Kairwan

Kairwan, a decayed walled town of Tunis, in an open, marshy plain, 80 miles S. of the capital. It contains about fifty ecclesiastical structures, of which the mosque of Okba, who founded Kairwan about 670, is one of the most sacred of Islam. Outside the city, to the north-west, is the mosque of the Companion—i.e. of the Prophet; this and other sacred tombs have rendered Kairwan—i.e. 'caravan or resting-place'—the Mecca or sacred city of northern Africa. As such, it has been jealously guarded from defilement by the presence of Jews and for the most part of Christian travellers; but it was entered and explored by the French in 1881. Kairwan makes copper vessels, potash, carpets, and articles in leather. Pop. 15,000. See E. Rae, Country of the Moors (1877); Boddy, To Kairwan the Holy (1885).