Al-Sahlah Mosque

A mosque in Kufa, Iraq, believed to have first served as a neighborhood mosque for early followers of Imam Ali in the 7th century CE. Twelver tradition holds it will be the future home of the twelfth Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, upon his return, and that it once sheltered the prophets Abraham, Idris, and Khidr, each of whom is said to have prayed there. Ali ibn Abi Talib is reported to have said that no anguished person prays and supplicates there without God relieving their grief. The mosque is held to contain seven shrines, including those of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, Imam Ali al-Sajjad, and the future station of Imam al-Mahdi. It has been rebuilt many times, most recently in a major 2011–2018 reconstruction, and a new courtyard named for Sayyida Nargis, mother of the twelfth Imam, opened in 2013.

Photographs

Entrance to al-Sahlah Mosque, Kufa, Iraq. Associated with the 12th Shia Imam, Imam al-Mahdi.

Photo dedicated to the public domain (CC0) by Zygoptera, via Wikimedia Commons