| Hala Sultan Tekke | |
|---|---|
Τεκές Χαλά Σουλτάνας / Hala Sultan Tekkesi | |
 Hala Sultan Tekke | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Islam |
| District | Larnaca District |
| Location | |
| Location | Larnaca,Cyprus |
  Shown within Cyprus | |
| Geographic coordinates | 34°53′07″N33°36′36″E / 34.885277°N 33.610013°E /34.885277; 33.610013 |
| Architecture | |
| Type | Mosque |
| Style | Ottoman |
| Specifications | |
| Dome(s) | Two |
| Minaret(s) | One |
Hala Sultan Tekke (Greek:Τεκές Χαλά ΣουλτάναςTekés Chalá Soultánas;Turkish:Hala Sultan Tekkesi) is amosque andtakya (ortekke in Turkish) on the west bank ofLarnaca Salt Lake, inLarnaca, Cyprus.[1]Umm Haram, known as Hala Sultan in Turkish tradition, was the wife ofUbada bin al-Samit, acompanion of theIslamic prophetMuhammad,[2][3][4] and foster sister of Muhammad's mother,Amina.[5]
Hala Sultan Tekke complex is composed of amosque,mausoleum,cemetery, and living quarters for men and women. The term tekke (lodge) applies to a building designed specifically for gatherings of aSufi brotherhood, ortariqa, and may have referred to an earlier feature of the location. The present-day complex lies on the shores of theLarnaca Salt Lake, an important site inprehistory. Hala Sultan Tekke is a listed Ancient Monument.
During the second half of the second millennium B.C, the area of the Hala Sultan Tekke was used as a cemetery by the people who lived in an archaeological site given the modern designationDromolaxiaVizatzia,[6] a large Late Cypriote town a few hundred meters to the West. Originally identified as an archaeological site following looting in the 1890s, numerous tombs of Late Bronze Age date (around 1650-1100 BC) with rich contents were excavated by the British Museum in 1897–1898 directed by Henry Beauchamp Walters and thenJohn Winter Crowfoot; the finds were divided between the British Museum and the Cyprus Museum.[7] The contemporary settlement was identified by Swedish archaeologist Arne Furumark in 1947 and some preliminary excavations conducted by the Department of Antiquities.[8] A part of this town was excavated from the 1970s onward by aSwedish archaeological mission led by Professor Paul Åström, and proved to be a major urban centre ofLate Bronze Age Cyprus[9]
The most recent excavations at Hala Sultan Tekke, The New Swedish Cyprus Expedition have been carried out by Professor Peter M. Fischer from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden (2010-2012- ...); seewww.fischerarchaeology.se. The results of the excavations have been published annually in the journalOpuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome.[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] In 2018, Fischer uncovered several tombs at the site that are being explored carefully. The tombs date to 1500 and 1350 BC and contained artifacts of theBronze Age that demonstrate the extensive trade of goods existing at the time.[20]
Radar surveys (2010–2012) have demonstrated that the city was one of the largest in the Late Bronze Age (roughly 1600–1100 BC), maybe as large as 50 ha.[10][12] Another archaeological investigation conducted by the Department of Antiquities under the women's quarter of Hala Sultan Tekke have revealed building remains dated to the lateArchaic,Classical, andHellenistic periods (sixth to first century BC). Several finds indicate that the site might have been used as a sanctuary but the limited scale of the investigations precludes definite conclusions about its use.[21]
Most accounts establish a connection between the site and the death ofUmm Haram during the firstArab conquest of Cyprus under theCaliphMuawiyah between 647 and 649, which were later pursued throughout theUmayyad and theAbbasid periods. According to these accounts, Umm Haram, being of very old age, had fallen from her mule and had died during a siege of Larnaca. She was later buried where she died. According toShia belief, her grave lies withinJannatul Baqi cemetery in Madinah, Saudi Arabia.[22]
During theOttoman administration of Cyprus, a mosque complex was built in stages around the tomb. The tomb was discovered in the 18th century by thedervish called Sheikh Hasan, who also built the first structure here. Dervish Hasan managed to convince the administrative and religious authorities of the site's sacred nature and with the permission he received, he built the shrine around the tomb in 1760 and had it decorated. The wooden fences around the tomb would have been built by the 19th-century Ottoman governor in Cyprus,Seyyid Elhac Mehmed Agha, which were replaced by fences inbronze and two doors by his successorAcem Ali Agha.
In another account,Giovanni Mariti, who visited Cyprus between 1760 and 1767, wrote that the shrine was built by the Cyprus governor he names as Ali Agha. According to Mariti, until 1760 they used the stones of a standing church in a ruined village nearby as construction materials.[23] In another source, it is mentioned that the construction of the mosque was initiated by the Cyprus governorSeyyid Mehmed Emin Efendi in classical Ottoman style, and it was completed in November 1817.
