Kairouan is one of the holy cities of Islam. Its Great Mosque is also considered an architectural masterpiece, which has influenced the style of other mosques in the Maghreb. It has been said that seven pilgrimages to the Great Mosque of Kairouan is considered the equivalent of one pilgrimage to Mecca. Today, many consider the city as the fourth holiest in Islam.Kairouan was founded in ca. 670 as a post in the Arab conquest of the west. Its heyday came with the Aghlabid dynasty that ruled betw