Jalil Al Khayat

Thanks to Omar on Facebook, I found the local name of the "Great Mosque" at the beginning of Shaklawa Street. It is... (drum roll please)... the Jalil Al Khayat Mosque. I read somewhere that in 2007 the Arabic names of mosques in Kurdistan were to be changed to the names of Kurdish religious figures. I wonder if this happened and if it is true for this mosque. I did a quick search to find out who Jalil Al Khayat is and found the following:

He was not a religious figure, but a businessman who started a garment factory in 1927. He passed away in 2005, but in the meantime, established (with the aid of his 4 sons) several different businesses including construction companies. His sons are the ones who completed construction of this mosque. While searching for information about the this mosque, I came across pictures of the interiors of a "Great Mosque" in Hawler which make me quite keen to visit a few mosques in the area, starting with Jalil Al Khayat as it is likely the most accessible. 

I put "Great Mosque" in quotes because all over the internet, it seems this name has been given to 3 different mosques in Erbil; the Jalil Al Khayat Mosque, the mosque that formerly was connected with the minaret in Minaret Park (which is, alas, no longer standing), and the mosque in the citadel (aka the White Mosque and the Citadel Mosque). It is this last mosque that the Flickr photo is of. WOW! Unfortunately, I believe this last mosque to be locked off to the public. 

If you'd like to visit the Jalil Al Khayat Mosque, this link has a Google sattelite map with the mosque's location pinpointed on it.