Mosque Bd Allh Bn Mr Balbryj

Abdullah ibn Umar, may God be pleased with him, son of the second caliph Umar ibn al Khattab and one of the most meticulously pious companions of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, lends his name to this mosque in the al Burayj quarter of the Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid within the governorate of Sidi Bu Zayd in the central Tunisian plain. Abdullah ibn Umar is remembered across the Muslim world for his scrupulous imitation of prophetic practice in the smallest details of daily life, for the large body of hadith he transmitted and for his long life that carried the memory of the Prophet's companions well into the Umayyad era. Sidi Bouzid itself came to global attention in late two thousand and ten when the self immolation of a local vegetable seller sparked what became known as the Tunisian revolution and the broader Arab uprisings, and the town has since been the subject of substantial reconstruction and civic renewal. Its Islamic heritage flows from the founding of nearby Kairouan in the year fifty of the hijra by Uqba ibn Nafi, may God be pleased with him, as the first Muslim capital of North Africa, and the subsequent spread of the faith through the Aghlabid, Fatimid and Hafsid dynasties that shaped Tunisian religious life. Architecturally the mosque follows a restrained Tunisian sahel style, combining whitewashed plaster walls, a single modest dome finished in pale terracotta, a square minaret whose parapet is crenellated in the Ifriqiyan tradition and a forecourt paved in warm limestone. Inside, the mihrab is framed by painted plaster and geometric zellige, the mimbar rises in three timber steps and the carpet is laid in deep red patterned with octagonal medallions. Daily prayers gather farmers and townsfolk, the Jumu'ah sermon is delivered in classical Arabic with Tunisian passages and Ramadan evenings bring iftar of brik, chakchouka, harira, makroud and mint tea. Eid mornings fill the sandy forecourt with families in fresh jebbas. Visitors should dress modestly, leave shoes on the tile threshold and respect the quiet. Nearby lie Kairouan with its great mosque, the Roman amphitheatre of El Jem, the Aghlabid basins at Raqqada and the olive groves of the Tunisian interior rolling sparsely across the plain.