Mosquée Saad Ibn Abi Wakkas مسجد سعد بن أبي وقاص

Gracing a broad avenue of Fes in the Fes Boulemane region of northern Morocco, the Mosque of Saad ibn Abi Waqqas, may God be pleased with him, honours a distinguished companion of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, renowned as the first archer to shoot an arrow in the path of God, as the maternal uncle of the Prophet's household, and as the commander whose armies carried Islam into the Sasanian heartland at the Battle of al Qadisiyyah in 636 of the common era. Saad is one of the ten given the glad tidings of paradise during his earthly life, and mosques across the Muslim world invoke his name for his valour, his quiet wisdom, and his devotion.

Fes itself is one of the most important cities in Moroccan Islam, founded at the end of the eighth century by Idris I and his son Idris II, who are buried within the walled medina and venerated by generations of pilgrims. The university mosque of al Qarawiyyin, founded in 859 by Fatima al Fihriyya, may God have mercy upon her, is often described as the oldest still running university in the world, and the Qarawiyyin and its sister mosque al Andalusiyyin have shaped Moroccan religious learning for more than a millennium. Neighbourhood mosques like Saad ibn Abi Waqqas draw on this deep well, their imams often trained at the Qarawiyyin or at the Dar al Hadith al Hassaniyya.

Architecturally the mosque follows the elegant Fassi idiom: walls faced in honey coloured cut stone, a green tiled square minaret rising in tiers of blind arcading, and a courtyard paved with zellij mosaic in geometric patterns. The façade is opened by a large pointed horseshoe portal, its spandrels carved with floral plaster and Thuluth calligraphy. Inside, the hall is laid out beneath Berber carpet, the mihrab recessed into a deep niche ringed by zellij and carved plaster, and the minbar crafted in carved cedar with inlaid inlaid woodwork evoking the Almoravid ateliers of medieval Fes.

Prayers through the day, Friday addresses in classical Arabic, hifz gatherings, and Ramadan tarawih keep the mosque alive year round.