The ancillary buildings have been repaired in 2004, and the mosque and the minaret are currently being restored. Both of these initiatives have been carried out with support from the Bi-communal Development Programme, which is funded from USAID and UNDP, and implemented through UNOPS.[24]
Above the entry gate to Tekke garden is an Ottoman inscription dated 4 March 1813. SultanMahmud II'smonogram appears on both sides of the inscription and reads, "Hala Sultan Tekke was built by God's beloved great Ottoman Cyprus governor". The garden itself was designed by apasha and came to be known as "Pasha garden". The complex of buildings adjacent to the Tekke was known as "Gülşen-Feyz" (the rose garden of plenitude or ofenlightenment). To the north (left) of the entrance there used to be a guesthouse for men. On the right side of the entrance, there was another guesthouse of which one block was reserved for men (Selamlik) and the other for women (Haremlik). It was a custom for visitors to take the oath of dedication to serve the Hala Sultan Tekke if their wishes were realized. Thedomed mosque is square-shaped with abalcony and was built in yellow stone blocks. Theminaret was repaired in 1959.
Umm Haram's tomb is located behind the mosque wall of theqibla (in the direction ofMecca). A further inscription dated 1760 is found here. Aside her, there are four other tombs, two of them former sheikhs. Another important tomb is a two-leveled marblesarcophagus, carrying the date 12 July 1929. The tomb belongs to Adile Hüseyin Ali, who was theTurkish wife of theHussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca of theHashemite House, himself a grandson of the Ottomangrand vizierKoca Mustafa Reşid Pasha and a descendant ofMuhammad. At the eastern corner of the mosque and the Tekke, there is a cemetery, which was closed to burials at around 1899. A number of past Turkish administrators are buried here.
Opposite the mosque, there is an octagonal fountain, which was built around 1796-1797 by the then governor of CyprusSilahtar Kaptanbaşı Mustafa Agha. The information on the construction is recorded on the marble inscription located on the fountain. On another inscription dated 1895, which was recently discovered in the Tekke's garden, it is written that the infrastructure for bringing in the water was built upon the instructions of theSultanAbdülhamid II.
While being acknowledged as a holy site for Turkish Cypriot Muslims,[25][26][27] the mosque has also been described by contemporary sources as revered by all Muslims.[28][29] In an assessment of the environmental and cultural assets ofCyprus, Professor George E. Bowen, a seniorFulbright scholar at theUniversity of Tennessee, described Hala Sultan Tekke as the third holiest place for Muslims in the world.[30] This view has been echoed by other sources[31][32][33][34] including theUnited Nations Development Programme in Cyprus[35] and the Cypriot administration's Department of Antiquities.[36] Others describe the site as fourth most important in the Islamic world, after Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem.[37][38][39] As a result of the site being located in the Greek non-Muslim sector of the divided island, pilgrimage visits to the site are infrequent.[40]
In addition to interventions at the imperial level and by high-ranking administrators for the maintenance and development of the complex, during theOttoman Empire, Ottoman-flagged ships would hang their flags at half mast when off the shores of Larnaca, and salute Hala Sultan withcannon shots.[41]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)The tomb is said to be revered by Turkish Cypriots as the 'third holiest site in Islam'
Hala Sultan Tekke, near Larnaka, is a holy site in Islam and the most important one for Cypriot Muslims.
At the end of 1965, the National Guard had taken over the shrine of Hala Sultan Tekke, a place of small strategic importance. From May 1966 they prevented all Moslem access to it, so that Mehmet Dana, Mufti of Cyprus, could exploit the misuse of one of the holiest places in the world of Islam.
As such, it is one of the holiest sites in Islam and the most important religious location for Turkish Cypriots and other Muslims living in Cyprus.
Three historic churches and monasteries are within the city. Just outside the city is the location of the Hala Sultan Tekke Mosque, the third holiest place for Muslims in the world.
In Cyprus is another highly venerated Islamic site - the third most important after Mecca and Medina - the Hala Sultan Tekke. This, too, has a black rock, said to have fallen as a meteorite as part of the tritholon over the shrine. The shrine is to a woman - the aunt and foster mother of Prophet Mohammed
Islam's third sacred holy site after the Ka'ba and the Prophet Mohammad's grave in Mecca, and among the greatest cultural heritage monuments of the world, Hala Sultan Tekke, or Umm Haram, has long been the destination of Muslim pilgrims from Cyprus and the Middle East.
The Muslim mosque of Hala Sultan is located in the center of a spectacular garden at the west bank of the Salt Lake, about 6 km southwest of Larnaca. It is the main Muslim pilgrimage site of Cyprus and the third most important holy place of Islam.
Not just the holiest Muslim shrine in Cyprus, Hala Sultan Tekke is one of the holiest shrines in the Islamic world, after Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem.
It is also worth remembering that thetekke of Um-Harram (Hala Sultantekke) near Larnaka was one of the holy places which every Muslim was expected to visit as a pilgrim, ranking only fourth in importance after Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem
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