Arba'a Rukun Mosque & Arch of Umberto

 

The Arba'a Rukun Mosque and Arch of Umberto sit in a central plaza in the Shingani District of Mogadishu, a neighborhood that, along with Hamar Weyne, solely comprise Mogadishu until 1938. The Arba'a Rukun Mosque was built in the thirteenth century, after centuries of established trade routes around the Indian Ocean. This mosque, whose name translates to the Mosque of the Four Corners, sits in a centralized location between two of Mogadishu's original neighborhoods. 

At this time, Persians from Shiraz also began settling and establishing ruling dynasties along the coast of East Africa, from Kilwa to Lamu to present-day Mogadishu. In 1990—before the dramatic events of the civil war—on the left of the mihrab of the Arba'a Rukun Mosque there were two bands with inscriptions. The upper band of the wood was intricately carved with a circular floral pattern while the lower one in glazed tile carried an inscription recording the death of the mosque's founder Khusrau ibn Muhammad al-Shirazi in 1269 CE. This inscription and Persian presence signals new forms of organization and power that emerged at this time, a presence that had been established in Kilwa a couple centuries earlier. 

What's also significant about this inscription is the type of tiles used. They resemble that of Persian mihrabs, while also signaling difference. According to Peter Garlake, "The mihrab arches and columns depicted in the thirteenth century glazed lustre tiles...are quite different in shape and character to those of any designs in the early coastal architecture...The builders of the coast were clearly aware that design in a completely different style to that of the coast was practiced abroad, in the countries from which the glazed tiles and marble plaques were imported. Yet they made no attempt to imitate this style, although they were technically competent to do so" (The Early Islamic Architecture of the East African Coast, 11). This demonstrates that in the face of attempts at a type of conquering and domination, local agency continued to be expressed in the design and construction process.

Alongside the mosque containing this inscription, the Arch of Umberto sits, commemorating the visits of Umberto II of Italy in 1928 and 1934. The Arch juxtaposes two particular forms of authority in different time periods, the imperial rule of the Persians against the imperial rule of the Italians. 

These contested sites remained relevant throughout the Somali civil war. With the Arba'a Rukun Mosque's strategic location, much of it was destroyed. In recent years, however, it has undergone restoration, in large part due to aid from the Turkish government, aid that's been considered as part of a larger scheme for Turkey to assert its authority in the region. As president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan himself visited the mosque during its restoration. Since the Turkish restoration, the mihrab's tiles documenting Persian presence have been removed. The name Khusrau ibn Muhammad al-Shirazi doesn't appear anywhere. Around the mihrab now is a chapter of the Koran, the Sura of Aayat-al-Kursi, while the internal wall of the mosque it has been entirely with Turkish tiles, imported directly from Turkey. The mosque as a site of tiles without the lustre of the local and registers of the global, have since been removed, marking a particular type of soft power that differs from its thirteenth-century counterpart.