It’s also Africa’s largest, but critics view the mosque as a vanity project for a former president who tried to name it after himself. Algeria has inaugurated the world’s third-largest and Africa’s largest mosque, which had been delayed for years amid political shifts, ahead of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. Known locally as the Djamaa El-Djazair, it features the world’s tallest minaret at 265 metres (869 feet), can accommodate 120,000 people, and is the world’s largest mosque only after Islam’s holiest sites in Saudi Arabia’s Mecca and Medina. The vast mosque reportedly cost close to $900m to build and was constructed by a Chinese firm. Algeria now boasts the largest mosque outside of the holiest sites in Islam, but the project has been marked by years of delays and cost overruns.

Source: The North Africa Journal February 26, 2024 09:25 UTC