Taynal Mosque, Mamluk mosque in Tripoli, Lebanon.
The Taynal Mosque is a Mamluk mosque in Tripoli with two consecutive halls. The first hall has four columns in a square, two large domes, and a black-and-white marble floor. The second hall has a sunken square court under a dome on four pillars, with a gallery of cross-vaults and a simple mihrab.
Amir Taynal, a Mamluk governor of Tripoli, founded the mosque in 1336. Its foundation sits atop the remains of a former Carmelite monastery and an ancient Roman temple.
Four chambers beside the mosque housed the city's judges, one for each of the four Sunni schools of law. The wooden minbar in the southern hall carries an inscription naming its maker, the carpenter Muhammad al-Safadi, and the date of completion, Dhu al-Qadah 736 AH (June–July 1336).
The mosque stands on the left bank of the Abu Ali River, just south of the Bab al-Raml cemetery and about three minutes from Abdul Hamid Karami Square (al-Nour Square), the southern entrance to Tripoli. The minaret's two stone staircases are separate: one leads inside the mosque, the other outside, and they do not meet until the balcony.
The minaret's two stone staircases start from different entrances, one inside the mosque and one outside, and are offset so that two people climbing at the same time never meet until they reach the balcony. The square shaft carries a wider octagonal section with buttresses, topped by a small cylindrical turret.
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