List of Mosques in Israel

This article is a documented selection rather than a complete national inventory. The sources identify mosques in a range of localities but do not provide a current, authoritative directory or a consistent rule for which sites should count as mosques.[8] A historical overview reported around 250 mosques in Israel in the mid-1990s, four times as many as in 1967; this is a period-specific estimate rather than a current count.[8] The state funds the operating costs of more than 100 mosques and the salaries of Muslim religious leaders, but that funding figure likewise does not constitute a census.[9]

The examples span functioning congregational mosques, historic buildings with other present uses, archaeological remains, shrines, and sites described as mosques. Their histories include early Islamic communities, Ottoman-era urban construction, buildings adapted from earlier structures, and modern mosque construction and repair.[8][5]

The geographic framing in the source material varies, especially where Jerusalem’s holy sites are concerned. The entries follow the locations and descriptions given by the cited sources and should not be read as resolving disputed boundaries or political status.[6]

Archaeological reports describe early mosque remains in the north and south of the country. Near Tiberias, an excavated mosque site was dated to approximately 660–680 CE using coins and ceramics found at the base of its foundations. The building had a pillared floor plan and a prayer niche oriented toward Mecca; its earliest phase stood alongside local synagogues and a Byzantine church before a larger mosque replaced it about half a century later.[1]

In Rahat, archaeologists uncovered a rural, open-air mosque dated to approximately the seventh or eighth century CE. Its prayer niche faces south-southeast toward Mecca. Excavators also found a large farmhouse dated to the sixth or seventh century and other structures interpreted as evidence of an early Islamic agricultural community.[10] A separate commentary describes the Rahat find as among the oldest mosques discovered in the Land of Israel and presents it as evidence of a swift local transition from Christianity to Islam; those characterizations are the author’s interpretation of the archaeological material.[2]

Several historic town mosques are associated with the development of urban centers. Ramla was founded as a new city in 712–717 by Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik, and its early history included the White Mosque, built by Sulayman and completed by his brother Hisham in the eighth century.[3] In Acre, Jazzar Pasha built the Great Mosque in the eighteenth century, when the city was an Ottoman walled town whose buildings partly overlay Crusader-period remains.[11] In Jaffa, the local governor Muhammad Abu Nabut oversaw construction of a central mosque after Napoleon’s departure, along with markets and a fountain on the road to Jerusalem.[12]

Mosque building and renovation continued after the War of Independence. A historical overview describes government and waqf support for repairs and new construction, supplemented by contributions from Muslim residents and organizations.[8] It also says committees in Jaffa, Ramleh, Lydda, Haifa, and Acre administered waqf properties and directed revenues principally toward mosque maintenance, identifying reconstruction of Hassan Bey Mosque as the best-known project involving Jaffa’s waqf committee.[8]

Waqf administration and community contributions feature prominently in accounts of mosque upkeep and construction. Committees in Jaffa, Ramleh, Lydda, Haifa, and Acre administered waqf properties and used revenues mainly for mosque maintenance, while government assistance and donations from residents and local organizations supported repairs and new construction.[8]

Muslim community leaders reported no difficulty obtaining municipal approval to construct mosques in Muslim-majority localities, while sometimes facing difficulty in Jewish-majority localities.[6] Some former mosques were described as sealed, inaccessible, or used for secular purposes after their confiscation following the War of Independence.[6] A letter distributed in Lod mosques described the muezzin and call to prayer as representing “our Islamic presence, identity, and roots.”[6]

The same report attributes to a study by Kamal Khatib of the High Follow Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, reported by Anadolu, estimates that since the War of Independence 15 mosques had been converted into synagogues by the government, 40 destroyed, closed, or abandoned, and 17 turned into barns, bars, restaurants, or museums.[6] These are attributed figures rather than a nationwide mosque census or an independently established inventory.

Jerusalem’s Old City contains Al-Aqsa Mosque at the southern edge of the Temple Mount. Some usage applies the name “Al-Aqsa” to the wider plaza, while other accounts distinguish the mosque from the compound traditionally called Al-Haram Al-Sharif.[13] Sources also classify the Dome of the Rock differently: one account describes it as a shrine built over the foundation stone in 691 CE, while INSS counts it among six mosques on the Temple Mount.[14][5] The other five named by INSS are Al-Aqsa Mosque, Al-Aqsa Al-Kadima, Al-Marwani Mosque—also called Solomon’s Stables—Bab Al-Rahma Mosque, and Al-Buraq Mosque.[5]

INSS says the Dome of the Rock opened in 691 CE and became a women’s mosque in May 1952. It dates Al-Aqsa Mosque’s opening to 705, Al-Aqsa Al-Kadima’s to August 1999, Al-Marwani Mosque’s to December 2000, and Bab Al-Rahma Mosque’s to February 2019, while dating Al-Buraq Mosque to the seventeenth century.[5] A separate account dates construction of Al-Aqsa Mosque to the late seventh century and says it was rebuilt several times after major earthquakes.[14]

Accounts of more recent changes differ in terminology and interpretation. A Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs article identifies the Dome of the Rock, Al-Marwani Mosque, “Ancient Al-Aqsa” Mosque, and a prayer area at the Gate of Mercy as four new mosques or prayer sites. It says the Dome was not originally built as a mosque but was used for prayer in the 1970s and 1980s, dates the establishment of “Ancient Al-Aqsa” beneath the upper mosque to 1998, and says the Gate of Mercy prayer area was converted into a mosque in 2019.[13] These claims and labels form part of a politically and historically contested account of changes at the compound.

