The Mosque of the Cat (; or also ) is a historic mosque in Marrakesh, Morocco. It is also identified in some scholarly sources as the Moulay al-Ksour Mosque or Moulay al-Qṣūr Mosque. The mosque is located in the Ksour neighbourhood on a major souk street, Souk Laksour, near the street's entrance in the Bab Ftouh area just north of Jemaa el-Fnaa. The mosque was founded by a student of Abu al-Abbas as-Sabti, a 12th-century Muslim saint or Sufi figure. The mosque's name derives from a traditional story in which the founder's cat was recruited to eliminate a rat infestation in the house of a vizier. The building was renovated in the 14th century during the Marinid Sultanate, making it one of the few surviving monuments from this period of the city, and is notable for its small but richly-decorated minaret. History According to tradition, the mosque founded by Mas'ud, a master tanner and a student of Abu al-Abbas as-Sabti (d. 1204), also known locally as Sidi Bel Abbès and one of the Seven Saints of Marrakesh. Tradition recounts that there was a vizier whose house became infested by rats and who requested Mas'ud's aid in eliminating the problem after hearing that the latter had a cat who could get the job done. When Mas'ud refused to give him the cat, the vizier snatched it, but the problem only increased until the vizier relented and compensated Mas'ud. The tanner then went on to found this mosque, whose name still commemorates the cat in this story. The mosque was renovated in the Marinid period by a Wattasid vizier named Abu Muhammad Abdallah al-Zugunduri (), who died in 768 AH (1366-1367 CE). It was at this time that its small minaret was built. According to a study by Henri Basset and Henri Terrasse, its construction must have occurred around the same time as that of the Ben Salah Mosque (1321 CE), also in Marrakesh, or shortly after. Architecture The mosque is relatively small and its prayer hall covers an area of no more than . Its main architectural feature of note is its small brick minaret, which is one of the few surviving monuments in Marrakesh to date from the Marinid period. The minaret is almost an exact copy of the minaret of the contemporary Ben Salah Mosque, except on a smaller scale. It has the typical cuboid form of minarets in