User:Georgialeakey/Islamic Cairo

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Shrines and mausoleums[edit]

Islamic Cairo is also the location of several important religious shrines such as the al-Hussein Mosque (whose shrine is believed to hold the head of Husayn ibn Ali), the Mausoleum of Imam al-Shafi'i (founder of the Shafi'i madhhab, one of the primary schools of thought in Sunni Islamic jurisprudence), the Tomb of Sayyida Ruqayya, the Mosque of Sayyida Nafisa, and others. Some of these shrines are located within the vast cemetery areas known as the City of the Dead or al-Qarafa in Arabic, which adjoin the historic city. The cemeteries date back to the foundation of Fustat, but many of the most prominent and famous mausoleum structures are from the Mamluk era.

Al-Hussein Mosque

The Ayyubid minaret and the Bal al-Akhdar gate are the only parts of the Al-Hussein Mosque that survive today. Majority of the mosque was constructed in the 1870's under royal patronage, and this was extended in matching style during the 1950's. This campus is composed of arched arcades formed of stone piers. Original stucco work can be seen above the modern marble mihrab, adjacent to which is domed tomb of the founder, an amir of the Sultan Lagin who died in AD 1328. The Mosque was severely damaged by water and was restored by the SCA in 1996. The head of Hussein is said to be buried here. The head was first buried in Mashhad on this site by the Fatimid Khalif al-Fa'iz in AD 1154 and the building was reconstructed by al-Din Ayyub in 1237 and was burned down 11 years later. The Neo-Gothic Style was the design go the existing Mosque. The only parts of the structure that are listed monuments today are the Ayyubid minaret, with fine original stucco decoration to 1237, and the gate directly beneath it, known today as the Bab al-Akhdar. Major restoration was done to the tomb chamber by the Egyptian Antiquities Organization, during which a replacement dome made of steel was placed over it.

Mausoleum of Imam al-Shafi'i

Inscribed on the teak cenotaph at the grave of imam al-Shafi'i was the following, "This cenotaph was made for the Imam al-Shafi'i by Ubayd the carpenter, known as Ibn ma'am, in the months of the year five hundred seventy four. May God have mercy on him; may he [also] have mercy on those who are merciful toward him, those who call for mercy upon him, and upon all who worked with him--the woodworkers and carvers--and all the believers."

Similar to the woodworkers Ibn Ma'ali, whose entreaty seemed the scholar's grave since the end of the twelfth century, visitors have continually gathered at the site to petition the saint's intervention. This site has also been the object of pilgrimage for some Shiites.

Tomb of Sayyida Ruqayya

Sayyida Ruqayya was known to be one of the patron saints of the city. Her shrine is used as an oratory, where people make vows and pray for intercession. The Mosque's central mihrab is one of Egypt's finest pieces of stucco decoration. The four sides measure 12m. The largest middle section is covered by a dome. Two entrances contain a horizontal lintel and open out to two rectangular side bays. The transition zone in the Mashhad consists of a two-tiered squinch to form a muqarna, or a stalactite squinch, subdivided into keel-arch niches. A trefoil window perforates the space between the squinches, the outline of which is similar to that of the squinch, and is subdivided into three keel-arched openings by means of a central Y-shaped structure, thus mimicking the subdivision of the squinch into three niches surmounted by a fourth one. The room is occupied in the mausoleum by the shrine and cenotaph, but three more mihrabs are of great architectural significance. The central mihrab is an extremely fine decorative stucco work. The overall design of the mihrab is reminiscent of the main portal of the Aqmar Mosque of the Fatimid period, but it is further evolved and is a continuation of this design. A medallion that bares the name "Ali" is at the center of the niche, surrounded by five variations of the name "Muhammad" connected together. A pair of lobed windows of stucco grilles comprising geometric forms exhibits each face of the octagonal drum above the transitional zone. The Manhhad additionally housed a detached wooden mihrab which is viewed as probably the best case of its sort from the Fatimid time frame. The mihrab is presently in plain view at the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo.

Walls and Gates

Fatimid and Ayyubid Walls

When Cairo was founded as a palace-city in 969 by the Fatimid Caliphate, Gawhar al-Siqilli, a Fatimid general, led the construction of the city's original walls out of bricks. Later, during the rule of the eighth Fatimid caliph, the vizier, Badr al-Gamali, funded an effort to rebuild the walls out of stone and further outward than before to expand the space within Cairo’s walls. The architectural elements of the walls were informed by Badr al-Gamali’s Armenian background, and were innovative in the context of Islamic military architecture in Egypt . The walls are composed of three vertical levels. The lower level was elevated above the street and contained its gate’s entrance halls which were accessible by ramps. The second level contained halls that connected different galleries and rooms. The third level was the terrace level, protected by parapets, where, near gates, belvederes were built for the caliph and his court  to use . Many gates existed along the walls of Fatimid Cairo, but only three remain today: Bab al-Nasr, Bab al-Futuh, and Bab Zuwayla (with "Bab" translating to "gate").

After the Fatimid Caliphate, the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, Saladin, planned to extend the walls of Cairo to include more of Cairo and also to reach and enclose the ancient city of Misr. The Ayyubids successfully extended the walls southward in Cairo, but Saladin died before they began the segment of the walls that would reach the other city, so that portion of the design was never created or continued.

Fatimid and Ayyubid Gates

Two of the three remaining gates along the walls of Cairo are Bab al-Nasr and Bab al-Futuh, and both are on the northern section of the wall and are about two hundred yards from each other. Bab al-Nasr, which translates to “the Gate of Victory,” was originally called Bab al-Izz, meaning “the Gate of Glory,” when constructed by Gawhar al-Siqilli, but was reconstructed by Badr al-Gamali between 1087 and 1092 about two hundred meters from the original site and was given its new name . Similarly, the Bab al-Futuh gate was originally called the Bab al-Iqbal, or “the Gate of Prosperity,” and was later changed to Bab al-Futuh by Badr al-Gamali. Bab al-Nasr is flanked by two towers with shield insignias carved into the stone of both, and are square in shape in contrast to the round flanking towers of Bab al-Futuh. The vaults inside of the Bab al-Nasr gate are innovative in design, with the helicoid feature being the first of their kind in this architectural context. Bab al-Nasr’s frieze contains Kufic inscriptions in white marble from the Shia Shahada, representative of the Fatimid caliphate’s Shia religious beliefs. In contrast, the Bab al-Futuh contains no inscriptions in its stone. Inside the Bab al-Futuh through its eastern flanking doorway is the tomb of an unidentified figure, and through its western flanking doorway is a long vaulted chamber. During the Fatimid caliphate, there were many gardens along the walls, with a chain of gardens going past the Bab al-Nasr and the garden of al-Mukhtar al-Saqlabi sitting outside of the Bab al-Futuh . A 2001 to 2003 restoration project by Comité de Conservation des Monuments de l'Art Arabe successfully restored both gates and parts of the wall that connect them.

The third remaining gate on the walls of Cairo, the Bab Zuwayla, sits in the southern section of the wall. Badr al-Gamali rebuilt the original Bab Zuwayla further south than Gawhar al-Siqilli’s original gate. A neighboring mosque, the mosque of al-Mu’ayyad Shaykh, has two minarets that sit on top of the two towers that flank the Bab Zuwayla. Similarly to the northern gates of Bab al-Nasr and Bab al-Futuh, the Bab Zuwayla was also neighbored by gardens, particularly by the gardens of Qantarạ al-Kharq . The same 2001-2003 restoration project tended to the Bab Zuwayla, and significantly restored the gate.