According to scholar Noha Sadek, the mosque is said to have been built by the Ziyadid ruler al-Husayn ibn Salamah (r.983–1012), who was also responsible for building the al-Asha'ir Mosque, another famous mosque in the city.[1] Both mosques became centers of Islamic scholarship in the city's heyday.[2] The mosque underwent modification and reconstruction under the Ayyubid dynasty, circa 1200, at which point it acquired most of its present form.[3][4] The brick minaret, one of oldest preserved minarets in Yemen (along with those of the Great Mosque of Sana'a and the mosque of Zafar Dhibin), dates from this period.[3][5] The mosque went through further restoration under the Tahirid dynasty in 1492.[4]
Architecture
The form of the mosque is that of a large hypostyle building with a central courtyard, reminiscent of the classic early Arab mosque plan in Islamic architecture.[3] The minaret has an octagonal shaft[5] and is distinguished by its decorative brickwork.[6]
12Bloom, Jonathan M.; Blair, Sheila S., eds. (2009). "Architecture; V. c. 900–c. 1250; B. Central Islamic lands; 4. Yemen". The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture. Oxford University Press. ISBN9780195309911. The earliest surviving minarets are at the Great Mosque of Zabid (c.1200), the Great Mosque of San῾a and the Great Mosque of Zafar Dhibin (14th century). The octagonal shaft of that at Zabid, articulated by blind arcades, sits on a relatively tall square base and is surmounted by a lantern resembling a muqarnas dome. This minaret served as a model for the 13th-century tower at the mosque of Mahjam and for various towers in the city of Zabid.
Finster, Barbara (2009). "Arabian Peninsula, art and architecture". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three. Brill. ISBN9789004161658. (Includes images of the mosque)
