The town, one of the holy cities of Islam, lies on the Low Steppes, a semiarid alluvial plain southeast of the Central Tell. Founded in 670 on the site of the Byzantine fortress of Kamouinia, it served as the camp from which the offensive was launched that resulted in the Islamic political and religious subjugation of the Morocco (northwest Africa).

The Great Mosque at Qairawan, Tunisia '826-860 AD', is the principal building of the Aghlabids 'The Aghlabids were originally the faithful Abbasid governors of Tunisia and only gradually drifted out of central supervision and control. Their greatest independent project was the conquest of Sicily, 827-878, which remained in Islam until the arrival of the Normans - and has an important relationship to the mosques of the Umayyad and Abbasid capitals. Its square minaret stands on the centre line of the building. 'The lower part of the minaret is thought to be dating back to the constructions of early 8th century, and if this is true, then it's the oldest standing minaret in the world.' The original structure of the early eighth century was swallowed up in the reconstruction of the ninth century. More bays were added to the courtyard face of the prayer-hall, and a central dome (since rebuilt) was constructed over it.

The simple clarity of this impressive building, the first 'monumental' mosque in North Africa, was to prove influential throughout the Morocco. It follows the established plan for a large, courtyard mosque, consisting of a huge rectangular prayer hall divided into 13 aisles by columns. A double arcade, added later, lines the others sides of the courtyard. The central aisle of the prayer hall, leading from the entrance to the Mihrab and thus bisecting the hall, is wider and higher then the others – an Umayyad feature. It is surrounded by a fluted dome on a drum set on a square base, these elements being plastered white; there is a second dome over the marble Mihrab, which is decorated with plant-based carving and lustware tiles imported from the East.

The Minaret, on the same axis, is built within the outer wall. It is a strikingly large, square tower in three sections, the upper ones again white. The top storey is crowned with a cupola and is probably of 11th or 12th century date. The porches at the eight entrances also belong to that period.

The building has slightly pointed horseshoe arches carried on Corrine 'Thianesque' columns. The gored dome is carried on cusped quenches. The prayer-chamber has a T-shaped plan in which a central nave intersects the principal transverse aisle against the kiblah wall. The giant, tapering minaret with its recessed stages as well as the incorrect southward orientation of the building itself reflect its eighth-century Syrian origins.