The historic Umayyad Mosque in the Syrian city of Aleppo has been reopened after restoration. With this the mosque has begun a new chapter after the wounds of war.
The news agency SANA said it was reopened on Thursday at a ceremony attended by the country’s ministers, government officials and religious figures.
Aleppo’s governor, Azzam al-Gharib, said the mosque has been an inseparable part of Aleppo’s history since the Umayyad period.
“After long, hard times and destruction, we are giving Aleppo back its Grand Mosque,” al-Gharib said. The mosque had also served as a refuge for revolutionaries and a symbol of the struggle for freedom and dignity, he said.
He said people had worked to protect Aleppo and its historic buildings. They had saved the mosque from further destruction and made it fit for use again.
Al-Gharib said the mosque’s historic features and facilities were kept intact during the restoration, so that the call to prayer could echo in its halls again.
Syria’s Grand Mufti, Sheikh Osama al-Rifai, said the city holds a special place in the hearts of Muslims because of Aleppo’s history and cultural importance. The mosque has regained its lost splendour and is about to begin a new chapter in religious life and learning, he said.
The minister of religious affairs, Mohammad Abu al-Khair Shukri, described Aleppo’s Umayyad Mosque as the equal of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus. The mosque carries a long history of learning and struggle, he said.
Shukri said the rebuilding or development of people matters more than the rebuilding of infrastructure, because people are the foundation of civilisation, progress and the future. The people of Syria are working to rebuild everything that was destroyed, he said.
The mufti of Aleppo, Ibrahim Shasho, said reopening the mosque means breathing life into this historic place of worship. It will uphold for future generations its tradition of survival and recovery.
The Umayyad Mosque is one of Aleppo’s main religious and cultural landmarks. For centuries it has played an important part in the city’s learning and cultural life. Its reopening after restoration and rehabilitation is expected to help it recover its lost place in Aleppo’s religious and social life.
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