Wikipedia's first sentence called it “ancient historical mosque located in the abi al-khasib district in basra”. Today it says “former sunni mosque”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Ancient mosque in Basra, Iraq”. It now reads “Former mosque in Basra, Iraq”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
Former mosque in Basra, Iraq This article is about the former Sunni mosque in Basra. The Al-Sarraji Mosque ( Arabic : جامع السراجي ) is a former Sunni mosque , that was located in the Abi al-Khasib district in Basra , in the Basra Governorate of Iraq . The Al-Sarraji Mosque is characterized by its ancient heritage and archaeological architecture and is distinguished by its luxurious archaeological minaret built of ancient bricks. The mosque is registered with on the Iraqi list of heritage places. On July 14, 2023, al-Sarraji Mosque was demolished in order to widen Abi al-Khasib Street in response to the demands of citizens and vehicle owners, due to the severe crowds being in the middle of the street. This move caused great controversy among Iraqis and activists criticized the government their failure to protect Iraq's heritage and culture. Although there have been proposals to reconstruct the mosque. جامع السراجي في مدينة البصرة . دليل الاماكن - السوق المفتوح (in Arabic).
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1297880644.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Ancient mosque in Basra, Iraq Al-Sarraji Mosque ( ) is an ancient historical mosque located in the Abi al-Khasib district in Basra , Iraq . Al-Sarraji Mosque is characterized by its ancient heritage and archaeological architecture and is distinguished by its luxurious archaeological minaret built of ancient bricks. The mosque is registered with UNESCO on the list of heritage places. On July 14, 2023, al-Sarraji Mosque was demolished in order to widen Abi al-Khasib Street in response to the demands of citizens and vehicle owners, due to the severe crowds being in the middle of the street. This move caused great controversy among Iraqis and activists criticized the government their failure to protect Iraq's heritage and culture. Although there have been proposals to reconstruct the mosque. root (October 25, 2022). "جامع السراجي في مدينة البصرة" . دليل الاماكن - السوق المفتوح (in Arabic) . "هدم جامع السراجي الأثري في البصرة بالعراق لـ"توسعة الطريق".. وغضب واسع" . عربي21 (in Arabic).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1175026490.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “ancient historical mosque located in the abi al-khasib district in basra”. Today it says “former sunni mosque”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Ancient mosque in Basra, Iraq”. It now reads “Former mosque in Basra, Iraq”. Read the current article and compare.
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2023, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
ancient historical mosque located in the abi al-khasib district in basra
Now
former sunni mosque
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
