Mosque of Ahmed Ibn Tulun

Location

It’s located in the street of Saliba, the first right after Madrassa of Sarghatmish.

The Founder

Ahmed Ibn Tulun was son of Turkish slave of the Abbasid caliph Al Ma’mun,
he was sent to Egypt in 868 A.D. as a governor of Al fustat.

Within 2 years, he become the governor of the whole country, shortly he

refused to send the tribute to the Abbasid court & he established himself as an
independent rulers of the province.

He founded his new royal city around the hill of Yashkur to the northeast of Al-
Fustat, he destroyed the Christian and the Jewish cemetery which were located
on the hill to build his city.

The name of the city is al Qatai which means the allotments in which each
group of his followers settled.

Dating

The Mosque was built in between 876-879 A.D. / 263-265 A.H, Manu
historians confirmed that it was completed in May 879AD.

According to the inscription found in the mosque; A foundation plaque fixed to

one of the piers of the qibla area, which was carved in simple Kufic script with
the name of Ibn Tulun of and the date of its construction.

Legends attached to the site of the mosque

- It was believed that Noah’s ark had landed here after the flood
- It was believed also that god had spoken to Moses here.
- Moses had faced the pharaoh’s magicians here.
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 - Nearby, on Qal’at Al Kabsh Abraham had been ready to sacrifice his son.

The Importance of the Mosque

It’s the oldest intact Islamic monument in Cairo.

It also survives as a rarer example of the art & architecture of the classical
period of Islam (when the influence of the Abbasid court was dominant).

The architectural elements

Following the tradition of Muslim Caliphs, first work of Ibn Tulun was to
establish a new capital known as Qataia (869AD) between Cairo and Fustat as
mentioned above.

In its center, he built a palace complex, a hippodrome, and a large mosque

which became known by his name.

It is well known that Ibn Tulun lived in Samarra all his youth and he clearly was
influenced by its prestige especially its Great Mosque of Al-Mutawwakil
(848AD).

This can be seen in the numerous common features of the two mosques;

- The first of these is the use of piers constructed of bricks, instead of

columns, to carry the arcades and the roof.
- The second is the use of the same materials of construction such as brick
and plaster.
- The third one is the spiral shape of the minaret and its location outside the
perimeter of the mosque.

The mosque has a square shape 162 meters long, making it one of the largest
mosques of Cairo, and contains the following elements:-

The entrance

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The mosque has many entrances in all facades, except the qibla façade. The
main entrance leads to an open court yard.

The court yard

The original courtyard was intended for prayer, nowadays it’s paved.

The courtyard “Sahn” is a square extending south of the prayer hall. It is

surrounded by covered porticoes, each consisting of two aisles of pointed
arcades raised on strong piers and overlooking its open center where a fountain
and an ablution basin stand.

The arcades surrounded the courtyard

The open courtyard is surrounded from the 4 sides by arcades. The deeper one
is the qibla which contain 5 aisles. The arcades are formed by arches carried on
pillars 160 in number.

Arches

They are pointed, decorated by Rosettes & windows to decorate the pressure.
They are also outlined with an edge of carved stucco.

The use of red brick covered with stucco is a feature from Samarra. The carved
stucco can be seen around& under arches, as well on the capitals of the pilasters
and on the wooden panels over the entrance.

Windows

The mosque has 128 windows, 42 doors, 160 pillars each one contain 4 engaged
columns.

The Mosque enjoys with a collection of stucco windows is considered one of

the most exquisite characteristics of the whole structure, since each window
differs from the other in the layout of its decorative motifs.

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The upper part of the mosque walls has 128 pierced-stucco arched windows
with geometric and interwoven vegetal decorations which resemble those found
in the Umayyad Great Mosque in Damascus.

It's known between archeologists that only four of the arched windows date
back to the period of Ibn Tulun for thier decorative motifs that are related to that
period with intersecting circles. Rest of windows is contributed at the Fatimid
and Mamluk periods.

The ceiling

It’s composed of palm logs boxed in wooden panels. The long band of
inscription on sycamore wood, runs below the ceiling & around the whole
mosque contains verses from the Quraan.

The inscription is 2 km in length, calculated 1/5 of the whole Quraan. It was

mistakenly believed that one of these boards is left over from Noah’s ark.

Qibla arcade

It contains 6mihrabs, foundation panel, Dikka,…etc. the qibla arcade is 5 aisles

deep.

