Al-Azhar Mosque
About the place
- Country : Egypt , Cairo
- Address : Islamic Cairo, El-Darb El-Ahmar, Cairo Governorate
- Category : Mosques
- Establishing Date : Shaban 14, 359 AH / 970 AD.
- founder : Jawhar al-Siqeli
Al-Azhar Mosque
Overview:
It is one of the most important and famous mosques in Egypt and the Islamic world.
It has been an Islamic mosque and university for more than a thousand years.
It was also called Cairo Mosque because it was the first mosque built in the city of Cairo.
Historic overview:
It was established by Jawhar al-Siqeli, the leader of the Fatimid Caliph al-Muizz Li Din Allah, as a mosque and a school for the graduation of preachers.
The foundation of the mosque was laid on Shaban 14, 359 AH / 970 AD.
It took two years to build the mosque, and it was called Al-Azhar Mosque after the Lady Fatima al-Zahra, to whom the Fatimids belong.
In the year 378 AH / 988 AD, Caliph Al-Aziz Billah made it a university where Islamic sciences are taught to students from Africa and Asia.
Architectural description:
The mosque is distinguished by its area that occupies 12 thousand square meters.
The mosque has eight gates and five minarets.
Al-Azhar consists of a courtyard surrounded by four colonnades, the largest of which is qibla colonnade, which consists of five tiles parallel to qibla wall.
There are also three domes in qibla colonnade and pointed arches, on each of which there are vegetal decorations executed in the Fatimid style.
The mosque had ten mihrabs, of which six remained, and one minbar.
The mosque has more than 380 columns of beautiful marble whose crowns were brought from ancient Egyptian temples. Some of the "concrete slabs" are based on white marble columns.
On the mihrab there are two sets of Qur’an verses were written, which are still intact, and these inscriptions are the only surviving thing from the Fatimid period.
Al-Azhar Mosque remained the subject of interest for the kings, sultans, princes and rulers of Egypt. This resulted in a change in most of its Fatimid features, until it becomes in its current shape due to the continuous construction that were included to it in successive times.
Resources:
“Al Mawaez w Al E'tebar bezekr Al Khotat W Al Aathaar,” known as Al Khotat al Maqriziya
Masalek Al Absar fi Mamalek Al Amsaar by Ibn Fadlallah Al-Omari
The official website of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif
