# Nebi Akasha Mosque

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Mosque in Jerusalem

Nebi Akasha Mosque مسجد عُكَّاشة The mosque minaret in 2012 Religion Affiliation Islam Branch/tradition Sunni Ecclesiastical or organizational status Mosque Maqam Status Active Location Location Straus Street, West Jerusalem Country Israel Location of the mosque in Jerusalem Interactive map of Nebi Akasha Mosque Coordinates 31°47′07.50″N 35°13′05.40″E / 31.7854167°N 35.2181667°E / 31.7854167; 35.2181667 Architecture Style Ayyubid Completed 12th century (tomb) 19th century (mosque) Specifications Minaret One Shrine One: Ukasha ibn al-Mihsan

The **Nebi Akasha Mosque** ([Arabic](/source/Arabic_language): مسجد عُكَّاشة), also known as the **Okasha mosque** or the **Ukasha mosque**, is a [mosque](/source/Mosque) and [maqam](/source/Maqam_(shrine)) on [Straus Street](/source/Straus_Street), north of the [Old City](/source/Old_City_(Jerusalem)), in western [Jerusalem](/source/Jerusalem), [Israel](/source/Israel).[1][2]

## History

The tomb of [Ukasha ibn al-Mihsan](/source/Ukasha_ibn_al-Mihsan), a [companion](/source/Sahaba) of the Islamic prophet [Muhammad](/source/Muhammad) who settled in Jerusalem following the [siege of Jerusalem](/source/Siege_of_Jerusalem_(637)) in 637/38,[3] was built in the 12th century [CE](/source/Common_Era).[4] According to Islamic tradition, [Saladin](/source/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 [Mamluks](/source/Mamluk) in the 13th century.[5] 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](/source/Street_of_the_Prophets).[4]

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](/source/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](/source/Ashkenazi_Jews) and [Sephardi](/source/Sephardi_Jews) [kabbalists](/source/Kabbalah).[6] 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.[2]

A mosque was built beside the tomb in the 19th century.

### 20th-21st centuries

On 26 August 1929, during the [1929 Palestine riots](/source/1929_Palestine_riots), the mosque was attacked by a group of Jews.[4] The mosque was badly damaged and the tombs were [desecrated](/source/Desecration).[7] As a result of the [Palestinian Arab](/source/Palestinian_Arab) exodus from western Jerusalem during the [1948 Arab–Israeli War](/source/1948_Arab%E2%80%93Israeli_War), the mosque was abandoned. Today it is located in the middle of a park in a [Haredi](/source/Haredi_Judaism) Jewish neighborhood.[5] It is situated near the junction of [Straus Street](/source/Straus_Street) and the Street of the Prophets.[4]

In December 2011 the mosque was defaced with [graffiti](/source/Graffiti) by right-wing extremists who tried to set fire to it in a [price tag attack](/source/Price_tag_policy).[8] The mosque is inactive and the [Jerusalem Municipality](/source/Jerusalem_Municipality) uses it as a storage room.[4]

As of 2025, a Hebrew sign on the tomb declares it to be the burial place of the biblical figure [Benjamin](/source/Benjamin) son of [Jacob](/source/Jacob). This identification is based on the medieval work [Sefer haYashar](/source/Sefer_haYashar_(midrash)), which claims that Benjamin's bones were buried "in Jerusalem, opposite the [Jebusite](/source/Jebusite) [city], which was given to the descendants of Benjamin".[9] 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](/source/Tomb_of_Benjamin) near [Kfar Saba](/source/Kfar_Saba).

Another Jewish tradition asserts that the site is the *pitcha dekarta* ("city entrance") where, according to the Talmud, [the messiah is said to sit](/source/The_Messiah_at_the_Gates_of_Rome) and from where Jewish prayers go up to heaven. This tradition is attributed to the students of the [Vilna Gaon](/source/Vilna_Gaon), even though the Vilna Gaon himself wrote that the "city" in question was [Rome](/source/Rome), not Jerusalem.[10]

## Inscription

The tomb includes the following inscription: [Arabic](/source/Arabic_language): لا اله الا الله ومحمد رسول الله، هذا ضريح سيدنا عكاشة صحابي رسول الله، (translation: [There is no God but Allah ِand Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah](/source/Shahada), this is the shrine of our master Akasha, the companion of the Messenger of Allah).[11]

The tomb includes a date: [Arabic](/source/Arabic_language): ١٢٨٠, 1280 [AH](/source/Islamic_calendar) (1863/1864 [CE](/source/Common_Era)), which was the date of the reconstruction of the tomb.[11]

## Gallery

		- ”Tombs of the Martyrs” (top left) shown at the site of the mosque in the 1841 Aldrich and Symonds map of Jerusalem

		- Tomb of Nebi Akasha (Turbat Qameria)

