Mosque of Omar (Jerusalem)

 mosque, historic landmark

Mosque of Omar in Jerusalem is located opposite the southern courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. After the Siege of Jerusalem by the Rashidun army under the command of Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah, Patriarch Sophronius refused to surrender except to the Caliph Omar himself. Omar traveled to Jerusalem and accepted the surrender. He then visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher where Sophronius invited him to pray inside the Church, but Omar declined so as not to set a precedent and thereby endanger the Church's status as a Christian temple. Instead he prayed outside in the courtyard. Hence the Mosque of Omar was built in its current shape by the Ayyubid Sultan al-Afdal bin Saladin in 1193 CE in memory of this event.