Al Azhar Mosque Cairo, Egypt | location, facts, history, establishment, restorations

Al Azhar Mosque Cairo Egypt is the first mosque established in Cairo and the finest building of Cairo‘s Fatimid era, completed in AD 972. The mosque is a mix of the Fatimid, Mameluke, and Ottoman architectural features blended together in the majestic building.

As the mosque-madrasa of Sultan Hassan, Ak Azhar is a mosque-madrasa complex and is one of the oldest universities in the world. Meanwhile, Al Azhar Mosque now is a unique mixture of styles and periods. For example, the qibla wall dates from the 14th century, Sultan Qaitbay added one of the minarets in 1475 and the main façade is from 1the 9th century, while the double-arched gate of the main façade belongs to the mid-18th century.

Where is Al Azhar Mosque?

Al Azhar Mosque is located in El Hussein Square, El Darb El Ahmar, Cairo Governorate, Egypt.

When Al Azhar was built?

Al Azhar Mosque dates back to the beginning of the Fatimid Dynasty in Egypt. As soon as they first established their state in Tunisia, North Africa, and in order to expand their state, they were in need of a new capital more central than Tunisia. Thus, the Fatimids conquered Egypt and built the city of al-Qahirah (Cairo) to be their new capital.

Jawhar al-Siqilli was the most important and famous leader in Fatimid history, as he was the founder of the city of Cairo. He finished the palace for his Fatimid Caliph al-Muizz Li Din Allah then he started Al Azhar Mosque. Building the mosque started in April 970 AD and it ended in the month of Ramadan in the year 972 AD.

Who built Al Azhar Mosque?

Jawhar El-Siqilli, the army leader of al-Muizz Li Din Allah, the first Fatimid Caliph in Egypt built Al Azhar Mosque after he was ordered to do so by the Fatimid Caliph al-Muizz Li Din Allah.

Why Al Azhar Mosque was built?

Al Azhar Mosque was established for the purpose of spreading the Shiite Doctrine. Moreover, it was built to imitate Amr Ibn El Ass Mosque in Fustat and Ahmed Ibn Tulun Mosque in Al-Qata’i to be the state’s main mosque.

Why did Jawhar El-Siqilli call it Al Azhar?

In the first beginning, the mosque was called Al Mansoria then Caliph Al-Mu’izz Li-Din Allah named the city Cairo, and thus the mosque became called the Cairo Mosque.
The mosque was called “Al-Azhar” after Fatima al-Zahraa, daughter of the Prophet Mohamed (Peace and Prayers Be Upon Him).

Facts about Al Azhar Mosque

Al-Azhar Mosque is considered one of the most important Islamic mosques in Egypt and the Islamic world
Al-Azhar Mosque was established by Commander Jawhar El-Siqilli, leader of the Fatimid caliph al-Muizz li Din Allah, to be a mosque and a school at the same time. To graduate Fatimid preachers and spread the Shiite doctrine
The first Friday prayer was held during Ramadan in 972 AD, and the construction process took two years.
In the year 988, Caliph Al-Aziz Billah made the Al-Azhar Mosque a “university”, in which Ismaili sciences were taught free of charge, in order to spread the Shiite sect in Egypt.
After the conquest of Egypt by Salah al Din al Ayyubi, he prevented the Friday prayers in the mosque, stopped, and opened the mosque to be a platform for all scholars in the Islamic world, and turned it into a Sunni Mosque
Salah al-Din used to spend on students, imams, supervisors, and teachers, and provide them with housing and the needs of life, as studies and residence inside the mosque were free of charge.
In 1267 and after 100 years, Friday prayers resumed, again in Al-Azhar Mosque, during the era of Al-Zahir Baybars
Al Azhar Mosque protected the Arab identity and the Arab heritage, as well as preserving the Arabic language, after the fall of the Abbasid Caliphate from the Tartars during the Ottoman Caliphate
Al-Azhar had the greatest impact in confronting the French occupation of Egypt under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte
The Mosque of Al Azhar played a great role in the withdrawal of the French from Egypt.
The Al-Azhar Mosque consists of an open courtyard overlooked by 3 galleries, the largest of which is the qibla gallery. Its area at the time of construction was half of its current area.
Restoration and renovation operations have begun inside the Al-Azhar Mosque and the surrounding area for 18 months, at a cost of 30 million pounds.
The Al-Azhar Mosque was considered the first architectural work built by the Fatimids in Egypt and the first mosque established in the city of Cairo
The mosque had 10 mihrabs, of which only 6 remained. The mosque has 9 doors, the most famous of which is the Bab al-Mazinin
The chief judge “Abu Al-Hassan Ali bin Al-Numan” in 975 AD sat and read in the midst of a crowd of people his father’s brief on the jurisprudence of Aal al-Bayt, so this was the first scientific seminar in Al-Azhar Mosque.
Al-Azhar Mosque covers an area of 12,000 square meters.
The mosque contains more than 380 beautiful marble columns whose capitals were brought from ancient Egyptian temples.

