Considered as the fourth holiest site in Islam, Great Mosque in Kairouan is also known as the Sidi Oqba Mosque. Being the oldest worship place of Africa, this mosque was built by Emir Abou Ibrahim Ahmad in the year 863. For centuries, served as a pilgrimage destination for North Africans, it is believed that seven trips to this holy place are equal to one hajj to Mecca.

Being spread over a surface area of 9,000 square metres, Kairouan Great Mosque has 414 marble, granite and porphyry columns that were taken from the ruins of earlier-periods buildings. The mosque comprises of a hypostyle prayer hall, a huge marble-paved courtyard and a massive minaret while the exterior part of the mosque has buttressed walls built in typically austere Aghlabid design. Apart from all these features, the grand minaret makes the building more impressive upon entering.

Universally reputed as a magnum opus of both architecture and Islamic art, the Mosque of Uqba is also consider as a model for all later mosques in the Maghreb. Inside the mosque, the courtyard is cemented with flagstones and around it there are beautiful horseshoe-arched doorways containing some 400 ancient pillars. In addition to these, the main prayer hall is enlighten by chandeliers and softened with rugs that cover the whole bases of the columns and floor.

Muslims can enter the mosque to offer the prayers through nine gates but non-Muslims can only enter through the main entrance.