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Description
Property Name: Al Saayed Hashem Ibn Abd Manaf Mosque, Gaza
Inventory No: 972-2-27
Date of infill of the inventory form: 2020-08-20
Country (State party): Palestine
Province: Gaza Strip
Town: Levant / Gaza
Geographic coordinates: 31°30’28.95″N
34°27’48.15″E
Historic Period: Mamluks
Year of Construction: 12th century
Style: Mamluk, Ottoman
Original Use: Mosque
Current Use: Mosque
Architect: Unknown
Significance
It is one of the most beautiful mosques in Gaza and one of the largest, which is an open area surrounded by four canopies, the largest canopy of the Qibla, and in the room that opens on the Western cloak is the tomb of Hashim bin Abdul Manaf grandfather of the Messenger of Allah Muhammad ‘Sala allahu alayhi wa sallam’. He died in Gaza during his summer journey. The mosque was established by the Mamluks and renewed by Sultan Abdul Majid in 1850 and named Gaza City “Gaza Hashim” after him.
Selection Criteria
ii. to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design
iii. to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared
vi. to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance
State of Preservation
The existing Mosque of Sayyed Hashim was built in 1850, on the orders of the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Majeed. Some of the exquisite, very old materials used in the mosque’s construction were taken from the mosques and other buildings destroyed by Napoleon’s troops. The original Ottoman minaret was rebuilt in 1903; the north and west aisles were also built during the same period. The mausoleum of Sayyed Hashim is located in the north-western corner of the mosque. The mosque was hit by a bomb during the First World War, but the Supreme Islamic Council restored it.
References
Al-Aqsa University website: https://www.alaqsa.edu.ps/
Palestine: A Guide, Interlink Publishers, 2005.