Kairouan
The Aghlabid Basins
Kairouan Location in Tunisia
Coordinates: 35°40′N 10°05′E / 35.667°N 10.083°E / 35.667; 10.083
Country	Tunisia
Governorate	Kairouan
Population (2004)
• Total	117,903
Website	Official website
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Type:	Cultural
Criteria:	i, ii, iii, v, vi
Designated:	1988 (12th session)
Reference #:	499
State Party:	Tunisia
Region:	Arab States

Kairouan (Arabic: القيروان‎ Al Qairawān), also known as Kirwan or al-Qayrawan, is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia. Referred to as the Islamic Cultural Capital, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The city was founded by the nomads of Tunisia around 200 to 250 BC and soon Romans occupied it and built a huge Claussium which is still standing and is one of the most complete of its kind around the Mediterranean sea, The word Qir is in fact Persian and means Bitumen which at those days used to be a center for import and export of this material for ship making and has nothing to do with Caravan. Arabs later on demolished the central temple and made a mosque instead. Some of the stones are still visible with Roman alphabets hacked on them. Arabs around 670.^[1] In the period^{[citation needed]} of Caliph Mu'awiya (reigned 661-680), it became an important centre for Islamic and Quranic learning, and thus attracting a large number of Muslims from various parts of the world, next only to Mecca and Medina. The holy Mosque of Uqba is situated in the city.^[2][3] It is considered by many Muslims to be Islam's fourth holiest city.^[4]

In 2003, the city had about 150,000 inhabitants.

Etymology[link]

The name is Arabic قيروان kairuwân, itself from the Persian کاروان kârvân, meaning "military/civilian camp" (kâr [war/military] + vân [outpost]), "caravan", or "resting place" (see caravanserai).^[5][6][7]

Geography[link]

Kairouan is the capital of Kairouan Governorate, and is located south of Sousse, 50 km (31 mi) from the east coast, 75 km (47 mi) from Monastir and 184 km (114 mi) from Tunis.

History[link]

Mosque of Oqba

Kairouan was founded in about the year 670 when the Arab general Uqba ibn Nafi of Amir Muauia selected a site in the middle of a dense forest, then infested with wild beasts and reptiles, as the location of a military post for the conquest of the West. It was located far from the sea where it was safe from continued attacks of the Berbers who had fiercely resisted the Arab invasion. Berber resistance continued, led first by Kusaila whose troops killed Uqba at Biskra about fifteen years after the military post was established, and then by a Berber woman called Al-Kahina who was killed and her army defeated in 702. Subsequently, there was a mass conversion of the Berbers to Islam. Kharijites or Islamic "outsiders" who formed an egalitarian and puritanical sect appeared and are still present on the island of Jerba. In 745, Kharijite Berbers captured Kairouan, which was already at that time a developed city with luxuriant gardens and olive groves.

Power struggles remained until Kairouan was recaptured by Ibrahim ibn al-Aghlab at the end of the 8th century. In 800, Ibrahim was confirmed Emir and hereditary ruler of Ifriqiya by Caliph Harun ar-Rashid in Baghdad. Ibrahim ibn al-Aghlab founded the Aghlabid dynasty that ruled Ifriqiya between 800 and 909. The new Emirs embellished Kairouan and made it their capital which soon became famous for its wealth and prosperity reaching the levels of Basra and Kufa and giving Tunisia one of its golden ages long sought after the glorious days of Carthage.

The Aghlabites built the great mosque and established in it a university that was a centre of education both in Islamic thought and in the secular sciences. Its role can be compared to that of the University of Paris in the Middle Ages. In the 9th century, the city became a brilliant focus of Arab and Islamic cultures attracting scholars from all over the Islamic World. In that period Imam Sahnun and Asad ibn al-Furat made of Kairouan a temple of knowledge and a magnificent centre of diffusion of Islamic sciences. The Aghlabids also built palaces, fortifications and fine waterworks of which only the pools remain. From Kairouan envoys from Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire returned with glowing reports of the Aghlabites palaces, libraries and gardens – and from the crippling taxation imposed to pay for their drunkenness and sundry debaucheries. The Aghlabite also pacified the country and conquered Sicily in 827.^[8]

Gold coin of the Fatimid Calif al-Mahdi, minted in Kairouan in 912 CE.

