Okba Ibn Nafaa al-Fihri Mosque – Biskra

Sites and landscapes

The mosque is located in the municipality of Sidi Okba, near the town of Biskra. It is named after the famous Islamic commander Okba Ibn Nafaa al-Fihri, one of the greatest leaders of the Islamic conquest in North Africa. The mosque is considered one of the most important historical and Islamic monuments in Algeria and has been classified as a national monument since 1996.

It was built on the tomb of Okba Ibn Nafaa al-Fihri, after his martyrdom during the Battle of Tahouda in 63 AH (682 AD). It is the third oldest mosque in the Maghreb, after the Kairouan Mosque in Tunisia and the Abou al-Mouhadjir Dinar Mosque in Mila, Algeria.

The mosque is notable for its unique and irregular architectural design, measuring 60 meters long and 37 meters wide. It includes a prayer room surrounded by galleries on three sides, in addition to a place for ablutions and several bedrooms. The prayer hall itself is irregular, having seven vertical plates intersected by seven transverse aisles parallel to the qibla wall. The pyramidal minaret is 16 meters high. The main gate, known as "Bab Tobna", is a true work of art, made of cedar wood and inlaid with bronze nails, decorated with arabesque designs, illustrating the beauty of traditional Islamic art.

The mosque has decorated windows. In the past, it housed students from different regions who studied the Koran and Islamic jurisprudence according to the Maliki school, which reflects the important educational and religious role it has played over the centuries.

43 x 40 mm

Offset

Ali Kerbouche

Printing House of the Bank of Algeria

40,00 DA

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