Sheikh Ali al-Bakka Mosque

Sheikh Ali al-Bakka Mosque
مسجد الشيخ علي بكاء
Religion
Affiliation	Islam
Branch/tradition	Sunni
Location
Location	Hebron, West Bank, Palestine
Shown within the West Bank
Geographic coordinates	31°31′42.3″N 35°06′13.5″E
Architecture
Type	mosque
Style	Mamluk
Completed	1282
Minaret(s)	1

Sheikh Ali al-Bakka Mosque or Shaykh Ali al-Baka Mosque (Arabic: مسجد الشيخ علي بكاء) is a 13th-century mosque in the northwestern section of the Old City of Hebron in the southern West Bank, Palestine. It is situated in the Harat ash-Sheikh (or Sheik Ali al-Bakka) quarter, one of the Old City's quarters, which is named after the mosque.

The mosque was founded by Husam ad-Din Turuntay in 1282 during the reign of Mamluk sultan al-Mansur Qalawun. Turuntay was the representative of the sultan in Jerusalem. The sanctuary is named after Sheikh Ali al-Bakka, a renowned Sufi religious leader from Iraq who lived in Hebron. The minaret was erected by the viceroy and practical strongman of the sultanate, Sayf al-Din Salar (d. 1310).

The original mosque was mostly demolished, however the minaret still stands and is viewed as an exemplary work of Mamluk architecture. Sitting on a rectangular base, its shaft has a hexagonal shape. The minaret base has an arched corridor which leads to the courtyard. In 1978 a new mosque was built on the site, but preserved the remains of the original mosque.

Further reading

• Al-Maqrizi (1840). Histoire des sultans mamlouks, de l'Égypte, écrite en arabe (in French and Latin). Vol. 1, part 1. Translator: Étienne Marc Quatremère. Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. (p. 242)
• Moudjir ed-dyn (1876). Sauvaire (ed.). Histoire de Jérusalem et d'Hébron depuis Abraham jusqu'à la fin du XVe siècle de J.-C. : fragments de la Chronique de Moudjir-ed-dyn. (pp. 220, 222, 224, 227, 291 ff)
• Sharon, Moshe (1999). Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae, Volume Two: -B-C. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 90-04-11083-6.
• Sharon, M. (2013). Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae, H-I. Vol. 5. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-25097-0. (Sharon, 2013, p. 58 ff)
• Wilson, Charles Williams, ed. (c. 1881). Picturesque Palestine, Sinai and Egypt. Vol. 3. New York: D. Appleton.