Egypt’s
Cultural Heritage
(Part 2 of 2)
Cairo:
Land of The Pharaohs,
City of 1000 Minarets,
Home of Al-Azhar And
Al-Hussain Mosque
(M. Javed Naseem)
Egypt
holds the treasure of the ancient history of mankind. It is the land of the
Pharaohs, the Prophets and the mighty river Nile.
It houses the most ancient (or the first) university of the world; the first
and the biggest library of the old time; the biggest Islamic University
(al-Azhar) of the modern times; and above all it is the cradle of the
civilization. It is home of the Giza Pyramids, the Great Sphinx, and the
ancient temples of Luxor
dating back thousands of years. And I didn’t talk of the delicious Egyptian food
yet. I visited Egypt
last week and would like to share with you a brief reportage on the most
important monuments.
Salah ad-Din Citadel of
Cairo:
Salah ad-Din Fort (Citadel of Cairo) is a medieval Islamic
fortification in Cairo.
The location, on Mokattam hill near the center of Cairo, was once famous for its fresh breeze
and grand views of the city. It is now a preserved historic site, with mosques
and museums. In 1976, it was proclaimed by UNESCO as a part of the World
Heritage site “Historic Cairo” (or Islamic Cairo) which was the new centre of
the Islamic world, reaching its golden age in the 14th century.
The Citadel was fortified by the Kurdish Ayyubid ruler Salah
ad-Din (Saladin) between 1176 and 1183 CE, to protect it from the Crusaders. Only
a few years after defeating the Fatimid Caliphate, Salah ad-Din set out to
build a wall that would surround both Cairo
and earlier capital Fustat. The Citadel would be the centerpiece of the wall.
Built on a promontory beneath the Muqattam Hills, a setting that made it difficult
to attack, the efficacy of the Citadel's location is further demonstrated by
the fact that it remained the heart of Egyptian government until the 19th
century.
The citadel lost its status as the seat of government when Egypt’s ruler Khedive Ismail Khedive moved to
his newly built Abidin
Palace in the Ismailiya
neighborhood in the 1860s. While the Citadel was completed in 1183–1184, the
wall Salah ad-Din had envisioned was still under construction in 1238, long
after his death.
Mohammad Ali Pasha Mosque
The Great Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha or Alabaster Mosque is
situated in the Citadel of Salah-ad-Din Ayyubi (also called Citadel of Cairo).
It was commissioned by the Turkish Ottoman Caliph Muhammad Ali Pasha between
1830 and 1848.
Situated on the summit of the citadel, this historic Ottoman
mosque, the largest to be built in the first half of the 19th century, is, with
its animated silhouette and twin minarets, the most visible mosque in Cairo.
The mosque was built in memory of Tusun Pasha, Muhammad
Ali’s oldest son, who died in 1816. This mosque, along with the citadel, is one
of the popular landmarks and tourist attractions of Cairo. It is one of the first features to be
seen when approaching the city from any direction.
Amr bin al-Aas Mosque
The First Mosque of Africa & Egypt
The Mosque of Amr ibn al-Aas, also called the Mosque of Amr,
was originally built in 641–642 AD, as the center of the newly founded capital
of Egypt,
Fustat. The original structure was the first mosque ever built in Egypt and the whole of Africa.
Through the 20th century, it was the fourth largest mosque in the Islamic
world.
The location for the mosque was the site of the tent of the
commander of the Muslim army, general Amr bin al-Aas – a prominent Companion of
Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.). One corner of the mosque contains the tomb of his
son, Abd-Allah bin Amr bin al-Aas. Due to extensive reconstruction over the
centuries, nothing of the original building remains, but the rebuilt Mosque is
a prominent landmark, and can be seen in what today is known as Old Cairo or
Islamic Cairo. It is an active mosque with a devout congregation, and when
prayers are not taking place, it is also open to visitors and tourists.
