Mosquee Omar Ibn El Khettab Mosque Mr Bn Alkhtab

Along one of the leafier avenues of Algiers, the white city rising over the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, Mosquee Omar Ibn El Khettab carries the name of one of the greatest figures in the early history of Islam. Umar ibn al Khattab, may God be pleased with him, was the second of the rightly guided successors of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, a ruler of remarkable justice whose name has been remembered in the mosques of every continent for more than fourteen centuries. Under his guidance, between the years 634 and 644, the young Muslim community spread rapidly across Persia, the Levant, Egypt, and beyond, while he himself continued to sleep on a simple straw mat and to patrol the streets of Madinah at night checking on the poor.

Algiers itself carries an Islamic heritage that stretches back to the seventh century, when the armies of Uqba ibn Nafi reached the central Maghrib. The city flourished under the Zirids, the Almoravids, the Almohads, and later under the long Ottoman era, during which the lower Casbah was built, along with many fine mosques and madrasas. The elegant Grand Post Office and the hilltop Notre Dame d'Afrique basilica frame a skyline still crowned by the distinctive minarets of the Ketchaoua and New mosques, and the neighbourhood mosques such as this one continue that centuries old pattern of community devotion.

The prayer hall is an example of modern Algerian mosque construction, with a square plan, a central dome, and a slender minaret built in the North African tradition: square in section, topped by a small cupola, and finished in gleaming green tilework that contrasts handsomely with white limestone walls. Inside, a wide carpeted hall is supported by columns clad in Italian marble, and the mihrab is framed with carved plaster muqarnas that echo Andalusian heritage brought across the sea by refugees from al Andalus.

Daily attendance includes shopkeepers, university students, civil servants from nearby government offices, and elderly residents who have lived in the quarter for decades. Sermons dwell often on the justice of Umar and on the simple devotion of the early companions, may God be pleased with them. Travellers sightseeing the Casbah, the Bardo Museum, or the seafront promenade will find in this mosque accurate prayer times and the quiet welcome typical of Algerian hospitality at every hour of the day.