THE KOUTOUBIA MOSQUE MARRAKECH STUNNING TIMELESS CULTURAL 

The construction dates of the second mosque are also not firmly established. A historical chronicle, reported by al-Maqqari, states that construction work on the second mosque began in May 1158 . It was inaugurated during the first Friday prayer in September 1158. However, this period of construction seems implausible: it is likely that the construction lasted longer.

Aerial view of the mosque in 1931.

Destruction and Coexistence of the First Mosque

As mentioned previously, we do not know the circumstances of the destruction of the first mosque, whether it was intentional or whether it deteriorated over time due to lack of maintenance. Researchers believe that the two mosques probably coexisted for some time thus forming a single large mosque. For example, the mosque’s current minaret appears to have been integrated into the fabric of the two mosques as evidenced by the remains of an arcade belonging to the first mosque and yet still integrated into the base of the minaret today Gaston Deverdun suggested in his 1959 book on the history of Marrakech the possibility that the first mosque was only abandoned after the construction of a new royal citadel by Yacoub el Mansour further south (current Kasbah district). As part of this citadel, the new Kasbah mosque was completed in 1190 and subsequently served as the main mosque of the caliph and his entourage. The old mosque would have become useless. There is a possibility that it was dismantled and its materials were used in the construction of the new kasbah and its mosque 

Minaret Attribution and Architectural Consistency

The famous minaret of the mosque is also not dated with certainty. Some historical sources attribute it to Abdelmoumen (who reigned until 1163) while others attribute it to Yacoub El Mansour (who reigned between 1184 and 1199). The most plausible scenario according to certain historians including Deverdun is that the minaret was initiated before 1158 and largely built by Abdelmoumen or at least designed under his orders while Yacoub El Mansour completed this work by adding the small part in lantern shape at its summit around 11953.4. Apart from its orientation, the current mosque is almost identical to the first except for a few details. The plan, dimensions and materials used are approximately the same15. The new mosque was, however, slightly wider than the first3. The floor plan of the mosque is also irregular due to the fact that its north wall is the former south wall of the first mosque branching off by two degrees from the second mosque as explained earlier. The Koutoubia and its minaret will become a reference in Moroccan-Andalusian architecture and will serve as a model for two other monuments: the Hassan Tower in Rabat (a monumental mosque by Yacoub El Mansour which will remain unfinished) as well as the Giralda in Seville whose minaret is similar to that of Koutoubia

Orientation towards the qibla between Almohads and Almoravids

The Qibla Orientation Controversy

The question of the orientation of the Koutoubia and other Almohad mosques (and even medieval Islamic mosques in general) is a complex and problematic issue16. The Almohads destroyed a number of Almoravid mosques under the cover of an incorrect Qibla (orientation towards Mecca). They preferred an orientation omnipresent in the mosques of the time in Morocco and Andalusia going further towards the South. In reality, this orientation moved even further away from the true Qibla known and used today in modern mosques11. The true orientation of the Qibla in Marrakech is 91° degrees azimuth from the north17. The Almohads used a qibla between 151° and 159°17. Later, this error will be corrected in particular at the Ben Youssef mosque oriented at 88°. 

The Almohad Qibla was the same as for the Great Mosque of Cordoba and the Al Quaraouiyine Mosque in Fez, both built between the beginning of the 8th century and the end of the 9th century4,11. This traditional qibla was based on a hadith from the Prophet Muhammad who stated that “that which is between east and west is a qibla” (most likely in reference to his stay in Medina, north of Mecca) which was used to legitimize this qibla in the south4,11. This practice may also have sought to take up the orientation of the walls of the rectangular building of the Kaaba following another tradition considering that each wall is associated with a different part of the world. The northwest face of the Kaaba was associated with Al Andalous. Therefore, the Great Mosque of Córdoba was oriented towards the southeast as if facing the northwest facade of the Kaaba, with its main axis parallel to the main axis of the Kaaba structure (which was oriented from southeast to northwest)16. This result was obtained by using astronomical alignments to reproduce the orientation of the Kaaba4,11,16. That being said, medieval Muslim scientists had sufficient mathematical knowledge to calculate a more or less precise qibla A more eastern qibla (pointing approximately towards Mecca) was already evident in the royal mosque of Madinat al-Zahra (in the suburbs of Córdoba) built later in the 10th century as well as in the orientation of the first version Almoravid of the Ben Youssef mosque estimated at 103°11 The Almohads apparently chose a qibla which they considered to be more ancient or traditional in conformity with that of the Great Mosque of Cordoba. It has never been determined whether this was a scientific and reasoned act or a way of differentiating itself from the Almoravids.