According to a tradition, the original location for this
mosque was chosen by a bird. Amr bin al-Aas, by order of Caliph Umar bin
al-Khattab, was the Arab general that liberated Egypt from the Romans. In 641 AD,
before he and his army attacked their capital city of Alexandria
(at the northwestern part of the Nile river delta), Amr had set up his tent on
the eastern side of the Nile, at the southern
part of the delta. As the story is told, shortly before Amr set off to battle,
a dove laid an egg in his tent. When Amr returned victorious, he needed to
choose a site for a new capital city, since Umar had decreed that it could not
be in far-away Alexandria.
So Amr declared the site of the dove's egg sacred, and made it the center of
his new capital city, Fustat, or Misr al-Fustat – “City of Tents". Later, the Mosque of Amr was
built on the same location.
The original layout was a simple rectangle, 29 meters in length by 17 meters wide but had no
adornments, and no minarets either. It was completely rebuilt in 673 AD by the
governor Maslama bin Mukhallad al-Ansari, who added four minarets, one at each
of the mosque's corners, and doubled its area. In the 9th century, the mosque
was extended by the Abbasid Caliph al-Mamoun, who added a new area on the
southwest side, increasing the mosque's dimensions to 120m x 112m. In 1169 AD,
the city of Fustat
and the mosque were destroyed by a fire during the Crusaders’ invasion. After
the Crusaders were expelled, and the area had been conquered by Nour al-Din’s
army, Salah ad-Din took power, and had the mosque rebuilt in 1179 AD.
Unfortunately, during the French occupation much of the interior wood
decoration was taken for firewood by the French Army. In 1875, the mosque was
again rebuilt. In the 20th century, during the reign of Egypt’s Abbas
Helmi-II, the mosque underwent another restoration. Parts of the entrance were
reconstructed in the 1980s.
Al-Azhar Mosque &
University
I and my wife had the honor of offering the Friday prayer
(Salaat-ul Jumaa) in the historic al-Azhar Mosque which is part of the
world-famous Islamic Al-Azhar University complex in Cairo.
Al-Azhar Mosque, "The Most Resplendent Congregational
Mosque", also called simply ‘al-Azhar’, is located in ‘Islamic Cairo’. Al-Muizz
id-Din Allah of the Fatimid dynasty commissioned its construction for the newly
established capital city in 970 AD. It was the first mosque established in Cairo, a city that has
since gained the nickname “the City of a Thousand Minarets.”
After its dedication in 972 AD, and with the hiring by
mosque authorities of 35 scholars in 989 AD, the mosque slowly developed into
what is today the second oldest continuously run university in the world after
al-Karaouine of Idrissid town Fes in Morocco. Al-Azhar University
has long been regarded as the foremost institution in the Islamic world for the
study of Sunni Islam and Sharia or Islamic law. The university, integrated
within the mosque as part of a mosque school since its inception, was
nationalized and officially designated an independent university in 1961,
following the Egyptian Revolution of 1952.
Today, al-Azhar remains a deeply influential institution in
Egyptian society that is highly revered in the Sunni Muslim world and a symbol
of Islamic Egypt.
Imam Al-Hussain Mosque
The al-Hussain Mosque was built in 1154 AD in Cairo, Egypt.
It is located right opposite to the al-Azhar Mosque, near the tourist shopping
bazaar of Khan El-Khalili. It is considered to be one of the holiest Shia
Muslim sites in Egypt.
The mosque was built on the cemetery of the Fatimid caliphs, though this was
not known until the site's archaeological excavation. It is named after Prophet
Muhammad (s.a.w.)’s grandson Hussain ibn Ali. Shia Muslims believe that
Hussain's head is buried on the grounds of the mosque. The complex includes a
mausoleum which dates back to the mosque's original construction in 1154 AD.
The Oldest Quran in the
world
It is claimed that al-Hussain Mosque of Cairo also houses the “Qurān of Uthmān”, one
of the oldest in the world. It dates back to the 1st-2nd century Hijra.
Palaeographer Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Munajjid did not consider
this manuscript to be from the time of caliph Uthmān. He says that, in all
probability, it was a copy made on the order of the Governor of Egypt Abd al-Azīz
ibn Marwān, brother of Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwān. Therefore, it
can be said that this is one of the oldest copies of the Quran written in Egypt in the
second half of 1st century Hijra.
