Sultan Bello Mosque

The Sultan Bello Mosque, also known as the Kaduna Central Mosque, is one of the largest and most prominent mosques in Kaduna, built in 1962 on Ali Akilu Road near Arewa House. The mosque is named for Muhammadu Bello, son of the Islamic reformer Usman dan Fodio and the first Sultan of Sokoto.

Non-Muslim visitors are welcome to observe from the exterior, and the mosque is worth a look for its scale and its position in the city's religious landscape. During Ramadan it becomes the centre of major public religious observance. The surrounding neighbourhood reflects the predominantly Muslim character of northern Kaduna, which contrasts noticeably with the predominantly Christian south of the city.

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A story
The mosque was built in 1962 and named for Muhammadu Bello, the son of the reformer Usman dan Fodio and the first Sultan of Sokoto, who ruled from 1817 to 1837. Dan Fodio's jihad in the early nineteenth century reshaped the entire political and religious geography of northern Nigeria, establishing the Sokoto Caliphate that dominated the region until the British arrived. The mosque's name is a thread connecting the city's colonial present to a pre-colonial Islamic political history that goes back two centuries.

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