Al-Zaytuna Mosque...A Beacon Of Knowledge That Withstood Colonization

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) Photo feature by Shukry bu Mansour
TUNIS, Oct 26 (KUNA) -- Al-Zaytuna Mosque, the largest and oldest mosque in Tunis, is the first Islamic University and second mosque built in Africa, dating its construction back to 732 AD during the Umayyad Caliphate, named after the land where it was built.
Since its establishment, the mosque had a military role and was used for a long time as a defense site for the city of Tunis, in addition to being a stronghold for fighting against invaders and colonists throughout history.
Al-Zaytuna University contributed to spreading the culture of combating colonization, as historians say that the scholars of Al-Zaytuna participated in the protests of 1938 against the French occupation and were demanding a Tunisian parliament.
The mosque, where the first fiqh school (Islamic jurisprudence) was established, has been a beacon of knowledge since Hafsid era, but the Spanish occupation (1535-1574) was a major disaster as it destroyed the mosque's library that contained about 30,000 books, yet regained its role at the beginning of the eighteenth century. (end)
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