El-Oued Mosque

El-Oued Mosque
Arabic: جامع الواد Berber languages: ⵎⴻⵣⴳⵉⴷⴰ ⵏ ⵊⴰⵎⵄⵍⵡⴰⴷ
The entrance and minaret of the mosque.
Religion
Sect	(Maliki) Sunni
Location
Location	Fes, Morocco
Geographic coordinates	34°03′45.6″N 4°58′9.7″W
Architecture
Type	mosque
Style	Alaouite, Moroccan, Islamic
Founder	Sultan Abu Sa'id Uthman II (as madrasa), Sultan Moulay Slimane (as mosque)
Date established	1323 CE (as madrasa), between 1792 and 1822 (as mosque)
Minaret(s)	1

The El-Oued Mosque (Arabic: جامع الواد, romanized: jama' al-wad, lit. 'mosque of the river'; Berber languages: ⵎⴻⵣⴳⵉⴷⴰ ⵏ ⵊⴰⵎⵄⵍⵡⴰⴷ) is a mosque in Fes el-Bali, the historic medina of Fes, Morocco. It was built in the late 18th or early 19th century on the site of a former 14th-century madrasa by the same name.

History

The southern facade of the minaret of the mosque (photograph from 2010).

The mosque is located on the site of the former Madrasa el-Oued or (Madrasa al-Wadi), a madrasa built in 1321[1] or 1323 by the Marinid sultan Abu Sa'id Uthman II.[2] The madrasa's name ("Mosque of the River") referred to the fact that it was located on top of the Oued Masmouda, a water canal branching off the Oued Fes river system which historically supplied water to much of the Andalus quarter of Fes el-Bali.[3][2] (The canal has since been covered over for decades.[2]) Along with the Madrasa as-Sahrij and the Madrasa as-Sba'iyyin, it was built to provide lodging and teaching for students studying at the nearby Andalus Mosque, much as the Seffarine and al-Attarine Madrasas served students at the al-Qarawiyyin Mosque across the river.[3][4][5][2] Although the Andalus mosque was thus a major center of scholarship and study in the middle ages, it was eventually eclipsed by the Qarawiyyin Mosque/University and fell into relative decline, possibly making the madrasas less important.[3] In the late 18th or early 19th century the Alaouite sultan Moulay Slimane (who also built a number of other mosques in Fes) demolished the madrasa and built a new mosque over it, which became one of the main Friday mosques of the district.[3]

Architecture

The mosque follows the standard model of Moroccan mosque architecture. It has a prominent square-shaft minaret with minor decorative framing around its windows. The mosque's layout is distinguished by a proportionally very large rectangular courtyard (sahn), partly filled with fruit trees.[2]

See also

• Lists of mosques
• List of mosques in Africa
• List of mosques in Morocco

References

1. Ettahiri, Ahmed (2014). "La Bu'inaniya de Fès, perle des madrasas mérinides". In Lintz, Yannick; Déléry, Claire; Tuil Leonetti, Bulle (eds.). Maroc médiéval: Un empire de l'Afrique à l'Espagne (in French). Paris: Louvre éditions. p. 474. ISBN 9782350314907.
2. Mosquée el oued (Information plaque). Posted on a wall near the entrance of the mosque. ADER-Fes. November 2014.
3. Le Tourneau, Roger (1949). Fès avant le protectorat: étude économique et sociale d'une ville de l'occident musulman. Casablanca: Société Marocaine de Librairie et d'Édition. pp. 141, 586.
4. "Sahrij and Sbaiyin Madrassa Complex". World Monuments Fund. Retrieved 2020-03-28.
5. Parker, Richard (1981). A practical guide to Islamic Monuments in Morocco. Charlottesville, VA: The Baraka Press.