Grand Husseini Mosque

Grand Husseini Mosque (Arabic: المسجد الحسيني الكبير) is a mosque in Amman, Jordan. It is one of the oldest mosques in the city, and one of the main landmarks of its downtown area.
Originally built as an Omari Mosque during the Umayyad Caliphate in the 7th century CE, on the site of an older Byzantine basilica, it was described by Arab geographer Al-Maqdisi to have been located nearby markets in the 10th century CE. After Amman was resettled by Circassians in 1880s, the mosque's prayer hall was cleared out, and its roof was reconstructed.
The original mosque was demolished by orders of Abdullah I in 1924, and was rebuilt and renamed after his father Sharif Hussein bin Ali. The Grand Husseini Mosque was one of the few first new buildings to be constructed after the Emirate of Transjordan was established in 1921, in addition to the Raghadan Palace and a small prison.
Currently, the mosque is one of the main landmarks of the downtown area, has a small plaza in front of it, and is located nearby several markets. Since the mosque was rebuilt in 1924, it has witnessed four reconstructions. For almost a century, the Grand Husseini Mosque has been serving as a gathering point for political demonstrations in Amman.
The site originally housed a mosque, which was built during the Umayyad Caliphate in the 7th century CE, on the site of an older Byzantine basilica. The identification is owed to the round arches of the original mosque's portals, which are similar to the construction technique of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus and the Umayyad mosques of Bosra and Qasr al-Hallabat. Hence, it was called an Omari mosque.
This Omari mosque was the largest Umayyad mosque in Jordan, owing to the fact that Amman was the center of the Balqa region. It might have been used by people of the nearby Umayyad castles in the desert, such as the Qusayr 'Amra and Qasr al-Hallabat, for Friday prayers.
It was built in the valley (today's downtown Amman) containing ancient Roman ruins, adjacent to the Nymphaeum and a few hundred meters away from the Roman Theater. It was intended for use by common people as it was close to the markets of its time, while the other Umayyad mosque near the palace on top of Jabal Al-Qal'a (Citadel Hill) was used by a prince and his entourage.
A Kufic inscription was found inside the original mosque mentioning that it had been constructed under the orders of a commander named Hassan bin Ibrahim, who is unknown historically but the inscription dates to the Abbasid or Fatimid periods.
Medieval Arab geographer Al-Maqdisi described Amman in his book written in the 10th century CE:
The original monument was also described by several western travelers, firstly by Charles Warren in 1867, and lastly by K. A. C. Creswell in 1920. The mosque was visited by Claude Reignier Conder as part of the Palestine Exploration Fund in 1881, who took photographs of the building. After Amman was resettled by Circassians in 1880s, the mosque's prayer hall was cleared out, and its roof was reconstructed.
In 1924, Emir Abdullah ordered the leveling of the existing structure to make way for a modern construction, in what became known as the first Hashemite reconstruction. The new mosque was called the Grand Husseini mosque, named after his father Sharif Hussein, who was visiting Amman that year.
The Grand Husseini Mosque was one of the first buildings to have been constructed in Amman by the government after the establishment of the Emirate of Transjordan in 1921, in addition to the Raghadan Palace and a small prison. This was described by Swiss sociologist Irene Maffi as "important," elaborating that it intended to "mark the new status of Amman and at the same time to confirm the Hashemite political and religious role in the country."
The 1924 leveling of the existing structure, including the remains of a Byzantine-era basilica's wall, was opposed by the British resident in Amman, St John Philby. The two men requested the intervention of the British High Commissioner for Palestine, Herbert Samuel, who dispatched the Palestine Director of Antiquities, John Garstang, from Jerusalem to Amman to investigate. Garstang reported back that the historical and artistic importance of the demolished wall was minimal, since it had already been destroyed multiple times. The altercation between the two led to Philby leaving Transjordan and moving to work with Ibn Saud in the Arabian Peninsula.
The mosque was also damaged during the 1927 Jericho earthquake, with the stone top of its minaret collapsing. In the second reconstruction, the mosque's courtyard was expanded and a fountain for ablution was added there in the 1940s. The third occurred in 1986, when the mosque was renovated with its facade cleaned and decorations added to it. The fourth reconstruction began after a fire in 2019 damaged a number of its areas, with its renovations and expansion completed by 2024.
The Grand Husseini Mosque is considered one of the landmarks of the downtown area, has a small plaza in front of it, and is located nearby several markets.
The mosque has been a gathering point for national protests for a century, with protestors routinely gathering in front of the mosque, listening to speeches, and afterwards marching to make their claims, including towards the nearby King Faisal Street. This phenomenon began in 1928 with the opposition to the 1928 Anglo-Jordan treaty, and included protests over Jordan's intentions to join the Baghdad Pact in 1955, price hikes in 1989, and against austerity in 1996, as well as celebrations over Algeria's independence in 1962, and solidarity marches with Iraq during the Gulf War in 1990. It also witnessed protests during the Arab Spring in 2011.
Novelist Abdul Rahman Munif noted the mosque's centrality for popular protests, with an adjacent doctor's balcony being used for addressing the crowds. Jordanian Communist Party leader Issa Madanat (1927 - 2021) described the mosque as the "go-to place" for protests in Amman.