Mosque Hassan II - Casablanca
Up to the making of this Article and video, The Casablanca big mosque is the Largest in Africa, 7th largest in the world, with a #minaret of 210 metres (689 ft) that is the second tallest in the world.
Here is a high quality video on our Youtube channel:
The minaret is 60 stories high with a laser at the top of it, its light is directed towards the Qibla which is simply in Mecca KSA.
It can host up to 25,000 worshippers inside the mosque hall and another 80,000 or more on the mosque's outside ground.
Half of it in built on the sea, the other half is built on the ground, it has a great view on the Atlantic ocean and also on the corniche of ain diab and the Modern side of the city.
The walls are of hand-crafted marble and the roof is retractable.
The mosque is located between the harbor and the El Hank lighthouse.
Apart from the mosque, other structures in the area are a madrasa (Islamic school), hammams (bathhouses), a museum on Moroccan history, conference halls, and a very large library said to be the "most comprehensive in the Islamic world."
Other than all that Hassan 2 mosque has 41 fountains, gardens around it where families come for picnics from all over Casablanca's neighborhoods.
The constructions of Hassan 2 mosque started officially in 1986, and lasted till 1993. and most of Moroccan people contributed to its financing by making donations.. It was the last king of Morocco's idea to built a big mosque that would be one of the largests in the world. in 1980 he said "I wish Casablanca to be endowed with a large, fine building of which it can be proud until the end of time ... I want to build this mosque on the water, because God's throne is on the water. Therefore, the faithful who go there to pray, to praise the creator on firm soil, can contemplate God's sky and ocean."
he building blends Islamic architecture and Moroccan elements, and reflects Moorish influences, while featuring an urban design.[12] It displays elements found in other Moroccan buildings such as the unfinished mosque in Rabat and the Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakesh. There are features from an old Roman fort converted into the tomb of King Mohammed V of Rabat. Other elements come from the Tour Hassan Mosque, the Dome of the Rock (also known as Qubbat al Sakhra 688–692 AD), the Great Mosque of Madina (705–710 AD), Kairouan Mosque in Tunisia (663 AD), the Great Mosque of Damascus (705–715 AD), the Great Mosque of Cordoba (785–786 AD), Quarawiyyin Mosque (956 and 1135 AD) in Morocco, the Great Mosque of Tlemcen (1136), and Djamaa el Kebir (1096). Its layout is known as the basilican plan, which is different from the common practice of a T shaped plan adopted in many North African countries. The qibla wall is perpendicular to the naves which is said to be an unconventional layout, given that it is customary for the rows of worshipers facing Mecca to be as wide as possible rather than extend farther back (Halod and Khan 1997, 61). The adoption of this plan has been described as "a conflict between King Hassan II the ancient aristocrat and King Hassan II the contemporary leader who must develop commerce and industry in order meet the needs of his country."
