriental Genealogical Sources in Israel |first1=Mathilde A. |last1=Tagger |first2=Yitzchak |last2=Kerem |page=40 |publisher=Avotaynu |year=2006 |isbn=1886223289}}</ref> In the late 19th century, an almost entirely Jewish neighborhood called Ukasha in the Ottoman census lists developed around the tomb with the Jewish housing estates of Sha'arey Moshe or the Wittenberg Houses (called the Waytenberk neighborhood in the Ottoman census) founded in 1885, Even Yehoshua founded in 1891, and Kolel Varsha (called the Rabi Daud neighborhood in the Ottoman census) founded in 1897.{{sfn|Arnon|1992|p=30}}
A mosque was built beside the tomb in the 19th century.
===20th-21st centuries=== On 26 August 1929, during the [[1929 Palestine riots]], the mosque was attacked by a group of Jews.<ref name=peek/> The mosque was badly damaged and the tombs were [[Desecration|desecrated]].<ref>[[Shaw report]], p. 65.</ref> 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 Judaism|Haredi]] Jewish neighborhood.<ref name="Haaretz"/> It is situated near the junction of [[Straus Street]] and the Street of the Prophets.<ref name=peek/>
In December 2011 the mosque was defaced with [[graffiti]] by right-wing extremists who tried to set fire to it in a [[Price tag policy|price tag attack]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16176316 |title=Vandals attack disused Jerusalem mosque|work=[[BBC]] News|date=14 December 2011}}</ref> The mosque is inactive and the [[Jerusalem Municipality]] uses it as a storage room.<ref name=peek/>
As of 2025, a Hebrew sign on the tomb declares it to be the burial place of the biblical figure [[Benjamin]] son of [[Jacob]]. This identification is based on the medieval work [[Sefer haYashar (midrash)|Sefer haYashar]], which claims that Benjamin's bones were buried "in Jerusalem, opposite the [[Jebusite]] [city], which was given to the descendants of Benjamin".<ref>[https://www.sefaria.org.il/Sefer_HaYashar_(midrash)%252C_Book_of_Joshua.10 Sefer Hayashar, Joshua]</ref> While this description could apply to a number of sites in the Jerusalem area, the Akasha tomb is perhaps the most notable tomb structure that could meet the description (though it was built many centuries after Benjamin's alleged burial). Other traditions place Benjamin's tomb elsewhere, for example at the [[Tomb of Benjamin]] near [[Kfar Saba]].
Another Jewish tradition asserts that the site is the ''pitcha dekarta'' ("city entrance") where, according to the Talmud, [[The Messiah at the Gates of Rome|the messiah is said to sit]] and from where Jewish prayers go up to heaven. This tradition is attributed to the students of the [[Vilna Gaon]], even though the Vilna Gaon himself wrote that the "city" in question was [[Rome]], not Jerusalem.<ref>[https://daf-yomi.com/Dafyomi_Page.aspx?vt=1&massechet=306&amud=195&fs=0 Hagahot Hagra, Sanhedrin 98a]</ref>
==Inscription== The tomb includes the following inscription: {{langx|ar| لا اله الا الله ومحمد رسول الله، هذا ضريح سيدنا عكاشة صحابي رسول الله،}} (translation: [[Shahada|There is no God but Allah ِand Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah]], this is the shrine of our master Akasha, the companion of the Messenger of Allah).{{sfn|Canaan|1927|p=298}}
The tomb includes a date: {{langx|ar|١٢٨٠}}, {{AH|1280|link=yes}}, which was the date of the reconstruction of the tomb.{{sfn|Canaan|1927|p=298}}
== Gallery == <gallery> 1841 Aldrich and Symonds map of Jerusalem.jpg|”Tombs of the Martyrs” (top left) shown at the site of the mosque in the 1841 Aldrich and Symonds map of Jerusalem Nebi Akasha Mosque.jpg|Tomb of Nebi Akasha (Turbat Qameria) Turbat Kameria Jerusalem 2011.jpg|Park between the mosque and tomb Palestine events. The 1929 riots, August 23 to 31. Desecrated graves in the Awkashi shrine. Demolished by Jews (Jerusalem) Palestine events. The 1929 riots, August 23 to 31. Desecrated LOC matpc.15713.jpg|Desecrated graves in the mosque during the [[1929 Palestine riots]] </gallery>
==See also== {{stack|{{portal|Islam|Israel}}}} * [[List of mosques in Jerusalem]] * [[Islam in Israel]] * [[Expedition of Ukasha bin Al-Mihsan]] ** [[Expedition of Ukasha bin Al-Mihsan (Udhrah and Baliy)]]
==References== {{reflist}}
=== Bibliography === * {{cite journal |last1=Arnon |first1=Adar |title=The Quarters of Jerusalem in the Ottoman Period |journal=Middle Eastern Studies |date=January 1992 |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=1–65 |jstor=4283477 |doi=10.1080/00263209208700889 }} * {{cite book |last=Canaan |first=T. |authorlink=Tawfiq Canaan |url=https://digital.soas.ac.uk/LOAA003475/00002/307j |title=Mohammedan Saints and Sanctuaries in Palestine |year=1927 |location=London |publisher=Luzac & Co }} * {{cite web |last=De'adle |first=Tawfik |date=2009-12-21 |url=http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/Report_Detail_Eng.aspx?id=1292 |title=Jerusalem, Nebi 'Akasha |publisher=Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel |number=121 }}
==Further reading== * {{cite web |last=Lieberman |first=Tehillah |date=2018-01-07 |url=http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=25379 |title=Jerusalem, Nebi 'Akasha |publisher=Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel |number=130}}
== External links == {{commons category-inline}}
{{Mosques in Israel}}
[[Category:12th-century establishments in the Ayyubid Sultanate]] [[Category:19th-century mosques in Israel]] [[Category:20th-century attacks on mosques]] [[Category:Attacks on mosques in the 2010s]] [[Category:Ayyubid architecture in Israel]] [[Category:Ayyubid architecture in Palestine]] [[Category:Islamic holy places]] [[Category:Mosque buildings with minarets in Israel]] [[Category:Mosques in Jerusalem]] [[Category:Shrines in Jerusalem]]