Sufyan Mosque

Sufyan Mosque (Arabic: جامع سفيان) is a historic mosque located in the city of Lahij in Yemen. It was built in 1215 and contains a madrasa and also a mausoleum with an attached cemetery.

Sufyan Mosque
Arabic: جامع سفيان
The mosque as photographed in 2007
Religion
AffiliationIslam
RegionSouth Arabia
Location
LocationLahij, Yemen
CountryYemen
Location in Yemen
Geographic coordinates13.0728372°N 44.8880235°E / 13.0728372; 44.8880235
Architecture
StyleIslamic architecture
Date established1215

History

Originally, the site was the burial place of Sufyan ibn Abdullah al-Abini al-Yamani, a Muslim scholar who fought alongside Saladin in the 1187 Battle of Hattin.[1] Sufyan died in 1215, and upon his death a mausoleum was built on top of his grave, with a mosque and madrasa next to it.[2][3][4][5] In 1994, the mausoleum and the attached cemetery were destroyed during the Yemeni civil war and did not face any renovations or restorations since then, leaving it in a neglected state.[2]

2015 demolition

In 2015, it was reported that the Sufyan Mosque was demolished by Islamist extremist groups who planted explosives in the structure, causing a significant amount of damage.[2][3][4][5] Some news outlets claimed that the grave of Sufyan ibn Abdullah was exhumed and his remains strewn on the ground[4] but this claim was immediately debunked by the residents of Lahij, who affirmed that the militants did not exhume his remains, and that the state of the mausoleum itself had not changed much since 1994.[2] Google Maps satellite imagery shows that the mosque and its madrasa are still intact, while the cemetery is in a ruined state.

See also

References
  1. Abu Makhramah (1926). Tarikh Thaghr 'Adan (in Arabic). Leiden: Brill.
  2. Atiri, Hisham (31 January 2015). "The residents of Sufyan village in Yemen told Al Ayyam: The shrine of saint Sufyan had already been demolished in 1994 CE". Al Ayyam.
  3. "Exhuming the grave of a man who did Jihad with Salahuddin al-Ayyubi in Lahij: The shrine of eminent scholar Sufyan was destroyed by terrorists". Shabwa Press. 28 January 2015.
  4. Hardy, Sam (11 February 2015). "Landmark Sufi Shrine demolished by Islamists in Yemen". Hyperallergic.
  5. "The Takfirists had demolished his shrine and exhumed his grave in Al Hota". Althawrah. 23 April 2021.
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