In 893, through the mission of Abdullah al Mahdi, the Kutama Berbers from the west of the country started the movement of the Shiite Fatimids. The year 909 saw the overthrow of the Sunni Aghlabite that ruled Ifriqiya and the creation of the Shiite Fatimid dynasty. During the rule of the Fatimids, Kairouan was neglected and lost its importance: the new rulers resided first in Raqqada but soon moved their capital to the newly built Al Mahdiyah on the coast of modern Tunisia. After succeeding in extending their rule over all of central Maghreb, an area consisting of the modern countries of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya, they eventually moved east to Egypt to found Cairo making it the capital of their vast Califate and leaving the Zirids as their vassals in Ifriqiya. Governing again from Kairouan, the Zirids led the country through another artistic, commercial and agricultural heyday. Schools and universities flourished, overseas trade in local manufactures and farm produce ran high and the courts of the Zirids rulers were centres of refinement that eclipsed those of their European contemporaries.

When the Zirids declared their independence from Cairo and their conversion to Sunni Islam in 1045 by giving allegiance to Baghdad, the Fatimid Caliph Ma'ad al-Mustansir Billah sent as punishment hordes of troublesome Arab tribes (Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym) to invade Ifriqiya. These invaders so utterly destroyed Kairouan in 1057 that it never regained its former importance and their influx was a major factor in the spread of nomadism in areas where agriculture had previously been dominant. Some 1,700 years of intermittent but continual progress was undone within a decade as in most part of the country the land was laid to waste for nearly two centuries. In the 13th century under the prosperous Hafsids dynasty that ruled Ifriqiya, the city started to emerge from its ruins. It is only under the Husainid Dynasty that Kairouan started to find an honorable place in the country and throughout the Islamic world. In 1881, Kairouan was taken by the French, after which non-Muslims were allowed access to the city.

Religion[link]

The Great Mosque of Kairouan also known as the Mosque of Uqba (Great Mosque of Sidi-Uqba)

The most important mosque in the city is the Great Mosque of Sidi-Uqba also known as the Great Mosque of Kairouan. It has been said that seven pilgrimages to this mosque is considered the equivalent of one pilgrimage to Mecca.^[9] After its establishment, Kairouan became an Islamic and Qur'anic learning centre in North Africa. An article by Professor Kwesi Prah^[10] describes how during the medieval period, Kairouan was considered the third holiest city in Islam after Mecca and Medina.^[11] Today, many consider the city as the fourth holiest in Islam.^[4]

Judaism, no longer prevalent in the city, has an illustrious history in Kairouan, particularly in the early Middle Ages. Rabbeinu Chushiel, his son Rabbeinu Chananel, and R. Nissim Ben Jacob (R. Nissim Gaon) were all from Kairouan and Rabbi Isaac Alfasi studied there, as did many other great rabbis. The rabbinical students of Kairouan are a major part of the transmission of the Oral Law from Babylonian to Spain. ^[12] Kairouan was thus the first major centre of Jewish learning outside of Babylonia and Eretz Yisrael. In memory of Sufi saints, Sufi festivals are held in the city.^[13]

Main sights[link]

Great Mosque of Kairouan prayer hall

Great Mosque of Sidi-Uqba[link]

The city's main attraction is the Great Mosque of Sidi-Uqba, which is said to largely consist of its original building materials. In fact most of the column stems and capitals were taken from ruins of earlier-period buildings, while others were produced locally. There are 414 marble, granite and porphyry columns in the mosque. Almost all were taken from the ruins of Carthage. Previously, it was forbidden to count them, on pain of blinding.^[14] The Great Mosque of Kairouan (Great Mosque of Sidi-Uqba) is considered as one of the most important monuments of Islamic civilization as well as a worldwide architectural masterpiece.^[15] founded by Arab general Uqba Ibn Nafi in 670 CE, the present aspect of the mosque dates from the 9th century.^[16] The Great Mosque of Sidi-Uqba has a great historical importance as the ancestor of all the mosques in the western Islamic world.^[17]

Façade of the Mosque of the Three Gates with its minaret.

