View of the sculpted panels of the minbar of the Great Mosque of Kairouan. Nowadays the oldest Islamic pulpit in the world to be preserved intact is the minbar of the Great Mosque of Kairouan (in the city of Kairouan in Tunisia). Dating from the 9th century (at about 862 AD), it is an eleven-step staircase made of carved and sculptured teak wood. Composed of an assembly of over three hundred finely sculpted parts, the minbar of the Great Mosque of Kairouan is considered as a jewel of Islamic wooden art.