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the Cave of Qasyun (Jibril's Cave)

الكهف بقاسيون (كهف جبريل)

Damascus

The mosque raised inside the cave of Mount Qasyun by Abu al-Faraj Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn al-Mu'allim beginning in 370, after a dream in which Jibril bade him build a mosque where God's name would be remembered — he called it Jibril's Cave; a broad prayer-hall floored in white marble, its columns all marble, never empty of the pious at remembrance 1.

Depth

At a glance

Era
Abbasid Fragmentation
Region
Levant & Iraq
Review
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In space

Damascus

Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph

Overview

A mosque in a cave on Mount Qasyun in Damascus, called the Cave of Gabriel. 1

Its construction

Abu al-Faraj Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn al-Mu'allim began building it in 370 AH. The report says that he saw Gabriel in a dream, ordering him to build a mosque in which God would be prayed to and remembered. 1

Its description

Al-Umari describes it as a spacious mosque, paved with white marble, with all its columns of marble. He adds that it is never without the presence of the righteous, and is kept full of remembrance. 1

What needs a source

The dream is a report transmitted by al-Umari alone, and it needs an additional source.

Connections

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Located in
Damascus

People and things also explored

Qasr Hiraql / Qasr Shams al-Muluk· The Umayyad Mosque of Damascus· The Fitna of the Hafiz Abd al-Ghani in Damascus in 595· al-Afdal besieges Damascus and turns back· al-Adil's seizure of Damascus· al-Ghazali's arrival in Damascus as an ascetic, in 488· al-Ashraf takes Damascus· al-Aziz Uthman besieges Damascus

Sources

  1. Masalik al-absar fi mamalik al-amsar — al-Umari (1924 printing) , p. 209
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “the Cave of Qasyun (Jibril's Cave)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/building/kahf-jibril-qasyun/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-16.

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Objects

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Qasr Hiraql / Qasr Shams al-Muluk

The palace on Damascus's northern Height ascribed to Heraclius, known in al-Umari's day as Qasr Shams al-Muluk; only the jawsaq and bath survived — the jawsaq turned into a khanqah for the poor — yet it still lodged kings and pleasured the townsfolk above the Barada river, and Sultan Salah al-Din once stayed there.