One recounts that when Amr ibn al-As captured Tripoli during the Muslim conquest of North Africa in the 7th century, the people of the city offered him a female camel laden with riches to persuade him to grant them amnesty.

[2] The other version says that it was the Fatimid caliph al-Mu'izz who gifted the city's people with a female camel laden with gold, in return for their generosity in welcoming him.

[2] The building is divided between a roughly square courtyard (sahn) section and a hypostyle prayer hall.

[2][1] The prayer hall is divided by rows of columns into seven aisles running parallel with the qibla (southeast) wall.

Its orientation is slightly further east from the rest of the mosque due to a later restoration aiming to correct its qibla alignment.

Two of the galleries, on the southwest and northwest, have flat roofs dating from more recent restorations, while the other two are covered by cross-vaults.