The Great Mosque of Algiers

In February 2024, the president of Algeria inaugurated Djamaa el Djazaïr, also known as the Great Mosque of Algiers. As the world’s third-largest mosque (and Africa’s largest), it looms over the capital city and the nearby Bay of Algiers. Boasting a minaret standing 265 meters high — almost 870 feet (or 80 stories) — it can accommodate 120,000 worshipers. Only the holy sites of Saudi Arabia’s Mecca and Medina contain larger mosques. 

February’s celebration was largely ceremonial, as construction on the mosque finished in 2019. The overall mosque complex reportedly contains a school to study the Koran, a library with capacity for 1 million books, a museum of Islamic art and history, and a helicopter landing pad. 

Controversy and political shifts delayed the inauguration, with some calling the entire building a “vanity project” for the previous president. Others label it an “ideological must” for Muslim identity in opposition to the country’s French colonialism past and presence of the Catholic church.  

The new mosque dwarfs the nearby 19th-century Catholic basilica, Notre Dame d'Afrique (Our Lady of Africa). This basilica was long seen as a symbol of religious tolerance in the Muslim country. Behind the altar, an inscription reads: Notre Dame d’Afrique priez pour nous et pour les Musulmans (“Our Lady of Africa, pray for us and for the Muslims.”) 

A missionary who longs to see Christ exalted across the continent of Africa noted that this impressive mosque is also an expression of worship to and pride in the god of Islam. He was reminded of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) and the pride of those who had achieved such an extraordinary structure. In contrast, the Algerian government has closed many small places of Christian worship — not grasping how the size of the building does not indicate the power of the God worshiped there. So the church is flourishing underground, according to Mission Network News. (Read our earlier blogpost about the closing of churches.) 

Please pray: 

• For God to reveal Himself as the Lord of lords in Algeria, the one with supreme power over all existence.  

• For underground churches and all true believers to flourish. 

Algeria stands among the top ten of countries where viewers access Brother Rachid’s website and programming. With your support, we can keep our programming on the air throughout the country, so that more and more Algerians hear the truth of the gospel. Click here to learn how you can give. 

— 

Sources: “Algeria inaugurates world’s third-largest mosque ahead of Ramadan,” Feb. 26, 2024, Aljazeera; “History of the Notre Dame D’Afrique in Algiers,” Jan. 15, 2022, mosaicnorthafrica.com; “Algeria’s church is driven underground” by Alex Anhalt, Sept. 20, 2023, Mission Network News.