The Al-Hamidi Mosque in Deir ez-Zor

The Al-Hamidi Mosque is one of the oldest and best-known mosques in Deir ez-Zor, and the city holds its Eid and other religious ceremonies here. It stands on the main street in the city centre. The present building dates from 1936. It is yellow limestone, with one minaret. The old teaching rooms on its west side keep its least-known detail — small clay jars set into the domes against the heat of the sun.

When it was built

The first mosque dates from before 1900. It was known for an Ottoman minaret said to be a gift from Sultan Abdul Hamid II. Its four minarets were begun at the start of the 20th century, and work went on until the end of 1907. The building later threatened to collapse, so it was pulled down and rebuilt in 1936 with a single minaret. The arcades were finished in 1946. Its preachers have included Sheikh Hussein al-Azhari, mufti of the Euphrates, and Sheikh Muhammad Said al-Arfi, mufti of the province.

What to see

The main door faces north and opens between shops that belong to the mosque’s endowment. The minaret stands on the west side. You enter it from inside the prayer hall. With its gardens and the older building, the mosque covers about 3 dunams.

On the west side, four old rooms open onto an arcade of Ottoman arches on marble columns, with five domes above them. They were classrooms. Between 1960 and 1985 they also served as dormitories for students of Islamic law. Beneath each room is a cellar reached through a square opening in the corner. On the east side are a large garden, prayer-time boards and the ablution area.

A round, domed ablution fountain on marble columns once stood at the front; it was removed in the 1990s. In the 1950s a woman benefactor paid for the ablution facilities. Later the building was faced with Aleppo stone, and the minbar and mihrab were renewed. Both mosque and minaret are listed.

What not to miss

The domes over the old west rooms. According to eSyria they were built with black gypsum mortar and lightened with rows of small clay jars laid side by side, which also keep the sun’s heat out. From outside they look like five ordinary domes; the detail only means something once someone points it out.

The mosque today

The fighting of 2012-2017 left the city centre heavily damaged. The mosque’s present condition is not something this page can confirm; the sources describe it before the war.