Mosque of the Three Gates[link]

The Mosque of the Three Gates was founded in 866. Its façade is a notable example of Islamic architecture.^[18] It has three arched doorways surmounted by three inscriptions in Kufic script, interspersed with floral and geometrical reliefs and topped by a carved frieze; the first inscription includes the verses 70-71 in the sura 33 of Quran.^[19] The small minaret was added during the restoration works held under the Hafsid dynasty. The prayer hall has a nave and two aisles, divided by arched columns, parallel to the qibla wall.

Mosque of the Barber[link]

Mosque of the Barber

The Mausoleum of Sidi Sahab, generally known as the Mosque of the Barber, is actually a zaouia located inside the city walls. It was built by the Muradid Hammuda Pasha Bey (mausoleum, dome and court) and Murad II Bey (minaret and madrasa). In its present state, the monument dates from the 17th century.^[20]

The mosque is a veneration place for Abu Zama' al-Balaui, a companion of the prophet Muhammad, who, according to a legend, had saved for himself three hairs of Muhammad's beard, hence the edifice's name.^[21] The sepulture place is accessed from a cloister-like court with richly decorated ceramics and stuccoes.

Other buildings[link]

Street scene

Inside Medina

Kairouan is also home to:

• two large water reservoirs called "Aghlabid basins"
• Mosque of Ansar, dating, according to the tradition, to 667 but totally renewed in 1650.
• Mosque Al Bey (late 17th century)
• The souk (market place), in the Medina quarter, which is surrounded by walls, from which the entrance gates can be seen in the distance. Products that are sold in the souk include carpets, vases and goods made of leather.

Food[link]

Kairouan is known for its pastries (e.g., zlebia and makroudh).

In popular culture[link]

In Raiders of the Lost Ark, the street scenes in "Cairo" were filmed in Kairouan.

Twin towns[link]

• Fès, Morocco, since 22 October 1965
• Tlemcen, Algeria, since 28 May 1969
• Córdoba, Spain, since 10 June 1969
• Cairo, Egypt, since 14 Mach 1976
• Samarkand, Uzbekistan, since 5 October 1977
• Timbuktu, Mali, since 2 June 1986
• Bursa, Turkey, since 26 December 1987
• Nishapur, Iran, since 26 December 1987

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kairouan

• Official website
• Kairouan, tourismtunisia.com
• Kairouan World heritage Site, whc.unesco.org
• Kairouan University
• Al-Qayrawan, muslimheritage.com
• Kairwan, jewishencyclopedia.com
• WorldStatesmen-Tunisia
• KAIROUAN, The Capital of Islamic Culture
• Panoramic virtual tour of Kairouan medina

v t e World Heritage Sites in Tunisia Amphitheatre of El Jem · Dougga/Thugga · Ichkeul National Park · Kairouan · Medina of Sousse · Medina of Tunis · Punic Town of Kerkuane and its Necropolis · Site of Carthage

