10 Greatest Mosques in Islamic History: The Ultimate Guide

10 Greatest Mosques in Islamic History: The Ultimate Guide

Some mosques are famous for their beauty. Others are famous for what happened around their walls — the mosques that anchored the faith, launched Islam into new continents, or taught the scholars who shaped a thousand years of thought. This, however, is a guide to the greatest mosques in Islamic history: not simply the prettiest, but the ones whose place in the story of the ummah is beyond question. For British Muslim families, these greatest mosques are a reminder that our faith stretches far wider than any single country — from the deserts of Arabia to the medinas of Morocco.

The three holiest of the greatest mosques

1. Al-Masjid al-Ḥaram — Makkah, Saudi Arabia

This is the mosque that houses the Kaʿbah, the holiest site in all of Islam and the direction every Muslim faces in ṣalah. Moreover, it is the destination of every Hajj and ʿUmrah, drawing millions of pilgrims from around the world each year. According to Islamic tradition, the Prophets Ibrahim and Ismaʿil raised the Kaʿbah at its heart, and the mosque around it has grown over the centuries to hold the expanding ummah. To visit it is the lifelong aspiration of every believer.

2. Al-Masjid al-Nabawi — Madinah, Saudi Arabia

The Prophet ﷺ built this mosque with his own hands after the Hijrah in 622 CE. His resting place, alongside those of Abu Bakr and ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them), lies within its precincts, beneath the famous Green Dome. Between the Prophet's grave and his minbar is the Rawḍah — an area the Prophet ﷺ described as "a garden from the gardens of Paradise Indeed, it is the second-holiest site in Islam and the second-most visited.

3. Al-Masjid al-Aqsa — Jerusalem

This is the third-holiest site in Islam and the first qiblah, towards which the earliest Muslims prayed before the Kaʿbah. Furthermore, it marks the destination of the Prophet's ﷺ Night Journey (al-Israʾ), and the Qur'an describes its surroundings as blessed: ﴿سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي أَسْرَىٰ بِعَبْدِهِ لَيْلًا مِّنَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ الْأَقْصَى الَّذِي بَارَكْنَا حَوْلَهُ﴾ [الإسراء: ١] (al-Israʾ 17:1). It sits within the wider Ḥaram al-Sharif, which also contains the Dome of the Rock.

The founding mosques among the greatest mosques

4. Masjid Qubaʾ — Madinah, Saudi Arabia

This is the very first mosque ever built in Islam. The Prophet ﷺ laid its foundations on his arrival at the outskirts of Madinah in 622 CE. In fact, Islamic tradition connects it to the Qur'anic verse praising ﴿لَمَسْجِدٌ أُسِّسَ عَلَى التَّقْوَىٰ مِنْ أَوَّلِ يَوْمٍ أَحَقُّ أَن تَقُومَ فِيهِ﴾ [التوبة: ١٠٨] (al-Tawbah 9:108). The Prophet ﷺ taught that praying two rakʿahs at Qubaʾ carries the reward of an ʿUmrah — a status no other mosque in the world shares.

5. The Umayyad Mosque — Damascus, Syria

The Caliph al-Walid I built this mosque between 705 and 715 CE, and it remains one of the oldest and grandest mosques still standing anywhere in the world. Its shimmering golden mosaics set a standard that later Islamic architecture would follow for centuries. In addition, it stands on a site layered with history and houses a shrine traditionally associated with the Prophet Yaḥya (John the Baptist), revered in Islam.

6. The Mosque of ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAs — Cairo, Egypt

Built in 641–642 CE, this was the first mosque ever established in Egypt — and on the entire continent of Africa. From this single foundation in old Fustat, Islam spread across North Africa and beyond. Although rebuilt and enlarged many times over the centuries, it remains a living link to the earliest days of Muslim Africa.

7. The Great Mosque of Kairouan — Kairouan, Tunisia

Founded in 670 CE by the companion-era commander ʿUqbah ibn Nāfiʿ, this is the oldest and most important mosque in the Islamic West (the Maghreb). Its layout became the architectural blueprint for mosques across North Africa and al-Andalus. For centuries, therefore, it ranked among the greatest centres of learning and pilgrimage in the Muslim world.

The great centres of learning among the greatest mosques

8. Al-Qarawiyyin — Fez, Morocco

Founded in 859 CE by a remarkable woman, Faṭimah al-Fihri, al-Qarawiyyin is recognised by UNESCO and the Guinness World Records as the oldest existing, continually operating educational institution in the world. Long before Oxford or Cambridge, students were earning knowledge in its courtyards. It stands as living proof that the pursuit of learning has been at the heart of Islam from its earliest centuries.

9. Al-Azhar — Cairo, Egypt

Founded in 970 CE, al-Azhar grew into the most influential centre of Islamic scholarship in the world — a position it has held for over a thousand years. Its scholars have shaped the study of the Qur'an, hadith, fiqh and the Arabic language for generations of Muslims across the globe, including here in Britain. This is the very same tradition Eaalim's Al-Azhar-trained teachers carry into their lessons today.

An Ottoman masterpiece

10. The Sultan Ahmed Mosque (the Blue Mosque) — Istanbul, Turkey

Built between 1609 and 1616 under Sultan Ahmed I, the Blue Mosque takes its popular name from the more than 20,000 hand-painted blue İznik tiles that line its interior. With its cascading domes and six slender minarets, it is a crowning achievement of Ottoman classical architecture. As a result, it has become one of the most visited mosques on earth, welcoming worshippers and visitors from every corner of the world.

Closing

Every Muslim aspires to pray in the holy three. Most British Muslim families will pray in at least one or two of these great mosques during their lifetime. The visit itself is a gift; what you carry back inwardly is the real outcome.