At least 41 other people were killed alongside Sheikh Mohammed al-Buti at the Iman mosque, said the Sana news agency, calling it "a terrorist" blast.
State TV broadcast footage of bodies and injured people at the scene.
The Free Syrian Army, the umbrella group for the rebel forces, said it was not responsible for the attack.
State media said the blast, in the Mazraa district of the capital, was carried out by a suicide bomber who had slipped inside the mosque.
Mr Buti, 84, was killed as he was giving religious lessons at the mosque, it said. His grandson was also reportedly killed.
"We suddenly heard the explosion. We ran inside the mosque and we found the people torn into pieces," one witness said.
The pro-opposition Syria Observatory for Human Rights earlier said at least 15 civilians had been killed and dozens wounded.
The opposition activist Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC) initially put the number of dead at 20. It said the area had been "under the full control of the regime forces" at the time.
A spokesman for the Free Syrian Army said they did not take "any responsibility for this operation".
"We do not do these types of suicide bombings and we do not target mosques," Loay Maqdad told Al Arabiya television.
Source: BBC News
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