3/04/2005

Laying Mats

Laying mats in preparation for the Friday prayers in Mohamad al-Talawi Mosque in Qanawat. Before entering a mosque, Muslims take their shoes off, out of respect to the house of God.

7 comments:

Sinan said...

Yeah I guess it's from Mamluk period too.

Anonymous said...

I'm interested to know how praktike, sinan and others can tell just from looking at the photo that the mosque is probably from the Mamluk preiod and not from the Ummayad or Ottoman periods. I would be grateful if anybody could tell me what FEATURES there are in the photo that made them reach this conclusion! Many thanks for you help!

Anonymous said...

I think one of the classic features of a Mamluk mosque is the alternating white and black stone stripes...you can get more info and pics about Mamluk architecture at this website: http://homepages.bw.edu/~wwwhis/mamluk.html

Sinan said...

Yes the alternating white and black stone stripes is one of the clues, and the name of the mosque too, I think that Al-Talawi is the name of a sheikh during the Mamluk period but I am not sure though.

sasa said...

Very interesting discussion. But most of the Mosques in Sham have these black and white stripes, especially in the Old City. Does that mean they're all mamaluk mosques?

Ayman Haykal said...

It's right that the alternating white and black stripes were first introduced by the Memluks. However, the stripes have been a major element in Damascene architecture ever since, and they were used in many houses and mosques during the Ottoman period. The stripes are not enough to say that this Mosque is Memluk. I think it was built during the Ottoman era, but I am not sure. I will have to find out more about the Mosque and look up who Mohamad Altalawi was.

Ayman Haykal said...

I couldn't get information on Mohammad al-Talawi, but it says on the mosque's entrance that it was built in the Hijri year 1301, which is 1883 A.D. That means that the mosque is relatively new and belongs to the late Ottoman era.