Mzkhwty Mamۆsta Mhla Hbdlkhrymy Mwdhrs

The mosque known to local residents as the masjid of Mamosta Mala Abdulkarim the Teacher stands in the town of Halabja in Iraq's Sulaymaniyah governorate, a place whose name will forever be tied to the tragic chemical attack of 1988. Halabja's Kurdish Muslim community has rebuilt with quiet determination, and many of its mosques now carry the names of scholars, imams, and ordinary teachers whose memory the town wants to preserve. Mala, a Kurdish title derived from the Arabic mulla, designates a village religious teacher, and Mala Abdulkarim the Mudarris was remembered locally as a patient instructor of Quran and classical Arabic grammar who trained generations of young students before his death many years ago. The mosque that carries his name is a modest but well kept building in the brick and concrete idiom of the Sulaymaniyah region: a sturdy rectangular prayer hall, a pair of small domes, a slim minaret with loudspeakers, and a courtyard shaded by poplar and mulberry trees whose fruits are gathered by children each summer. The interior is floored in red carpet, walls painted soft green, and the mihrab finished in simple white plasterwork framed by verses from Surah al Fatihah. The congregation is drawn from the surrounding streets, many of them families who returned after 1991 and rebuilt their homes on the same plots where their relatives had perished. Daily prayers are calm and well attended; Jumu'ah sermons often touch on themes of patience, forgiveness, and the moral responsibilities of the survivor. During Ramadan the courtyard hosts nightly iftars of kichka soup and dolma, with children running between the tables. On the anniversary of the 1988 attack in March, the mosque holds a remembrance gathering and sends a delegation to the memorial at the edge of town, carrying prayers for the souls of the martyrs and blessings upon the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him and his family. Nearby stand the Halabja Monument and Peace Museum, the Ahmad Awa waterfall, the cool orchards at Biyara in the nearby mountains, and the green orchards of the Shahrizor plain that stretch away toward the Sharbazher valley to the north.