On the center of the Qibla wall, there is the main Mihrab which is a niche of
pointed arch flanked on both sides by two attached columns. Four other smaller
Mihrabs which were added later appear on the sides of the main Mihrab, two on
each side.

The main Mihrab

Located in the middle of the qibla wall, it’s simple in form. It’s only concave
Mihrab while the others are flat.

Above it there is an inscription of Kufic script of the shahada, the Mihrab

flanked by 4 columns, dates back to Tulun’s reign & was restored by Lagin.
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There was a door to the right of the main mihrab through which Tulun was
entering the mosque from this place.

The 2nd Mihrab

This is called Mihrab El sayda Nafissa, it was made by Sultan Lagin during
Mamluk period, and it’s located to the right of the main mihrab & the door. It’s
flat and decorated with niches, kufic & cursine scripts.

The 3rd & 4th Mihrabs

They are located in the 3rd arcade; they are the piers which flanked the dikka,
dating back to the 9th century “probably Abbasid period”.

The 5th & 6th Mihrabs

They are located in the first arcade, they are flat. The right one belongs to El
Afdal Shahnshah, the son of Badr El Gemali (the great Fatimid vizier who
placed a Shii mark on the mosque), while the other one is a copy from the
Fatimid Mihrab made by sultan Lagin.

The foundation panel

It’s dedicatory inscription made by Ahmed ibn Tulun, located on one of the
piers of the 2nd arcade. Its inscription wrote with plain kufic script.

The Dikka

It’s made of sycamore wood supported by 4 marble columns. And it was used to
enable the respondents of repeating the ritual postures of the imam to other
Riwaqs.

The Minbar

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It’s located to the left of the main Mihrab, and made by sultan Lagin. The
colours of the minbar are all different shades of brown with various textures and
patterns. A representation of a Crescent is appeared at the top of the minbar.

The fountain

It’s located on the middle of the open court. The domed building over it belong
to lagin’s restoration, decorated from inside by kufic inscription contain verses
from Quraan.

The Minaret

It’s located to the north side of the courtyard; the original minaret was a copy
from that which belongs to the great mosque of Samaraa.

The only original element of the minaret that remains is the square base. The
second story of the minaret is cylindrical which is surmounted by later
restorations made by the Mamluks

The influence of the great Mosque of Samarra is manifest is seen most

obviously in the fact that the staircase winds itself around the outside body of
the minaret and not within the interior in a spiral form like the one of Samaraa.

It’s a spiral with a staircase from outside. Lagin added the square base which
decorated with horse-shoe arches. The Mabkhara which crowned it, decorated
with stalactites.

The presence of double-arched windows on the shaft of the minaret and in the
entrance to the minaret's staircase indicates Andalusian influence.

Andalusian influence had reached Egypt because of the resettlement of

Andalusian Muslim refugees who were forced out of their homeland during the
Christian Reconquista from 1212 to 1260.

The addition “Zyada”

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Additions were added to all sides of the mosque except that of the qibla,
because of Tulun Palace. This zyada was made to separate the mosque from the
bazars & buildings.

Those extensions enlarge of 11 meters each, along the northern, eastern and
western sides of the mosque. These open extensions which ring the mosque on
three sides work as buffers between the streets’ bustle and the religious space
inside.

The walls of the ziyadas are surmounted by a unique and special crenellation,
and are surmounted as well by fortified parapets as an indication of Samarra
influence on the mosque.

The crenellations

Above the mosque of the wall, there is a crenellation take the shape of human
figures with linked arms, belong to sultan Lagin.

Decorative elements of the Mosque

-The internal decorative works are found mainly in the frames and
crowns of the piers, arches and windows. These are in the form of a band
consisting of series of curved lines, flower buds and diamond shapes.

-On the architrave of arcades and windows, is found a delicate

combination of floral and geometrical patterns which show a great
similarity to the one developed in Samarra.

-Calligraphy works took the form of decorative strips covering the

wooden rail of higher sections of the walls. They also decorate the
internal frames of windows and the area above the Mihrab.

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 -The external walls of the Mosque were crowned with curious ornamental
battlements in the form of a chain of little human figures (pigmies)
defending the roof.

Sultan Lagin Restorations

During the period of unrest which followed the murder of Elashraf Khalil Ibn
Qala’un in which Lagin was involved, while he was hidden in this mosque he
decided to restore the mosque if he would be save & he did his vow.

So he restored the following:

-The main mihrab & the dome over it

-The minbar
-The domed building over the fountain
-He rebuilt the original minaret & mabkhara over it decorated with.