Kairouan is Tunisia’s holiest city and the 4th holiest Islamic city in the world after Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem. Seven visits to Kairouan are considered the equivalent to one pilgrimage to Mecca. It is here that Islam gained its foothold in North Africa. Although legend indicates otherwise, Kairouan was most likely founded on the site of an earlier Roman settlement. According to legend, the site was chosen in 670 AD by the Arab general Oqba bin Nafi al Fihri after his horse stumbled on a gold goblet that lay buried in the sands. The goblet turned out to one that had mysteriously disappeared from Mecca some years prior and when it was picked up, water sprang from the ground. It was concluded that this new spring shared the same source that supplied the holy well of Zem-Zem in Mecca. Thus Kairouan became the first Muslim city of Maghreb and the capital of ‘Ifriqiya’. Kairouan’s intellectual life was very active and the town became one of the most important centers of Islamic knowledge and culture.

Presently, Kairouan is a governor’s seat with 150,000 inhabitants. Its economy is based on agriculture of wheat, olive and fruit trees, vegetables and sheep and cattle farming. Based on both the amount of wool production as well as the tradition of craft, Kairouan is considered the Tunisian center for carpet-making.

Mosque
Oqba Ibn Nafi, the founder of Kairouan claimed to be guided by voices that only he could hear. He had been advised in a dream that as soon as he awoke he would hear a voice, distinguishable only to him, that would guide him to the place where the Great Mosque should be built. He did what the voice commanded him to. When the voice stopped talking, Oqba Ibn Nafi indicated that this was where the future mosque should be built by planting his sword in the ground.

Though Sidi Oqba’s original version was completely destroyed, the Great Mosque has always occupied a large portion of the north-eastern corner of the medina. It boasts the oldest standing minaret in the world though most of what stands today was built by the Aghlabites in the 9th century. The mosque’s unadorned and austere exterior nearly bears closer resemblance to a fort than the country’s most hallowed mosque.

Impressions of sterile simplicity change upon stepping through the imposing, studded and carved wooden doors dating from 1829 AD. Though non-Muslims are not allowed inside the prayer hall, there is still an enormous amount to be seen from the large marble-paved courtyard. For starters, the 400 or so pillars that hold up the roof. The stone columns were taken from various Roman sites throughout the country as an easy source of stone building material. The wide variety of capitals, shafts, bases and pedestals could nearly constitute a museum in itself! Wooden ‘pillows’ separate the capitals from the higher elements of the columns, designed to soak up any shifts caused by the earth’s tremors. This forest of columns is surrounded by endless stories. According to one, anyone who counts all of the pillars will go blind!

It is also possible to make out the 130 precious 9th century faïence tiles behind the mihrab (prayer niche in the mosque wall which indicates the direction of Mecca). These were imported from Baghdad along with wood for the minbar (pulpit) next to it. The minbar is considered a masterpiece of Islamic art and the oldest in existence. Though the prayer hall is seen from outside, one is easily moved by its enormously powerful and beautiful expression of faith.

Though beautiful in their size and simplicity, courtyards were never merely aesthetic. Kairouan has always been short of natural water sources and the courtyard for the Great Mosque it is designed for water catchments. Rain water flows through eaves from the rest of the mosque into the limestone courtyard then slopes towards marble filters whose decorations are carved to strain debris. Column bases have openings to access the water for cleaning the mosque. The marble rims of two wells in the courtyard both have deep rope grooves worn by centuries of hauling water up from the depths.

The mosque’s sundial, used to determine prayer times, lies in the middle of the courtyard. The prayer times are established according to the sun’s movement and thereby vary from season to season according to the length of the day. For instance, the sunrise prayer on a winter’s day is much later compared to that on a summer’s day.

Cisterns
Entering hot dry Kairouan, two enormous pools lie beckoning just north of the city. Although a refreshing dip would seem inviting, don’t be tempted, these are the two remaining cisterns which provided Kairouan with drinking water. remain are the restored remains of the original fourteen pairs of Aghlabite basins built in the 9th century.

