Shafaq News – Nineveh

After seven years of silence and rubble following its destruction in 2017 by ISIS, the Grand al-Nuri Mosque in Iraq's Mosul once again resonated with prayers and religious chants.

On Wednesday, the mosque hosted its first central celebration of the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday, just two days after its reopening by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani.

The event, absent for many years, attracted residents and local officials, restoring the mosque’s symbolic and spiritual significance.

Sheikh Dhakir Al-Hassawi, imam and preacher of the mosque, told Shafaq News Agency that the day reflected “the joy of Mosul residents at the revival of al-Nuri Mosque, which has brought happiness to people’s faces and renewed hope in their hearts.”

Residents also described the return of festivities to the mosque as both a sign of Mosul’s resilience and the revival of a historic landmark that has long witnessed the city’s past and identity.