Built in A.D. 1336 by Amir Tinal, governor of Tripoli, on the left bank of the Qadisha river, on the southern outskirts of the city, in the orchards by the cemetry of Bab al-Raml.

Next to the Great Mosque, the Mosque of Tinal, locally called "Taylan", is considered the most important monument in Tripoli. Whatever else they might mention, medieval travelers and twentieth century scholars alike always include Tinal's mosque in any survey. The tradition was maintained when Max Van Berchem and E.Fatio visited Tripoli during their Syrian trip in the early twentieth century; again Tinal's mosque was one of the three monuments they described.

The Mosque's large size, lavish decorations, and the fame of its founder attracted a great deal of attention in its early days. Later, people were interested in it largely on account of its architectural peculiarities. Later scholars, including Van Berchem & Fatio, explained its peculiarities as reflecting the remnats of a Crusader church; a recent study advances the theory that it was built on the remains of a temple dedicated to Zeus. Whatever the theory, they all have one observation in common: the shape of the mosque and some of its architectural elements suggest that it once fulfilled some different function.
Tinal's mosque can thus best be explained by regarding it as a purely Muslim construction. The remains found on the site were only used in the first part of the building, and it is just this part that has created such confusion. It has none of the muslim elements or requirements for a Mosque, in contrast with the second, self-contained unit which displays all the elements of a mosque organized in a known muslim fashion.