The site is a major Muslim holy place and a national symbol for Palestinians, while also having deep Jewish religious and historical significance.[5] Israel took control of East Jerusalem and the Old City in 1967 and subsequently extended its law, jurisdiction, and administration there. The Jordanian Waqf administers the compound, while Israeli police are responsible for security.[6] Israeli-government and Muslim representatives have expressed differing positions regarding the post-1967 status quo, worship, access, and authority; the cited sources do not establish a settled account of every claim concerning sovereignty or practical arrangements.[6]

Acre’s Great Mosque, commonly called the Al-Jazzar Mosque or Pasha’s Mosque, is among the city’s prominent historic structures. It was built by Ahmad Pasha al-Jazzar, the Ottoman governor of Acre from 1775 to 1804, and is described as one of the Old City’s most distinctive buildings.[4] Acre’s historic fabric is that of an Ottoman walled town whose structures partly overlay Crusader-period remains.[11] One account calls Al-Jazzar the most important, ornate, and prominent of eight mosques in Acre’s Old City. It also reports that believers hold a hair of the Prophet Muhammad to be kept there and that Ahmad al-Jazzar Pasha and his successor Sulayman Pasha are buried at the mosque.[15]

Haifa’s named mosques include Al-Jarina Grand Mosque, Masjid Al-Saghir, Istiqlal Mosque, Ahmadi Mosque, and Jami Sidna Mahmoud. Al-Jarina Grand Mosque was built in 1775 and enlarged by the Ottoman Empire in 1901; Masjid Al-Saghir was built in 1761 by Zahir al-Umar. Both are described as among Haifa’s oldest buildings.[16] Istiqlal Mosque is described as the city’s central and most active mosque for Muslims, and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat prayed there in 1979.[17] A government tour-guide examination also lists the Ahmadi Mosque in Haifa among named mosques, although its question does not select a correct answer or provide further information about the building.[18]

In Haifa’s Ahmadiyya neighborhood of Kababir, Jami Sidna Mahmoud was built in 1979 and named for the second Ahmadiyya caliph. Its two minarets are each 35 meters high, and its octagonal design is described as recalling Jerusalem’s Dome of the Rock.[19]

Nazareth’s mosques include the Peace Mosque, el-Abyad Mosque, and Shihab Al-Din Mosque. One source reports seven mosques in the city, identifying the Peace Mosque as the largest and dating its construction to 1963; it calls el-Abyad, north of the Basilica of the Annunciation, the oldest and dates it to 1812.[20] A counter-terrorism article identifies Sheikh Nazem Abu Eslim as imam of the Shihab Al-Din Mosque and reports that hundreds of worshippers attended a prayer there following the April 18, 2010 assassination of al-Qaeda leaders in Iraq. This is a source-specific report and does not support broader claims about the mosque or its congregation.[21]

Ramla’s White Mosque, or Al-Jāmiʿ al-Abyaḍ, is one of the city’s principal historic buildings and a notable example of early Islamic religious architecture. Its original structure dates to the early eighth century. The complex includes subterranean vaults and cisterns, and its construction took place in several phases, including Umayyad and later Ayyubid-period work.[11] Much of the complex was destroyed in earthquakes in 1033 and 1068, and three underground water reservoirs remain within it.[3] The prominent square tower was built in 1318 during the Mamluk period.[22]

Only ruins of the White Mosque itself remain, while its 89-foot (27-meter) tower, known as the White Tower, still stands.[23] Sources differ over its dating: Britannica attributes it to the reign of Baybars, from 1260 to 1277, while another account dates it to 1318.[23][22] Its function is also disputed, as it may have served as a minaret or as a military tower with firing slits.[22]

Ramla’s Great Mosque, also called Al-Jāmiʿ al-Kabīr or Al-Omari Mosque, occupies a building erected in the mid-twelfth century as a church dedicated to St. John. Following the Mamluk conquest in 1266, it was converted into a mosque and a minaret and mihrab were added.[3] Architectural features reflect this sequence: one account describes Abbasid-style arches, Corinthian capitals used by the Crusaders, a mihrab indicating the direction of prayer toward Mecca, and a purification area.[22]

