Al-Shawy Mosque

Al-Shawy Mosque (جامع الشاوي) also known as al-Khatib Mosque (جامع الخطيب) is a mosque in Baghdad located in the Karkh district near the Jumhuriya Bridge and the banks of the Tigris River. It's considered one of the acclaimed heritage mosques of Baghdad, notable for its architecture including calligraphy by the Iraqi master calligrapher Hashem Muhammad al-Baghdadi. It was built by a Hajj named "Ahmed Mazhar al-Shawy" which the mosque is named after and buried inside of the mosque after his passing in 1960. The mosque was inaugurated in the year 1957, in the presence of King Faisal II and a gathering of the many notables of Baghdad including its scholars, and the opening ceremony was shown on Baghdad TV at the time. The Mosque is currently managed by the Presidency of the Sunni Endowment Office and overlooks its maintenance.

Among the Imams of the mosque was the prominent Iraqi jurist Sheikh Hashem Jamil who was also appointed preacher who worked in it for two years, and practiced public speaking there.

Description
The mosque is located next to the Jumhuriya Bridge on the Karkh side of Baghdad, near the Tigris river and near the Iranian embassy. The main door is located southwest of the main street where the domes tower over the gate. Surat al-Ahzab is written around the dome in Kufic script written by calligrapher Hashem Muhammad al-Baghdadi. Inside, the Chapel of the mosque's sanctuary is octagonal in shape and small in size, and it has a big courtyard due to the large length of the mosque. On top of it are more Quranic verses written by Calligrapher al-Baghdadi with the following also written next to it:"'This mosque was established by Mazhar Bey Bin Ahmed Bey al-Sadiq al-Shawy, to get closer to God Almighty and to seek His pleasure under the supervision of the architect Ibrahim Salih al-Obeidi, and it was completed in the year 1372 AH'"There are also rooms for the Imam and the muezzin and near the door, inside, there is a room containing the tomb of the builders.