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Mosque of Ibn Tulun

Coordinates: 30°01′44″N 31°14′58″E / 30.02889°N 31.24944°E / 30.02889; 31.24944
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Mosque of Ibn Tulun
Minaret and ablution fountain (sabil) of the Ibn Tulun Mosque
Religion
AffiliationIslam
Year consecrated884
Location
LocationCairo, Egypt
Mosque of Ibn Tulun is located in Egypt
Mosque of Ibn Tulun
Shown within Egypt
Geographic coordinates30°01′44″N 31°14′58″E / 30.02889°N 31.24944°E / 30.02889; 31.24944
Architecture
Architect(s)al-Nasrani
TypeMosque
StyleIslamic Architecture
FounderAhmed ibn Tulun
Completed879; 1146 years ago (879)
Specifications
Dome(s)2
Minaret(s)1
Materialsbrick[1]
CriteriaCultural: (i)(v)(vi)
Designated1979 (3rd session)
Part ofHistoric Cairo
Reference no.89-002

The Mosque of Ibn Tulun (Arabic: مسجد إبن طولون, romanized: Masjid Ibn Ṭūlūn, lit. 'Ibn Tulun Mosque') is located in Cairo, Egypt. It is one of the oldest mosques in Egypt as well as the whole of Africa surviving in its full original form, and is the largest mosque in Cairo in terms of land area. It is built around an open square courtyard which allows natural light to travel through. Ibn Tulun Mosque features ancient architecture styles of Egypt, its decorations being created from carved stucco and wood.[2] This mosque is a popular tourist attraction.

History

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Construction and early history

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Aerial view of the mosque circa 1900

The mosque was commissioned by Ahmad ibn Tulun, the Abbasid governor of Egypt from 868 to 884. He was able to establish himself as a de facto autonomous ruler over Egypt and parts of the Levant.[3] In 870, he began construction on a new administrative capital, al-Qata'i, It was located a short distance to the northwest of Fustat (the first Muslim capital of Egypt and its main city) and al-'Askar (the second capital built nearb by the Abbasids).[4][5]

The Ibn Tulun Mosque was built to serve as al-Qata'i's congregational mosque. Al-Qata'i was eventually razed to the ground in 905 by the Abbasid general Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Katib, who was sent to retake control of Egypt. The mosque is the only surviving monument from this city.[4][6]

The medieval historian al-Maqrizi lists the mosque's construction start date as 876 CE,[7] while the mosque's original inscription slab identifies the date of completion as Ramadan 265 AH, corresponding to April–May 879 CE.[8][9] According to Balawi, a 10th-century author, the architect of the mosque was a man named al-Nasrani, a non-Muslim, possibly Christian, who had previously designed the Aqueduct of Basatin, another of Ibn Tulun's construction projects in the area.[3]

The mosque was constructed on a small hill called Gebel Yashkur, "The Hill of Thanksgiving." One local legend says that it is here that Noah's Ark came to rest after the Deluge, rather than at Mount Ararat.[10] Ibn Tulun's administrative palace, the Dar al-Imara, adjoined the mosque directly on its southeastern side, behind the qibla wall.[11] Ibn Tulun was able to enter his mosque directly from the Dar al-Imara via a doorway that can still be seen to the right of the mihrab (niche symbolizing the qibla).[12]

Later history

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After the destruction of al-Qata'i in 905, the mosque and the adjoining Dar al-Imara were left standing. The mosque was spared because of its religious function while the palace was re-used by the subsequent Ikhshidid governors as an administrative center.[13]

Inscription added by the Fatimid vizier Badr al-Jamali (before 1094) above the current entrance of the mosque

The mosque and the palace continued to see some use during the Fatimid period (after 969) and the Fatimid caliph al-Hafiz is recorded as having ordered some construction in the mosque in 1132, though it is unclear what work was done.[14] The original fountain (fawara) in the center of the mosque's courtyard, which had previously burned down,[a] was rebuilt on the orders of Caliph al-'Aziz in 995.[15] The mosque and the area around it declined further in the following century. Part of the mosque was burned during riots in 1067.[16] Badr al-Jamali (d. 1094), the powerful Fatimid vizier, restored the mosque, as indicated by the inscription he placed above what is still the main entrance to the mosque today.[17] Badr al-Jamali's son and successor, al-Afdal Shahinshah, added a flat stucco mihrab to one of the prayer hall's piers in 1094.[18]

The present-day fountain and dome in the center of the mosque's courtyard were built by the Mamluk sultan Lajin in 1296.

