As-Sahabah Mosque
The As-Sahabah Mosque is a Sunni Islam mosque and adjacent cemetery, located at the Maydan Al-Sahaba Square in the city of Derna, Libya. The mosque was built in the 1970s on the site of a 7th-century cemetery containing the graves of the Sahaba who were slain by the Byzantine armies during the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb. Within the grounds of the mosque is an attached cemetery containing the tomb of Zuhayr ibn Qays al-Balawi and at least seventy Muslim soldiers involved in the Battle of Mamma.
History
After the Battle of Mamma in 688 CE, Zuhayr ibn Qays al-Balawi was killed along with his fellow generals, Abdullah ibn Barr al-Qayisi and Abu Mansur al-Farsi, along with the rest of the returning Muslim forces. They were buried in what would be present day Derna.During the Ottoman period, three shrines for Zuhayr, Abdullah and Abu Mansur were built. The cemetery was also called "Muhammad Bey Cemetery" but eventually the locals would change its name to "Sahaba Cemetery."
In 1970, the people of Derna volunteered to fund a project for a construction of a new mosque next to the cemetery. Construction work started in 1970, and the mosque was eventually opened in 1975.