Coordinates: 35°40′N 10°06′E / 35.667°N 10.1°E / 35.667; 10.1

v t e Communes of Tunisia Ariana Governorate Aryanah (seat) Ettadhamen-Mnihla Kalâat el-Andalous Raoued Sidi Thabet La Soukra Béja Governorate Béja (seat) El Maâgoula Goubellat Medjez el-Bab Nefza Téboursouk Testour Zahret Mediou Ben Arous Governorate Ben Arous (seat) Bou Mhel el-Bassatine El Mourouj Ezzahra Hammam Chott Hammam Lif Khalidia Mégrine Mohamedia-Fouchana Mornag Rades Bizerte Governorate Bizerte (seat) Aousja El Alia Ghar El Melh Mateur Menzel Bourguiba Menzel Jemil Menzel Abderrahmane Metline Raf Raf Ras Jebel Sejenane Tinja Gabes Governorate Gabes (seat) Chenini Nahal El Hamma Ghannouch Mareth Matmata Métouia Nouvelle Matmata Oudhref Zarat Gafsa Governorate Gafsa (seat) El Guettar El Ksar Mdhila Métlaoui Moulares Redeyef Sened Jendouba Governorate Jendouba (seat) Ain Draham Beni M'Tir Bou Salem Fernana Ghardimaou Oued Melliz Tabarka Kairouan Governorate Kairouan (seat) Ain Djeloula Alaâ Bou Hajla Chebika Echrarda Oueslatia Haffouz Hajeb El Ayoun Menzel Mehiri Nasrallah Sbikha Kébili Governorate Kébili (seat) Douz El Golâa Djemna Souk Lahad Kef Governorate Le Kef (seat) Dahmani Jérissa El Ksour Kalaat Senan Kalâat Khasba Menzel Salem Nebeur Sakiet Sidi Youssef Sers Tajerouine Touiref Mahdia Governorate Mahdia (seat) Bou Merdes Chebba Chorbane El Bradâa El Jem Essouassi Hebira Hiboun Kerker Ksour Essef Mellouleche Ouled Chamekh Rejiche Sidi Alouane Manouba Governorate La Manouba (seat) Borj El Amri Den Den Douar Hicher Djedeida El Battan Oued Ellil Mornaguia Tebourba Médenine Governorate Médenine (seat) Ajim Ben Gardane Beni Khedache Houmt Souk Midoun Zarzis Monastir Governorate Monastir (seat) Amiret El Fhoul Amiret El Hojjaj Amiret Touazra Bekalta Bembla Beni Hassen Bennane Bouhjar Cherahil El Masdour Ghenada Jemmal Khniss Ksar Hellal Ksibet el-Médiouni Lamta Menzel Ennour Menzel Farsi Menzel Hayet Menzel Kamel Moknine Ouerdanin Nabeul Governorate Nabeul (seat) Azmour Béni Khalled Béni Khiar Bou Argoub Dar Allouch Dar Chaabane El Haouaria El Maâmoura El Mida Grombalia Hammam Ghezeze Hammamet Kélibia Kerkouane Korba Korbous Menzel Bouzelfa Menzel Horr Menzel Temime Soliman Somâa Takelsa Tazerka Zaouiet Djedidi Sfax Governorate Sfax (seat) Agareb Bir Ali Ben Khélifa Bir Salah Chihia El Ain Graiba Gremda Jebiniana Kerkennah El Hencha Mahres Menzel Chaker Sakiet Eddaier Sakiet Ezzit Skhira Thyna Sidi Bouzid Governorate Sidi Bouzid (seat) Bir El Hafey Cebbala Ouled Asker Jilma Menzel Bouzaiane Meknassy Mezzouna Ouled Haffouz Regueb Sidi Ali Ben Aoun Siliana Governorate Siliana (seat) Bargou Bou Arada El Aroussa El Krib Gaâfour Kesra Makthar Rouhia Sidi Bou Rouis Sousse Governorate Sousse (seat) Akouda Bouficha Enfida Ezzouhour Hammam Sousse Hergla Kalâa Kebira Kalâa Seghira Kondar Ksibet Thrayet Messaadine M'saken Sidi Bou Ali Sidi El Hani Zaouiet Sousse Tataouine Governorate Tataouine (seat) Bir Lahmar Dehiba Ghomrassen Remada Tozeur Governorate Tozeur (seat) Degache El Hamma du Jérid Nefta Tamerza Tunis Governorate Tunis (seat) Carthage La Goulette La Marsa Le Bardo Le Kram Sidi Bou Said Sidi Hassine Zaghouan Governorate Zaghouan (seat) El Fahs Djebel Oust Bir Mcherga Nadhour Zriba