By the 12th century, the mosque was being used as a caravanserai for North African pilgrims on their way to the Hijaz. After the assassination of the Mamluk sultan Al-Ashraf Khalil (r. 1290–1293), one of the accomplices in the murder, Lajin, hid inside the mosque, by which time the building had fallen into ruin.[19] Mamluk-era writers report that Lajin hid inside the ruins of the original minaret and that he spent a miserable year there.[20] When he later became sultan (r. 1296–1299), he initiated a major restoration of the mosque in 1296.[19] Lajin's works, many of which remain today, included renovating the main mihrab's decoration, building the dome in front of it, adding a new wooden minbar (pulpit), renovating the minaret, and building the present-day fountain in the center of the courtyard and the domed structure over it.[21]

The mosque continued to be re-used for other purposes in later eras. Over the course of the 18th and 19th centuries, it was used as a wool factory and as a hospice for the disabled.[21] It has undergone several modern restorations, starting with a restoration by the Comité de Conservation des Monuments de l'Art Arabe in 1890, then another in 1929, and most recently by the Egyptian government between 2000 and 2005.[21]

Architecture

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The mosque is one of the largest in Egypt by area. Including its outer enclosure (ziyada), it occupies 26,318 square metres (283,280 sq ft).[22]

Interior

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Geometric arch decorations – The floral representations and geometric designs on the arches reflect Abbasid art.

The interior arched windows provide natural light against the hollow dome. Each pointed arch has a window and is has a plain geometric design.

There are six prayer niches (mihrab) at the mosque, five of which are flat as opposed to the main concave niche. It indicates the qibla which the profession of faith inscripted in Kufic calligraphy.

  • The main niche is situated in the centre of the qibla wall and is the tallest of the six. It was redecorated under Sultan Lajin and contains a top of painted wood, the shahada in a band of glass mosaics and a bottom of marble panels.[23]
  • The same qibla wall features a smaller niche to the left of the main niche. Its stalactite work and naskhi calligraphy indicate an early Mamluk origin.[23]
  • The two prayer niches on the piers flanking the dikka are decorated in the Samrarran style, with one niche containing a unique medallion with a star hanging from a chain.[24] The Kufic shahada inscriptions on both niches do not mention Ali and were thus made before the Shi'a Fatimids came to power.[23]
  • The westernmost prayer niche, the mihrab of al-Afdal Shahanshah, is a replica of an original kept at Cairo's Museum of Islamic Art. It is ornately decorated in a style with influences from Persia. The Kufic inscription mentions the Fatimid caliph al-Mustansir, on whose orders the niche was made, as well as the Shi'a shahada including Ali as God's wali after declaring the oneness of God and the prophethood of Muhammad.[23]
  • On the pier to the left are the remains of a copy of al-Afdal's mihrab. It differs, however, by referring to Sultan Lajin instead of al-Mustansir, and a lack of Ali's name.[23]
  • Mihrabs
  • Main mihrab
    Main mihrab
  • Detail of the decoration inside the mihrab
    Detail of the decoration inside the mihrab
  • Dikka flanked by two pre-Fatimid prayer niches
    Dikka flanked by two pre-Fatimid prayer niches
  • Pre-Fatimid mihrab with the medallion with a star hanging from a chain
    Pre-Fatimid mihrab with the medallion with a star hanging from a chain
  • Al-Afdal's mihrab in honour of al-Mustansir
    Al-Afdal's mihrab in honour of al-Mustansir
  • The partially damaged "copy" on the left pier
    The partially damaged "copy" on the left pier

Minaret

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The minaret

There is significant controversy over the date of construction of the minaret, which features a helical outer staircase. It is also told that using these stairs one can climb up on a horse. Legend has it that Ibn Tulun himself was accidentally responsible for the design of the structure: supposedly while sitting with his officials, he absentmindedly wound a piece of parchment around his finger. When someone asked him what he was doing, he responded, embarrassed, that he was designing his minaret. Many of the architectural features, however, point to a later construction, in particular, the way in which the minaret does not connect well with the main mosque structure, something that would have been averted had the minaret and mosque been built at the same time. Architectural historian Doris Behrens-Abouseif asserts that Sultan Lajin, who restored the mosque in 1296, was responsible for the construction of the current minaret.[25]

The minaret shows influences from both the Lighthouse of Alexandria and the famous minaret in Samarra.[26]

It is built entirely of well-fired red brick, plaster, and carved stucco. Stucco is cement-based plaster that is mixed on-site and applied wet which hardens to a very dense solid.[27] The mosque is also built from this material. The staircase extends up to the tower 170 feet in height.

Exterior and adjacent structures

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View of the mosque from the minaret, with the ziyada or outer enclosure of the mosque visible

The mosque is surrounded on three sides by an outer enclosure, the ziyada.[28] The mosque's minaret stands in this enclosure.

