Wasit

Military and commercial city of medieval Iraq, especially important during the Umayyad caliphate (661-750 AD). It was established as a military encampment in 702 on the Tigris River, between Basra and Kufah. A palace and the chief mosque were built and irrigation and cultivation were encouraged. Because of its location on the Tigris, Wasit became a shipbuilding and commercial center. Even after the caliphal capital was moved from Damascus to Baghdad, the city remained important. The only standing building is a shrine with a monumental portal flanked by minarets, datable to the 13th century. Excavations revealed a congregational mosque with four periods of construction, the earliest with a large courtyard surrounded on three sides by a single arcade and a sanctuary 19 bays wide and 5 bays deep. Adjoining the mosque was the Dar al Imara, or governor's palace.

Located half way between Basra and Kufa, Wasit was founded as a new town by Hajjaj b. Yusuf al-Thaqafi, governor of Iraq, in 703-4. Its remains occupy some three square kilometres. The only standing building is a shrine with a monumental portal flanked by minarets, datable to the 13th century. Excavations revealed a congregational mosque with four periods of construction. The earliest mosque, attributed to Hajjaj b. Yusuf, was 104 metres square, with a large courtyard surrounded on three sides by a single arcade and a sanctuary 19 bays wide and 5 bays deep. This plan, which became typical of congregational mosques in Iraq, is often called the ‘Iraqi type’. The mosque does not point towards Mecca and there is no concave mihrab (see mosque), the latter being used first at Medina in 707-9. Adjoining the mosque was the Dar al Imara, or governor’s palace. The palace rapidly fell into ruin, as later did the mosque, which was rebuilt, perhaps cl000, with the same plan, but facing Mecca. The new mosque was rebuilt on two subsequent occasions, perhaps in the 13th century and the 14th century.