مسجد العمري الكبير

In the Beqaa Valley town of Joubb Jannine, the Mosque of al Umari al Kabir, which means the Great Umari, honours Umar ibn al Khattab, may God be pleased with him, the second caliph of Islam whose justice, humility and vast administrative achievements gave the mosques carrying his name across the Muslim world a special dignity. The Beqaa Valley of Lebanon is a broad fertile plain stretching between the Mount Lebanon and anti Lebanon ranges, celebrated since antiquity for its agriculture, its Roman ruins at Baalbek and Anjar, and its communities of mixed Muslim and Christian heritage living across centuries of shared history. Joubb Jannine, whose name refers to a well among the gardens, sits on the western edge of the Beqaa with views of snow capped Mount Hermon to the south and orchards of vines, apples and olives stretching across the valley floor. The mosque, known as great for its size relative to the village, presents the regional Lebanese mosque idiom with a limestone facade carved with floral medallions, a central dome of painted green plaster, a slender minaret with a single balcony for the muezzin, and a courtyard shaded by an ancient walnut tree. The interior prayer hall is floored in woven rugs from the neighbouring village workshops, the mihrab is framed with carved stucco bearing Qur'anic verses and the mimbar is of olive wood. Daily prayers bring farmers, shopkeepers and civil servants from the surrounding villages, while Jumu'ah fills the hall for khutbah in Arabic. Ramadan transforms the space with iftars of maqluba, fattoush and knafeh, tarawih prayers led by local reciters and vigils on laylat al Qadr. Eid assemblies draw large village crowds. Visitors exploring the Beqaa Valley will find the mosque a welcoming landmark alongside the Roman temples of Baalbek, the castle of Aanjar and the wine estates of the central valley. The mosque's imam, trained at the Azhar in Cairo, delivers weekly classes in Qur'anic recitation that have become a favoured gathering for both Lebanese Muslims and curious visitors from neighbouring Christian communities interested in the Arabic language and the shared Abrahamic heritage of the Beqaa. Thursday evenings bring a celebratory gathering of qasida poetry honouring the noble Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, a beloved tradition throughout the mountain villages of Lebanon that keeps devotional art alive across every season.