The Mamluk-era sabil and kuttab, located in the southwestern corner of the ziyada

At the southwestern corner of the mosque, standing within the ziyada, is a sabil-maktab or sabil-kuttab (structure combining a sabil and maktab). This structure has been attributed to either Sultan Lajin in 1296 or to Sultan Qaytbay between 1462 and 1482. Tarek Swelim's study of the mosque suggests that it was most likely built first by Lajin and then restored by Qaytbay.[29]

At the southeastern corner of the mosque, located outside the ziyada and on the site of the former Dar al-Imara,[30] is a pair of historic mansions, connected by a bridge, which became known as Bayt al-Kritliya. They were built in the 16th and 17th centuries. The complex now serves as the Gayer-Anderson Museum.[31] Another structure outside the ziyada but adjoining its outer wall on the northwest side is the Madrasa of Amir Sarghatmish, built around 1350.[32]

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Parts of the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me were filmed at the mosque.[33] The mosque is featured in the game Serious Sam 3: BFE, forming a significant part of the game's third level. It is also featured in a level of Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, where Lara Croft has to trap a minotaur inside the mosque.

The mosque is mentioned in the Nero Wolfe story And Be a Villain by Rex Stout, wherein Nero Wolfe discusses the pointed arches with a guest.

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ The date of the fountain's destruction is given by Ibn Duqmaq as 10 Jumada II 279 AH (17 October 892 CE), but Maqrizi later asserted the true date must be 385 AH (995 CE).[15]

References

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Citations

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  1. ^ Verde, Tom (2012). "The Point of the Arch". Saudi Aramco World. Vol. 63, no. 3. Aramco Services Company. pp. 34–43. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  2. ^ "Ibn Tulun Mosque « Muslim Heritage". Retrieved 2019-12-08.
  3. ^ a b Swelim 2015, pp. 42, 91.
  4. ^ a b Swelim 2015, p. 37.
  5. ^ Gordon, Matthew S. (2021). Ahmad ibn Tulun: Governor of Abbasid Egypt, 868–884. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-78607-994-7.
  6. ^ Williams 2018, p. 61. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFWilliams2018 (help)
  7. ^ al-Maqrīzī, Khiṭaṭ, II, pp. 265 ff.
  8. ^ Behrens-Abouseif 1989, p. 52.
  9. ^ Swelim 2015, p. 65.
  10. ^ R.G. 'John' Gayer-Anderson Pasha. "Legends of the House of the Cretan Woman." Cairo and New York: American University in Cairo Press, 2001. pp. 33–34. and Nicholas Warner. "Guide to the Gayer-Anderson Museum in Cairo." Cairo: Press of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, 2003. p. 5.
  11. ^ Swelim 2015, pp. 47–50.
  12. ^ Williams 2018, p. 64. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFWilliams2018 (help)
  13. ^ Swelim 2015, p. 137.
  14. ^ Swelim 2015, pp. 138–139.
  15. ^ a b Swelim 2015, p. 142.
  16. ^ Swelim 2015, p. 144.
  17. ^ Swelim 2015, p. 145.
  18. ^ Swelim 2015, p. 146.
  19. ^ a b Williams 2018, pp. 64–65. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFWilliams2018 (help)
  20. ^ Swelim 2015, p. 163.
  21. ^ a b c Williams 2018, p. 65. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFWilliams2018 (help)
  22. ^ Torky, Tarek. "Mosque of Ahmad Ibn Tulun". Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers. Retrieved 2025-01-17.
  23. ^ a b c d e Behrens-Abouseif 1989, p. 54.
  24. ^ Tillier, Mathieu (2015-01-14). "L'étoile, la chaîne et le Jugement. Essai d'interprétation d'un élément de décor dans la mosquée d'Ibn Ṭūlūn" (PDF). Der Islam. 92 (2). doi:10.1515/islam-2015-0012. ISSN 1613-0928.
  25. ^ Behrens-Abouseif 1989, pp. 54–55.
  26. ^ Gottheil, Richard J. H. (1910). "The Origin and History of the Minaret". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 30 (2): 132–154. doi:10.2307/3087601. ISSN 0003-0279. JSTOR 3087601.
  27. ^ "A majestic mosque in Cairo". Apollo Magazine. 2019-02-19. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
  28. ^ Williams 2018, p. 62. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFWilliams2018 (help)
  29. ^ Swelim 2015, pp. 192–194.
  30. ^ Swelim 2015, p. 201.
  31. ^ Williams 2018, pp. 65–66. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFWilliams2018 (help)
  32. ^ Swelim 2015, p. 194.
  33. ^ Williams, Max (7 July 2018). "The Spy Who Loved Me: The Best of the Epic James Bond Movies". Den of Geek. Archived from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 26 December 2020.

Works cited

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  • Behrens-Abouseif, Doris (1989). Islamic Architecture in Cairo: An Introduction. Leiden, the Netherlands: E.J. Brill. ISBN 9789004096264.
  • Warner, Nicholas (2005). The Monuments of Historic Cairo: a map and descriptive catalogue. Cairo: American University in Cairo.
  • Swelim, Tarek (2015). Ibn Tulun: His Lost City and Great Mosque. American University in Cairo Press. ISBN 9789774166914.
  • Williams, Caroline (2018). Islamic Monuments in Cairo: The Practical Guide (7th ed.). Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press. ISBN 9789774168550.
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