Mosque of Salman al-Farsi

Mosque of Salman al-Farsi
Mosque of Salman al-Farsi
مسجد سلمان الفارسي
	The mosque in 2017
Religion
Affiliation	Shia Islam
Ecclesiastical or organisational status	Mosque and mausoleum
Status	Active
Location
Location	Salman Pak, Al-Mada'in, Diyala Province, Baghdad Governorate
Country	Iraq
	Location in Iraq
	Interactive map of Mosque of Salman al-Farsi
Coordinates	33°05′54″N 44°34′52″E / 33.0982656°N 44.5809823°E
Architecture
Type	Mosque architecture
Style	Modern Iraqi; elements of: Ottoman; Abbasid;
Established	c. 1910s (mausoleum); 1950 (mosque);
Specifications
Capacity	c. 800 worshippers
Interior area	500 m2 (5,400 sq ft)
Dome	4
Dome height (outer)	17 m (56 ft) (main)
Minaret	Two
Minaret height	23 m (75 ft)
Shrines	Two: Salman al-Farsi; his companions;

The Mosque of Salman al-Farsi (Arabic: مسجد سلمان الفارسي) is a mosque located in the city of Salman Pak, Al-Mada'in district, in the province of Diyala, in the Baghdad Governorate of Iraq. It contains the purported tomb of Salman al-Farsi, a Sahaba.

It is historically a Sunni mosque, however, at some point of time the mosque was removed from the Sunni Endowment and given to the Shi'ite managements.^[3]

History

The mosque was established in 1950 over a pre-existing mausoleum dedicated to Salman al-Farsi which was already in existence before the 1920s. In 1931, the bodies of Jabir ibn Abdullah, Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman, and Ali al-Tahir ibn Muhammad al-Baqir were exhumed due to their graves being water-logged, and the bodies were transferred to new tombs next to the old mausoleum.^[2] The report of the bodies being transferred is sometimes contested, however, as Jabir ibn Abdullah is reported to have died in Medina.^[4] Later in 1950, the mosque was established over the mausoleum and new tombs, with funding from the Iraqi government.^[5]

Architecture

In 2017, a new zarih was placed around the grave of Salman al-Farsi.^[6] The ceremony of the placement of the zarih was attended by Iraj Masjedi, the Iranian ambassador to Iraq, as well as several other Shi'ite clerics.^[6]

Usage

The mosque is visited because of the sacred tombs within it.^[2] However, the mosque also holds Qur'anic memorization courses as well as classes to study the Shari'ah law.^[2] Religious festivals are held in the mosque as well.^[2]