Great Mosque of al-Nuri, Mosul

, 6th century AH, Iraq Museum Tradition holds that Nur ad-Din Zangi, a Turkoman atabeg of the Zengid dynasty and sultan of its Syrian province, built the mosque in 1172–1173, shortly before his death. == Minaret ==

The mosque was well known for its leaning minaret, known as al-Hadba’ ("the hunchback"). Grattan Geary, a 19th-century traveler, described the minaret's appearance: When the cylindrical minaret was built it stood high, with seven bands of decorative brickwork in complex geometric patterns ascending in levels towards the top. By the time the traveler Ibn Battuta visited in the 14th century it was already listing and had acquired its nickname. The design of the minaret follows a form originally developed in neighboring Iran and Central Asia and shares similarities with other minarets in northern Iraq, such as those in Mardin, Sinjar and Arbil. It is depicted on Iraq's 10,000 dinar note. According to local tradition (which ignores chronology), the minaret gained its tilt after the Islamic prophet Muhammad passed overhead while ascending to heaven. The minaret bowed itself in reverence but could only regain its balance after its top joint had been kinked in the opposite direction. According to local Christian tradition, however, the mosque's tilt was due to its bowing towards the tomb of the Virgin Mary, reputedly located near Arbil. == Madrasa ==

The madrasa located northwest of the mosque was built by Nizam al-Mulk in the 11th century, as part of the Nizamiyya series of Islamic schools. It was converted into a shrine for a patron saint, Ali al-Asghar, in the 12th century during the Zengid period and later renovated in 1330 by the Jalayirids. Later traditions ascribed the shrine to an unspecified Shaykh al-Nuri during the Timurid period. == Modern history ==

period in 1932. The mosque, its madrasah, and its tomb were dismantled and reassembled in 1942 in a restoration programme undertaken by the Iraqi government. The cause of the lean was disputed – some have blamed the prevailing wind – but local officials have attributed it to the effects of thermal expansion caused by the heat of the sun, causing bricks on the sun-facing side to expand and progressively tilt the minaret. Rather than destroying the site, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appeared during a Friday prayer in this mosque on 4 July 2014 to declare the formation of a new caliphate. Destruction By June 2017, the Battle of Mosul had progressed to the stage that IS-controlled territory in Mosul was limited to the Old City area, which included the mosque. On 21 June 2017, Iraqi government forces reported that the mosque had been blown up by IS forces at 9:50 PM and that the blast was indicative of bombs being deliberately placed to bring it down. Amaq, an information wing of IS that often reports news favorable to the terrorist organization, claimed an airstrike by the United States was responsible for the destruction, but this claim was not substantiated by any evidence. Iraqi forces were within of the mosque before the explosion, Aerial photographs and a video of the destruction were released by the Iraqi military a few hours after the explosion. The UAE provided 50.4 million to fund the reconstruction project with a joint collaboration between the UAE, UNESCO, Iraq's culture ministry, and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM). The project plan is the preservation of the square base of the leaning minaret as a memorial to the victims of ISIS as well as the construction of a replica which would be visible in the Mosul skyline. She hosted the first meeting of the joint committee in September 2018 in the UAE. The expected completion date of the planned reconstruction is in 2023. A foundation stone for the reconstruction was laid on 17 December 2018. In April 2021, it was announced that a group of eight Egyptian architects won a competition to reconstruct the mosque, from among 123 entries. The winning entry was criticized as resembling architecture found in Gulf Arab states more than traditional architecture in Mosul. and an official opening was held on 1 September 2025 in a ceremony attended by Iraqi prime minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. == See also ==