Al-Khadra Mosque

Minaret of al-Khadra Mosque, early 20th century

According to local Muslim tradition, the mosque is situated upon the site where Jacob wept after being shown Joseph's blood-soaked tunic which suggested that he had been mauled and killed; on the right of the courtyard is a small room said to be the place where Jacob sat down and wept.[2] Hence the mosque's alternative name "Sadness of our Lord Jacob".[3]

According to Samaritan tradition, al-Khadra Mosque had been a synagogue destroyed by the Crusaders. They claim that its Arabic name al-Khadra ("the Green") derived from the Samaritan Mahallat Khadra ("the place of the Green").[4] Archaeologist Michael Avi-Yonah identified the Khadra Mosque with the synagogue built by the Samaritan high priest Akbon in 362 CE.[5]

The synagogue was rebuilt in 1137 by Ab Giluga, a Samaritan from Acre. Several Western scholars, however, believe, because of examples of Gothic architecture in portions of the present-day mosque, that in the 1170s, there stood a Crusader church and bell tower.[4] Arab geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi records in 1225, while Nablus was under Ayyubid rule, the buildings was restored to become a Samaritan synagogue, which he referred to as "a large mosque" which the Samaritans venerated.[6] It is probably from this era that the Samaritan inscriptions on a minaret wall were made.[7]

In 1242, however, the Knights Templars damaged the building, which was later destroyed in 1260 by the Mongols.[8] It was transformed as a mosque in 1290 by the Mamluks during the reign of Sultan Qalawun as attested to by a foundation inscription.[9] Most of the structure resembles Mamluk architecture and a mihrab was added to the mosque.[1]