Al-Omari Grand Mosque stands out in the middle of downtown Beirut as a landmark depicting parts of the city history way back to the Islamic conquest during era of the Caliph Omar bin Al-Khattab. Suhail Mneimneh, head of the Beirut Heritage Society, said in an interview with KUNA that the mosque had been built upon rubble of a Roman military compound.

The mihrab engraved with the ten men promised by the Prophet (PBUH) to be in paradise.

Gate of the mosque.

Al-Omari mosque interior, with the pulpit, the mihrab and engraved ceiling.

The Crusaders, during their presence in the Levant in 1110 had transformed the mosque into a church until the Islamic ruler Salah Eddine Al-Ayyoubi restored its original features as a mosque. The interior is marked with engravings and ancient stones reflecting its historic value. Al-Omari Grand Mosque, during the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war and the battles that had raged in downtown Beirut, was badly damaged, along with many other buildings properties in the region.

A stone engraving dating back to Ottoman rule decorates a wall of the mosque.

A painting showing a Beirut notable who renovated the mosque in the 1077 hijri year.

The prayer corner for the Ottoman Wali in Beirut.

However after the civil war, a Kuwaiti woman good doer, Suad Mohammad Al-Humaidhi, gave donations for renovating the mosque. Nowadays, the three-storey mosque can accommodate some 3,000 worshippers. It was reopened after the face-lifting, thanks to the Kuwaiti’s donations on June 4, 2004, in a broad ceremony attended by Al-Humaidhi, the former Lebanese mufti and the late prime minister Rafic Al-Hariri.—KUNA