Fatimid view of Hussain's
head
According to Fatimid beliefs, in the year 985 AD, the 15th Fatimid
Caliph, Abu Mansood Nizar al-Aziz Billah, traced the site of his
great-grandfather's head through the office of a contemporary in Baghdad. It remained
buried in the town of Ashkelon
at "Baab al- Faradis" for about 250 years, until 1153 AD.
After the 21st Fatimid Imam at-Tayyib Abi al-Qasim went into
seclusion, his uncle, Abd al-Majid, occupied the Fatimid Empire's throne.
Fearing disrespect and possible traitorous activity, the Majidi-monarch, al-Zafir
ordered the transfer of the head to Cairo.
Hussain's casket was unearthed and moved from Ashkelon to Cairo on Sunday, 8th Jumada
al-Thani, 548 Hijri (31st August, 1153 AD).
 |
| (Imam Hussain’s head is buried in this tomb in
Masjid al-Hussain, Cairo)
|
According to Shia historians Al-Maqrizi, Ahmad
al-Qalqashandi, and Ibn Muyassar, the casket reached Cairo on Tuesday, 10th Jumada al-Thani (2nd
September, 1153 AD). Taken by boat to the Kafuri (Garden), the casket was
buried there in a place called "Qubbat al Daylam" or "Turbat al
Zafraan" (currently known as "al-Mashhad al-Hussaini" or "Bab
Mukhallaf’at al-Rasul"). Thirteen Fatimid Imams, from the 9th, Muhammad
at-Taqi, to the 20th, al-Amir bi-Ahkamillah, are buried there as well.
City of Alexandria:
Founded By Alexander
After conquering Syria
in 332 BCE, Alexander the Great swept down into Egypt with his army. He founded Alexandria in the small port town of Rhakotis by the sea and set about the task of
turning it into a great capital. It is said that he designed the plan for the
city which was so greatly admired later by the historian Strabo (63 BCE-21CE).
 |
| (Ancient ruins of Alexandria with the Sphinx) |
Alexandria is a port city
located on the Mediterranean Sea in northern Egypt, founded in 331 BCE by
Alexander the Great. It is most famous in antiquity as the site of the Pharos,
the great lighthouse, considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world,
for the Temple of Serapis, the Serapion, which was part of the
legendary library at Alexandria,
as a seat of learning and, once, the largest and most prosperous city in the
world. It also became infamous for the religious strife which resulted in the
martyrdom of the philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria in 415 CE.
The city grew
from a small port town to become the grandest and most important metropolis in
ancient Egypt.
The Biggest Library of
The Ancient World
Great Library of Alexandria
The Great Library of Alexandria in Egypt was one
of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world. The Library
was part of a larger research institution called the Mouseion, which was
dedicated to the Muses, the nine goddesses of the arts. The idea of a universal
library in Alexandria may have been proposed by
Demetrius of Phalerum, an exiled Athenian statesman living in Alexandria, to Ptolemy-I Soter, who may have
established plans for the Library, but the Library itself was probably not
built until the reign of his son Ptolemy-II Philadelphus. The Library quickly
acquired a large number of papyrus scrolls, due largely to the Ptolemaic kings'
aggressive and well-funded policies for procuring texts. It is unknown
precisely how many such scrolls were housed at any given time, but estimates
range from 40,000 to 400,000 at its height.
 |
| (The modern library of Alexandria, claimed to be the biggest in the world.) |
Alexandria
came to be regarded as the capital of knowledge and learning, in part because
of the Great Library. Many important and influential scholars worked at the
Library during the third and second centuries BC, including, among many others
Zenodotus of Ephesus. The Library was built in the Brucheion (Royal Quarter) in
the style of Aristotle's Lyceum, adjacent to (and in service of) the Mouseion
(a Greek Temple or "House of Muses",
whence the term "museum"). Its main purpose was to show off the
wealth of Egypt, with
research as a lesser goal, but its contents were used to aid the ruler of Egypt.
Ancient University
of Alexandria
The World’s Oldest
University
In May a team of Polish and Egyptian archaeologists
announced they had unearthed the long-lost site of Archimedes’ alma mater: the University of Alexandria
in Egypt.
