Grand Mosque of Tangier
The Grand Mosque of Tangier is the historic main mosque of Tangier, Morocco, located in the city's old medina. While the design of the current mosque dates from the early 19th century during the Alaouite period, the site has been occupied by a succession of religious buildings since antiquity.
History
The site of the mosque is believed to have originally been the site of a Roman temple dedicated to Hercules and of a 5th-century Roman church. A grand mosque was established on this site during the Marinid dynasty. Tangier was frequently besieged by European forces in the 15th century until it was finally conquered by the Portuguese in 1471. The Portuguese immediately converted the mosque or rebuilt the site into a cathedral. In 1662 Tangier was passed to the English as part of Catherine of Braganza's dowry to Charles II. After years under pressure from local Muslim mujahidin attacks, the English evacuated Tangier in 1684, blowing up its fortifications before leaving. The sultan of Morocco at the time, Moulay Ismail from the Alaouite dynasty, immediately claimed the city and supported its Muslim resettlement. The Muslim settlers immediately sought to pray in the cathedral which had formerly been the grand mosque. Moulay Ismail ordered the new governor, Ali ibn Abdallah Errifi, to convert the building to a mosque.The new mosque, however, was reportedly very crude, despite being an important symbol of the city's return to Muslim rule. Muslim travelers commented on its poor amenities. The Alaouite Sultan Moulay Slimane was reportedly so shocked by its condition upon seeing it in 1815 that he immediately ordered that it be completely rebuilt. Artisans from outside Tangier were recruited to help with the task, and the reconstruction was completed in 1817–18. The mosque's current form dates essentially from this construction. Subsequent Alaouite sultans continued to embellish or restore the mosque, reinforcing its role as a symbol of the government's importance in upholding religious orthodoxy in the face of other popular forms of religion focused around Sufi marabouts. Along with the khutba, the weekly Friday sermon, important official announcements were also delivered here.
The mosque was also a focus of civic life and urban infrastructure. It was located near the Inner Market, following a pattern found in other Moroccan and Islamic cities where the most important or prestigious commercial activities took place near the city's main mosque. Across the street on the southwest side of the mosque was the house of the qadi, or judge, where legal cases were heard and resolved. Next to this was the house of the muwaqqit, the timekeeper of the mosque, which was connected to the mosque itself by an overhead passage between the house and the minaret. Further south on the same street was a cistern, a maristan or hospital dedicated to caring for the mentally ill, and a house for washing the bodies of the dead. On the mosque's northwestern side, across the street from its main entrance, was a madrasa built in the 18th century under sultan Muhammad ben 'Abdallah. Attached directly to the mosque itself, behind its southeastern wall, was a library and a funeral mosque. Some of these amenities were managed and funded by the habous of the mosque; that is, a charitable trust under which the mosque drew revenues from various sources for its upkeep and the upkeep of its associated establishments.
In the decades prior to colonial rule and the establishment of an international regime governing Tangier, the mosque's civic importance declined and the fiscal assets of its habous were increasingly confiscated or diverted by the government. Under colonial rule all habous establishments were further curtailed and lost their role as agents of urban development. Like in many other North African cities, a Ville Nouvelle was established outside the old city walls and rapidly outgrew it, thus reducing the status of the old medina to a relatively undesirable and decaying neighbourhood, along with its main mosque.
Mohammed V visited the mosque on April 11, 1947, going on to make a historic speech at the Mendoubia Gardens. Hassan II ordered an extension to the mosque in 1962, expanding it on its southwest side. The mosque was restored again in 2001 by order of Mohammed VI.