Located on the dusty fringes of the Red Sea port of Massawa, the Mosque of the Companions (Masjid al-Sahaba) is not only one of Eritrea’s most fascinating religious sites, it may be the oldest mosque in the world. On YPT’s tours to Eritrea, we make sure to stop at this remarkable and often overlooked place.
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A brief history of the Mosque of the Companions
The story of the Mosque of the Companions goes back to the earliest days of Islam, when a small group of the Prophet Muhammad’s followers fled persecution in Mecca by the Quraysh, the ruling Arab tribal confederation of Mecca. Seeking sanctuary, they crossed the Red Sea and arrived in what was then the Christian Kingdom of Aksum (modern-day Eritrea and Ethiopia) – an episode known as the First Hijra. The local Christian king, known in Islamic tradition as the Negus (or Najashi), offered them protection.
According to Islamic tradition, this small group, said to be comprised only of 12 men and 4 women, settled briefly in the area of Massawa, and it was here that the Mosque of the Companions was first established, making it one of the earliest mosques in the world, and possibly the first mosque ever built outside the Arabian Peninsula.
Some of the Sahabah exiles returned to Mecca and made the migration to Medina with Muhammad, while the others remained in Aksum and arrived in Medina in 628.
Is it the oldest mosque in the World?
The claim that the Mosque of the Companions is the oldest mosque in the world depends on how we define “mosque.” The first mosque built in Islam is generally recognised to be Quba Mosque in Medina, Saudi Arabia, constructed by the Prophet Muhammad himself shortly after the Hijrah (migration from Mecca to Medina) in 622 CE. However, the Mosque of the Companions is believed by some Islamic scholars and local tradition to predate even that, having been established around 615 CE during the First Hijrah, the migration of a small group of Muslims to the Aksumite Kingdom for protection.
Whether the Massawa mosque was a formal mosque or a simple place of prayer and gathering is debated, and its original structure has almost certainly changed over time. But regardless of these questions, it is undoubtedly one of the oldest sites of Islamic worship in the world, and almost certainly the first mosque in Africa.
A simple architecture facing Jerusalem
The mosque itself is modest and unassuming, sitting just steps from the Red Sea in the port of Massawa. The current structure is built from whitewashed coral stone. It consists of an open-air prayer area (a musalla) with a free-standing stone structure with a small domed roof over a minbar (pulpit) that resembles a miniature minaret and a small arched doorway that open into a small interior prayer space.
The most striking detail is its orientation, not toward Mecca, as modern mosques are, but toward Jerusalem. This reflects an important historical fact: in the earliest days of Islam, Muslims originally prayed facing al-Quds (Jerusalem). It wasn’t until later, during the Prophet Muhammad’s time in Medina, that the qibla was changed to face Mecca. The Mosque of the Companions thus preserves a rare and powerful link to Islam’s earliest rituals and direction of worship, something almost no other mosque in the world can claim.
A hidden gem on our Eritrea Tours
YPT’s Eritrea tours are all about taking you to places the rest of the world has overlooked and the Mosque of the Companions is a perfect example. Located inside Massawa’s port, it is not accessible without a permit. Thus, it is not marked by crowds or gift shops. In fact, it looks almost abandoned between all the shipping containers, a strange sights considering the important of this place.
Want to Visit? Join us on one of our group or independent Eritrea tours, where we’ll take you from the art deco streets of Asmara to the Massawa coastline. As always with YPT, we go where few others do.
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