Originally there were fourteen pairs of Aghlabite basins built in the 9th century. The cisterns held the city’s water supply, delivered first by the Marguellil Oued (river) then later by aqueduct from the hills 36km west of Kairouan. The water flowed first into the smaller settling basin then into the main basin (5m deep and 128m diameter).

In the centre of the main pool are the remains of pillars which once supported a pavilion where rulers could come to relax on summer evenings. As well as holding water, the Aghlabites hoped that the pools would produce humidity over the town to relieve summer heat. Instead, they became a terrific mosquito breeding ground and consequently a source of malaria! Restored and currently in use today, these cisterns are now a cooler area free of mosquitoes!

Rakkada Islamic Art Museum
This museum is a must for enthusiasts of Islamic art. Located 10 kilometers outside of Kairouan, the Rakkada Museum occupies the ruins of the Aghlabid residential palaces. There are rare displays of Islamic objects such as glazed pottery, coins, glass, parchments, painted wood from mosque ceilings and beautiful Arabic calligraphy.

The Rakkada also houses a rich collection of manuscripts which were transferred from the Great Mosque. Some of these books, made of parchment or gazelle skin, date from 9th century A.D. The most famous is the blue Koran written on indigo-dyed parchment and written with gold.

Zaouia of Sidi Sahab
This beautiful mausoleum houses the tomb of Abu Zama el-Belaoui, the companion of the Prophet Mohammed. He was known as ‘the barber’ because he always carried 3 hairs from the Prophet’s beard with him. One hair was carried under his tongue, one under his right arm and one next to his heart.

The original mausoleum dates back to the 7th century AD though most of what can be seen today was added at the end of the 17th century. The entrance is along an unusually decorative marble passageway covered in gorgeously painted Andalousian tiles. This leads to a stunning white central courtyard with the mausoleum to the right, topped by a cupola added in 1629.

The Sidi Sahab mausoleum is considered a holy place and is visited by many Tunisians and other Muslims, especially at ‘Mouled’, the Prophet’s birthday. Pilgrims who return from Mecca will often bring offerings such as perfume, incense and pictures. Young girls of Kairouan will offer the first rug that they made to this holy man in order to favor a happy engagement and matrimonial life. The Sidi Sahab mausoleum is also a popular place to have boys circumcised and the climax of the ceremony happens in the courtyard. Over the preceding weeks the boy’s family will have filled a large jar with sweets and nuts before sealing it. At the moment of the big ‘snip’, the jar is smashed in the centre of the courtyard and the watching children scramble for its contents.

Mosque of the Three Doors
This small yellow sandstone building with an elaborate façade is a rare example of a 9th century mosque. It was founded in 866 AD by Mohammed bin Kairoun el Maafri, a holy man from the Spanish city of Cordoba. The three arched doorways are topped by friezes of Kufic (early Arabic) script interspersed with floral designs in relief and crowned with a carved cornice. The top two bands date from the mosque’s foundation, the lower bad and minaret from later additions. Between the top two bands of inscriptions is a row of stones with floral decorations, of which no two are decorated identically.

ONAT Carpet Museum
Carpet making in Kairouan belongs to a tradition dating many hundreds of years. The ONAT Carpet Museum houses a collection of carpets and provides an opportunity to look at some more traditional patterns. The ONAT is highly involved in quality control of carpets made in Kairouan. They alone judge each carpet to award it a rating of 2nd, 1st or ‘Superior Quality’.

Bir Barouta (Barouta’s well)
Built by Ottoman ruler Mohammed Bey in 1676, Bir Barouta is recognizable by its single white cupola. It surrounds the well that features in the legend of the foundation of the city, where the waters are supposed to be linked to those of the well of Zem-Zem in Mecca. A camel turns around the well to bring up the water. It is said that a taste of the water will bring you one day back to Kairouan.