Al Azhar Mosque architecture design

When Jawhar al-Siqilli built the Al Azhar Mosque in 970 and it was finished two years later, was originally half the size that it is today. The original mosque of Al Azhar consisted of three prayer halls centered around an open-air courtyard. The largest of which is the eastern portico, the qibla Iwan. While the southern and northern porticoes are composed of three arcades.

The main door of the early mosque was located in the mosque’s western walls and was decorated with a simple Fatimid-style minaret. The present entrance, on the western façade, was built by Amir Abd al-Rahman Katkhuda in the year 1753 AD. Its creation allowed the two Mamluk Madrasa Taybarsiyya and the Aqbaghawiya to be incorporated into the mosque.

The original Pulpit of the Fatimid was crowned by a Mamluk dome in the 15^th century. Once, there were two domes in the two corners of the qibla area but they no longer exist.

This section was decorated with Kofi Islamic writings and plant ornaments which are the only remaining feature of the ancient mosque that is still available now. The mosque at that time had three gates in its Northern, southern, and western walls.

The original pulpit built by Jawhar al-Siqilli was then transferred to the Mosque of Al-Hakim. Later on, Al-Hakim Be’amr Allah added 27 amazing silver lamps to the mosque and a small wooden door that is richly decorated with Kufi writings.

Al Azhar Mosque as a university

Nasser Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi put an end to the Fatimid Dynasty and start a new era of restoring the Sunni sect again. So, Friday prayers were suspended in the mosque, and schools belonging to the Sunni sect were established to enter into competition with Al-Azhar by spreading the scientific message of the Sunni sect.

The Mamluks and the scientific renaissance

With the end of the Ayyubid dynasty and in the era of the Mamluk Dynasty, Al-Azhar returned to perform its scientific mission and its vital role. He appointed jurists to teach the Sunni doctrine and the hadiths of the Prophet and took care of its renewal, expansion, and maintenance.

That was considered the golden age of Al-Azhar. Rulers and notables in the following ages also showed remarkable interest in its restoration and maintenance, and many endowments were endowed on it. The Mamluks bestow care on its scholars and students with grants, donations, and endowments.

During the reign of the Bahri Mamluks, Sultan Baybars rebuilt the Al-Azhar Mosque and built a new pulpit for it, and completed its renovation.

During the reign of Sultan “Qalawun” in the year 1340, Prince Aladdin Aqbugha Abd al-Wahed built the Al-Aqbaghawiya School, whose “place is now the library of the Al-Azhar Mosque. It had windows overlooking the courtyard of the mosque, and the Mamluks took care of the establishment of corridors to include students from different parts of the Islamic world.

During the reign of King Al-Ashraf “Barsbay”, Prince Jawhar Al-Fanquba’i Al-Khazandar established the Al-Gawhariyya School, which consisted of four iwans and was located near Bab Al-Sir in Al-Azhar Mosque

The teaching system in Al Azhar

The student used to join Al-Azhar after learning reading, writing, the principles of mathematics, and memorizing the Holy Qur’an, without being committed to a specific age for the student.

Al-Azhar students were not committed to regular studies. Students may interrupt it for a period and then repeat starting again in regularity, and there were no regulations that regulated the course of work and determined the study curricula, academic teams, and study years

Sheikh Al Azhar

Al-Azhar did not know the position of Sheikh of Al-Azhar except during the Ottoman era.

Al-Azhar had a headmaster who handled its financial and administrative affairs and had nothing to do with the scientific aspects.

Historians almost agree that the first person to hold Sheikh Al Azhar in the history of Al-Azhar was Sheikh “Muhammad bin Abdullah Al-Kharshi Al-Maliki,” who died in the year 1690 AD, then the sheiks of Al-Azhar Mosque continued to this day.

Al Azhar University

During the reign of King Fuad I, Law No. 46 of 1930 was issued for Al-Azhar, according to which the faculties of Fundamentals of Religion, Sharia, Language, and Arabic were established later in 1933, and Al-Azhar officially became an independent university in 1961.

Al Azhar University was considered the first in the Islamic world to study the Sunni doctrine and Islamic law. Al Azhar is still today a beacon for spreading the moderation of Islam, an institution that has a profound impact on Egyptian society, and a symbol of Islamic Egypt.

Tips about Al Azhar Mosque

How Al Azhar Mosque in Cairo Egypt was dated?

The dating of Al Azhar Mosque is based on evidence of a text inscribed within the drum of the dome to the right of the pulpit and the mihrab, which includes the names of the builder and the supervisor of construction, as well as the date of the construction of the dome 971 AD and can see by Hurghada to Pyramids Tours.