The mosque was built by the Iraqi Arab Shabandar family, recognized as an important wealthy merchant and philanthropist family in Iraq that built several mosques with their wealth.

By the late Ottoman period, the Arab Shabandar family gained prominence in Iraq for being wealthy merchants and used their wealth to construct several mosques around Baghdad, including the Shabandar Mosque in al-Adhamiyya area, named after the family itself.

[1] First built in 1902 by the philanthropist Mahmoud Ibrahim al-Shabandar, the mosque can accommodate at least 140 worshippers within its area of 300 square meters.

[2][3][4] In 1906, Mahmoud Ibrahim al-Shabandar died, and he was buried in the garden of the mosque.

[3][4] Other lesser known features of the mosque include a residential space for the needy, as well as a small private cemetery for the al-Shabandar family that is located in the mosque's garden.