		- Park between the mosque and tomb

		- Desecrated graves in the mosque during the [1929 Palestine riots](/source/1929_Palestine_riots)

## See also

- [Islam portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Islam)
- [Israel portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Israel)

- [List of mosques in Jerusalem](/source/List_of_mosques_in_Jerusalem)

- [Islam in Israel](/source/Islam_in_Israel)

- [Expedition of Ukasha bin Al-Mihsan](/source/Expedition_of_Ukasha_bin_Al-Mihsan) - [Expedition of Ukasha bin Al-Mihsan (Udhrah and Baliy)](/source/Expedition_of_Ukasha_bin_Al-Mihsan_(Udhrah_and_Baliy))

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEDe'adle2009614_1-0)** [De'adle 2009](#CITEREFDe'adle2009), p. 614.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEArnon199230_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEArnon199230_2-1) [Arnon 1992](#CITEREFArnon1992), p. 30.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEArnon199263,_note_58_3-0)** [Arnon 1992](#CITEREFArnon1992), p. 63, note 58.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-peek_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-peek_4-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-peek_4-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-peek_4-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-peek_4-4) Gilad, Moshe (August 29, 2012). ["Peeking Through the Highrises: Famed Jerusalem street's old architectural glories"](https://www.haaretz.com/2012-08-29/ty-article/luxury-housing-obscures-jerusalem-gems/0000017f-db2e-d856-a37f-ffeeeb480000). *[Haaretz](/source/Haaretz)*. Retrieved November 21, 2012.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Haaretz_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Haaretz_5-1) Rosenberg, Oz (December 14, 2011). ["Jerusalem mosque set alight in suspected 'price tag' attack"](https://web.archive.org/web/20111214075907/http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/jerusalem-mosque-set-alight-in-suspected-price-tag-attack-1.401330). *Haaretz*. Archived from [the original](https://www.haaretz.com/news/national/jerusalem-mosque-set-alight-in-suspected-price-tag-attack-1.401330) on December 14, 2011.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Tagger, Mathilde A.; Kerem, Yitzchak (2006). [*Guidebook for Sephardic and Oriental Genealogical Sources in Israel*](https://books.google.com/books?id=MlRmAAAAMAAJ&q=ezrat+yisrael+neighborhood). Avotaynu. p. 40. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [1886223289](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/1886223289).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** [Shaw report](/source/Shaw_report), p. 65.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["Vandals attack disused Jerusalem mosque"](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16176316). *[BBC](/source/BBC) News*. December 14, 2011.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** [Sefer Hayashar, Joshua](https://www.sefaria.org.il/Sefer_HaYashar_(midrash)%252C_Book_of_Joshua.10)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** [Hagahot Hagra, Sanhedrin 98a](https://daf-yomi.com/Dafyomi_Page.aspx?vt=1&massechet=306&amud=195&fs=0)

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTECanaan1927298_11-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTECanaan1927298_11-1) [Canaan 1927](#CITEREFCanaan1927), p. 298.

### Bibliography

- Arnon, Adar (January 1992). "The Quarters of Jerusalem in the Ottoman Period". *Middle Eastern Studies*. **28** (1): 1–65. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1080/00263209208700889](https://doi.org/10.1080%2F00263209208700889). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [4283477](https://www.jstor.org/stable/4283477).

- [Canaan, T.](/source/Tawfiq_Canaan) (1927). [*Mohammedan Saints and Sanctuaries in Palestine*](https://digital.soas.ac.uk/LOAA003475/00002/307j). London: Luzac & Co.

- De'adle, Tawfik (December 21, 2009). ["Jerusalem, Nebi 'Akasha"](http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/Report_Detail_Eng.aspx?id=1292). Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel.

## Further reading

- Lieberman, Tehillah (January 7, 2018). ["Jerusalem, Nebi 'Akasha"](http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=25379). Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel.

## External links

Media related to [Nebi Akasha Mosque](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Nebi_Akasha_Mosque) at Wikimedia Commons

v t e Mosques in Israel Central Herzliya Sidna Ali Lod Great Omari Ramla Great Tel Aviv Al-Bahr Hassan Bek Mahmoudiya Siksik Jerusalem West Nebi Akasha East (occupied territory) Abdeen Al-Aqsa (Qibli / Dome of the Rock) Al-Buraq Al Dissi Hayat Al-Khanqah as-Salahiyya Marwani Omar Al-Qaymariyya Northern Acre Al-Jazzar Al-Muallaq Haifa Mahmood Nazareth Nabi Saeen White Inactive Al-Jarina Mosque (partially destroyed in 2025) Maqam an-Nabi Yusha' (ruins) Sidna Omar Mosque (closed since 1967) White (ruins) Category List Islam in Israel Mosques by country

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Nebi Akasha Mosque](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebi_Akasha_Mosque) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebi_Akasha_Mosque?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.