It has been documented that the mosque was originally built by King al-Muzaffar Sulayman of Yemen in 1250. He was from the Ayyub dynasty in Yemen who followed the Shafii school of jurisprudence (law), and on this basis the mosque was named as such. The mosque was then rebuilt completely, except the minaret, in 1539 by an Indian merchant named Khawaja Muhammad Ali, who transported the finest timber and carved wooden columns from Yemen for the purpose. The mosque has just been renovated during the rule of the late Saudi King Abdullah.

The mosques ground level is significantly below the street level on account of its ancientry. The mosque is built mainly of coral stone (Manqabi) and wood. It consists of a hypostyle hall supported by columns and an inner courtyard paved with white marble slabs. The courtyard is surrounded on four sides by arcades.

On the front qiblah side there is a main prayer hall. It has two rows of wooden columns whose bases are of coral stone as well. The columns form three arcades that run parallel to the qiblah. The third row of columns, which are plastered and most probably made of coral stone too, signifies a separation point between the hall and the courtyard. The columns support the flat wooden roof with the intermediary of semi-circular arches. The columns are interconnected on all sides with a network of wooden beams. The roof over the mihrab bay is slightly raised and is covered with a gable roof. Its raised section is perforated with 12 windows that let additional natural light shine through.

Moreover, above the middle bay of the second arcade, just behind the mihrab bay, a medium-size wooden dome is erected. In volume it corresponds with the raised wooden gable roof over the mihrab bay. It rests upon an octagonal drum that is perforated with sixteen windows, two windows for every side. The purpose of this dome is intended to boost the environmental performance of the mosque, in terms of lighting and ventilation. It occupies the central position in the main prayer hall.

The inner courtyard is flanked by two arcades, one on each side. There the wooden roof is supported by tall wooden columns, three columns for each arcade, six in total. The roof rests directly on the columns without the intermediary of arches. The columns are connected with each other and with the neighbouring walls by means of wooden beams.

The rear section of the mosque has two full and two partial arcades. Its piers, rather than columns, are plastered and made in all probability of coral stone. Some of its spaces are organised differently and are designated for different functions. The latter part of this section is slightly raised above the standard level of the mosque. The mosque is crenelated. Its walls are more than one meter thick. The coral stone walls have intermittent bonding wood courses of teak (gandal as courses, and taklilah as a process). They provide extra strength and vibrancy to the walls.

The mihrab is a semi-circular niche covered with an arched hood. Next to it stands a minbar (pulpit) which, too, is a recess. One goes up to the platform of the minbar climbing a flight of stairs that wind around a column inside the recess. The column at once separates and supports the recess, dividing it into two arched sections. The parapet that encloses the platform is made of wooden balusters. The hood of the mihrab and the areas above it are richly decorated using combinations of different calligraphic styles, geometric patterns and floral designs. The area and its decorative styles and themes form a convoluted and fragmented arabesque. This proves one of the Ottoman influences in the mosque, for it was the Ottomans who were known for writing calligraphy inversely as part of their artistic penchant. One of the calligraphic inscriptions above the mihrab reveals some details about the mosques history associated with the Ottomans; as does another calligraphic inscription above one of the mosques main doorways.

While the mosque is completely natural, serene, plain and spontaneous, with its naturalness and simplicity being its most conspicuous adornment, the decoration in question, on the other hand, seems to be the opposite: uncommon, unforeseen, startling, invading and clearly imposed. It is entirely Ottoman. It was one of the ways of the Ottomans to affect such an important mosque with the tinges of their administrative presence and authority, and of course of their architectural and artistic proclivities.

The mosque has four entrances, plus a small entrance for women at the back. The doors are made of wood. The mosque has one minaret at its south-western corner. It is a massive and thick structure displaying proudly coral stone as its building material. It has two balconies, or galleries, with wooden parapets. They are supported by plain muqarnas. At the bottom, the minarets shaft is square. It then turns octagonal up to the cap and the head. The balconies and their muqarnas are also octagonal. After the  first balcony, the shaft slightly gets narrower. The second balcony represents the end of the shaft, which is then topped by an elongated cap or head. Unlike the mosque itself, in quite a few different ways the minaret became a standard setter for many future minarets in Jeddah. The minaret is relatively tall, but not taller than most of the adjacent residential buildings. The mosques ablution area and toilets are completely separated from the mosque proper. They are on the northern side.

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