Great Mosque of Kufa
— the prayer that did not finish.
Not only on a wall.
“One of the oldest mosques in Islam, founded in the seventh century in the garrison city of Kufa. The courtyard holds the place where Ali ibn Abi Talib was struck while praying, in the month of Ramadan, 661. Pilgrims still come quietly. Many travel from Najaf, half an hour south. The light off the marble at midday is its own kind of weather.
Great Mosque of Kufa, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
The Great Mosque of Kufa sits in Kufa, Iraq, about 170 km south of Baghdad and 10 km north of Najaf, on the west bank of the Euphrates. Founded around 638 CE under the second caliph Umar, it was the political and religious centre of the early caliphate during Ali ibn Abi Talib's rule from 656 to 661. The current structure preserves the original square plan, expanded under the Abbasids and restored repeatedly through the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The site lies within the historic Kufa-Najaf religious corridor.
The mosque's interior holds a series of named maqams, small marked stations where specific events occurred. The most visited is the spot where Ali was struck by Ibn Muljam during dawn prayer on the 19th of Ramadan, 661, an act that ended his caliphate two days later. Adjoining the mosque is the shrine of Muslim ibn Aqil, cousin of Husayn, executed in 680, and the shrine of the companion Hani ibn Urwa. The four corner minarets frame a courtyard paved in pale stone.
The mosque is open to visitors throughout the day and night, with prayer five times daily and heavier crowds during Ramadan and the commemorations of Ali's martyrdom on the 21st of Ramadan. Modest dress is required; women are provided a chador at the entrance. Najaf International Airport, 15 km south, is the usual arrival point for international pilgrims, with most visitors combining Kufa with the Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf and the Imam Husayn Shrine in Karbala, 80 km north.