 It seems probable from this description that the mosque had a portal that projected from the wall , as did the earlier Great Mosque of Mahdiya . In other respects it seems to have resembled the al @-@ Azhar mosque in layout , architecture and decoration . Although the geographers al @-@ Muqaddasi and Ibn Hawqal both praised this mosque , neither left specific descriptions of this or any other mosque . Thus Ibn Hawqal says of it only that , " It is one of the mosques distinguished by the spaciousness of its court , elegance of construction , and the fineness of its ceilings . " 