Even Cambridge University
in England,
which boasts Sir Isaac Newton as an alum, cannot claim such a venerable
pedigree.
 |
| (The modern Alexandria University) |
The legendary university flourished 2,300 years ago when Alexandria was the
intellectual and cultural hub of the world. While in the city, Archimedes
crafted a water pump of a type still used today; Euclid organized and developed the rules of
geometry; Hypsicles divided the zodiac into 360 equal arcs; and Eratosthenes
calculated the diameter of Earth. Other scholars in the city are believed to
have edited the works of Homer and produced the Septuagint, the ancient Greek
translation of the Old Testament. “This is the oldest university ever found in
the world,” Grzegorz Majcherek, who directed the dig under the auspices of Egypt’s Supreme
Council of Antiquities, told the Associated Press. “This is the first material
evidence of the existence of academic life in Alexandria.”
Papyrus (early paper)
of The Ancient Egypt
Paintings / Islamic Calligraphy on Papyrus
The ancient Egyptians used the stem of the papyrus plant to
make sails, cloth, mats, cords, and, above all, paper. Paper made from papyrus
was the chief writing material in ancient Egypt. It was adopted by the Greeks
and was used extensively in the Roman Empire.
It was used not only for the production of books (in roll or scroll form) but
also for correspondence and legal documents.
 |
| (The 'papyrus' - ancient paper made from the leaves/strands of a water-plant) |
According to Britannica.com:
Papyrus is a grass-like aquatic plant that has woody,
bluntly triangular stems and grows up to 4.6 m (about 15 feet) high in quietly
flowing water up to 90 cm
(3 feet)
deep.
Papyrus: Writing material of
ancient times and also the plant from which it was derived, Cyperus papyrus
(family Cyperaceae), also called paper plant. The papyrus plant was
long-cultivated in the Nile delta region in Egypt and was collected for its
stalk or stem, whose central pith was cut into thin strips, pressed together,
and dried to form a smooth, thin writing surface.
Papyrus was cultivated and used for writing material by the
Arabs of Egypt down to the time when the growing manufacture of paper from
other plant fibers in the 8th and 9th centuries had
rendered papyrus unnecessary. By the 3rd century ad,
papyrus had already begun to be replaced in Europe
by the less-expensive vellum, or parchment, but the use of papyrus for books
and documents persisted sporadically until about the 12th century. Today,
paintings and the Quranic verses on papyrus are considered antiques and make
great gifts. I bought one in Cairo
for $35. It absorbs light and illuminates in the dark. The artists show a
really fascinating art of double-layer writing. In the light you see one
picture or one written text but when you turn the lights off, the first layer
disappears and the second layer illuminates in the dark with a different
picture or text. Amazing!
 |
| (A model of Arabic calligraphy based on the Quranic Surah on papyrus) |
Tahrir Square
(Maidan at-Tahrir or Liberation Square
or Martyr Square)
A Witness To The Failed Revolution
The huge town square in the city centre (downtown) of Cairo should be called Revolution Square as it has seen
some historic revolutions of Egypt,
but it is popularly called Tahrir
Square or Liberation Square or Martyr Square. The square has been the
location and focus for political demonstrations in metropolitan Cairo, most notably those
that led to the Egyptian revolution of 2011 and the resignation of President
Hosni Mubarak.
 |
| (Maidan at-Tahrir or Tahrir Square) |
The square was originally called "Ismailia Square" after the
19th-century ruler Khedive Ismail, who commissioned the new downtown district's
“Paris on the Nile”
design. After the Egyptian Revolution of 1919, the square became widely known
as Tahrir (Liberation) Square, but the square was not officially renamed until
the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, that changed Egypt from a constitutional
monarchy into an autocratic republic. The square was a focal point for the Egyptian
Revolution of 2011.
 |
| (The famous Tahrir Square or Revolution Square or Martyrs Square) |
At the centre of Tahrir
Square is a large and busy traffic circle
(round-about). On the north-east side is a plaza with a statue of nationalist
hero Omar Makram, celebrated for his resistance against Napoleon-I's invasion
of Egypt; and beyond is the Omar Makram Mosque.
************