Jaffa’s historic mosques include the Mahmoudiya Mosque, Hassan Bek Mosque, Al-Nuzha Mosque, and al-Bahr Mosque. Mahmoudiya was built in the mid-eighteenth century and is described as the largest and most important mosque for Jaffa’s residents; its minaret is a prominent landmark near Clocktower Square.[24][12] A Tel Aviv-Yafo municipal listing places Mahmoudiya on Rothschild Boulevard and identifies al-Bahr, also called Jami al-Bahr or Sea Mosque, at Jaffa harbour. It also lists Hassan Bek Mosque on Herbert Samuel Boulevard, Sidna Ali Mosque in Herzliya, and a Muslim prayer hall in Tel Aviv University’s Ramat Aviv dormitories.[25]

Hassan Bek Mosque, between Jaffa and Tel Aviv, was established in 1916 by Jaffa governor Hassan Bek al-Jabi. It was abandoned during the War of Independence as the Manshiya neighborhood was demolished, later deteriorated, and became the subject of a proposed commercial and tourism redevelopment. Jaffa Arabs campaigned against the proposal, and the building returned to use as a mosque; the same account describes disagreement over the circumstances of its minaret’s collapse in 1983.[7] A Library of Congress record also identifies the Hassan Bey Mosque in material describing photographs from 1917 but provides no construction date or architectural history.[26]

Sidna Ali Mosque, near Apollonia National Park, is described as a Mamluk building from the mid-thirteenth century. It is named for Ali ibn Ulaym, who fell in battle with the Crusaders in 1081. A report also describes a black stone at the site that was used in a local truth-testing custom.[27]

The Great Mosque in Beersheba was built by the Turks and is described as the first mosque in the Negev. Its design was inspired by Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, and the building currently serves as a Museum of Islamic and Middle Eastern Cultures.[28] It was used as a mosque from 1906 to 1948, then as a court and prison until 1953 and as an archaeological museum until it was abandoned in 1992 because of structural problems.[29] A separate account says it became a museum of Negev history in the mid-1950s and closed in 1994 after being declared unsafe.[30]

The building became the subject of disputes over whether to reopen it as a mosque or use it as a museum of Islamic culture. The High Court proposed a museum compromise in 2006, and the case remained pending at the end of the 2010 reporting period.[29] Another account describes a campaign begun in 1997 by the Islamic Movement and Adalah to return the building to its original use, alongside municipal opposition to renewed prayer there.[30]

The Omar Bin Khattab Mosque is in Ibtin, a village in northern Israel. It was vandalized and defaced on June 9, 2010, with graffiti that included a Star of David and a call for the destruction of the holy site.[29] In western Jerusalem, the Nabi ‘Ukkasha mosque and tomb is described as a deserted site that once welcomed worshippers to a shrine of a companion of the Prophet Muhammad. A National Library of Israel catalog record summarizes a 2022 essay about the site’s history, its desecration in 1929, and its lack of protection at the time the essay was written.[31]

The historic Nebi Akasha mosque in Jerusalem was spray-painted on December 14, 2011, with the phrases “price tag” and “Mohammed is a pig.” Police attempting to apprehend suspects were attacked, and police vehicles were damaged.[32] These incidents are individual documented cases and do not describe the condition or treatment of mosques generally.

The documented mosques represent several layers of the country’s religious and architectural history. Archaeological remains at Tiberias and Rahat provide evidence about the design and setting of early Islamic prayer buildings, while the White Mosque in Ramla, Al-Jazzar Mosque in Acre, and Jami Sidna Mahmoud in Haifa illustrate Umayyad, Ottoman, Mamluk, and modern building traditions.[1][3]

Mosques also function as institutions of worship, community maintenance, and public identity. Waqf revenues, resident donations, government support, and local committees have all contributed to their construction and upkeep.[8] The description of the muezzin and call to prayer as representing “our Islamic presence, identity, and roots” illustrates the role that mosque life can hold in communal identity.[6]

The list is limited by its source base. It brings together selected municipal listings, historical accounts, archaeological reports, and named examples, but no cited source supplies an exhaustive current national directory.[8][25] Historical estimates and the government’s mosque-funding figure are not interchangeable with a complete count, and the sources do not establish consistent inclusion criteria for functioning mosques, former mosques, prayer halls, shrines, or archaeological remains.[8][9]

Disputes over Jerusalem’s Temple Mount/Al-Haram Al-Sharif concern religious significance, administration, access, worship, and authority.[5][6] Sources also use differing terminology for mosques and prayer sites and offer contested interpretations of changes at the compound.[13]

Other controversies concern the use of the former Beersheba mosque, the proposed mosque near Nazareth’s Basilica of the Annunciation, and the redevelopment and return to prayer of Hassan Bek Mosque.[29][20] The Hassan Bek dispute is documented separately in an account of the building’s proposed commercial redevelopment and restoration as a mosque.[7] These disputes should not be treated as representative of every mosque or locality.