Fakhr al-Din Mosque

The Fakhr al-Din Mosque, built in 1269 AD, is one of the oldest surviving structures in the whole of East Africa. Like the Arba'a Rukun Mosque, it is located in the Hamar Weyne district and was built using the coral-stone construction technique characteristic of the Swahili Coast architectural tradition. The mihrab — the ornamental niche indicating the direction of Mecca — is decorated with Arabic inscriptions of considerable historical importance, as they constitute one of the few surviving primary sources for medieval Somali history.

The mosque is somewhat smaller than the Arba'a Rukun but arguably in better condition. It continues to function as an active house of worship. The civil war damaged the surrounding neighbourhood severely, but the mosque itself survived with relatively minor damage, and the inscriptions on its walls are intact. Together with the Arba'a Rukun, it anchors the historical significance of the Hamar Weyne district as one of the oldest continuously inhabited urban quarters in the Horn of Africa.

things to do sight
A story
The mosque was built in 1269 — one year after the Arba'a Rukun — by a sultan whose full name was Fakhr ad-Din. He was a Somali ruler of the sultanate that controlled Mogadishu in the 13th century. An Arabic inscription on the mihrab records the foundation date. The inscription has survived seven hundred and fifty years of Indian Ocean humidity, Portuguese cannons, Italian colonialism, and civil war.