Al Mir Fakhredine Al Maani Mosque

Raised in the cedar scented hills of the Chouf region of Mount Lebanon, Al Mir Fakhredine al Maani Mosque stands in the historic town of Beit ed Dine, famous across Lebanon for the nineteenth century palace of the Emir Bashir Shihab that crowns the surrounding slopes. The title Mir is the local Druze and Maani form of Emir, prince, and Fakhr al Din al Maani II, born in 1572 and executed in Istanbul in 1635, is remembered as one of the most remarkable figures of Lebanese history, a ruler who united much of the country, encouraged the cultivation of olives and silk, invited Italian architects to modernise the towns, and maintained remarkable relations with the Medici of Tuscany.

The Chouf mountains have long been a land where the diverse communities of Lebanon have lived shoulder to shoulder, the Maani princes ruling over many subjects of varied confessions alike. Although the Maani family itself was Druze, the title of emir encouraged the building of mosques in their domain for the Muslim residents of the mountain villages, and the present masjid continues that courteous tradition of welcoming worshippers to the five daily prayers beneath the tall cedars and pines.

Architecturally, the mosque reflects the stone building traditions of Mount Lebanon. Warm limestone walls quarried from the surrounding hills, a flat red tiled roof typical of Chouf villages, a modest square minaret, arched windows of carved stone, and a carpeted interior with a gently ornamented mihrab shelter worshippers from the summer sun and the winter snows that blanket the higher passes. The courtyard includes a small fountain where worshippers perform wudu beside pots of jasmine and geranium.

The present page lists accurate prayer times for Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, and Isha at Al Mir Fakhredine al Maani Mosque, along with the Beit ed Dine address and helpful notes for visitors arriving from Beirut by the mountain road through Damour and Deir al Qamar, from the cedar groves of Maaser el Shouf, or from the Mediterranean coast at Saida. During Ramadan the congregation gathers for tarawih led by soft voiced local imams, and the nights fill with the fragrance of mountain za'atar, labneh, and fresh flatbread brought to communal iftars. Any traveller exploring the magnificent Beit ed Dine palace with its mosaics and mountain views is warmly invited to pause at the mosque, to pray with the courteous local villagers, and to send quiet salawat upon the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, whose mercy descended first upon the distant blessed coastal hills and now upon the gentle mountain believers of Lebanon.