Al-Hakim Mosque
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The Mosque of al-Hakim ( ar, مسجد الحاكم بأمر الله, Masjid al-Ḥākim bi Amr Allāh), nicknamed al-Anwar ( ar, الانور, lit=the Illuminated), is a historic mosque in
Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...
,
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
. It is named after Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (985–1021), the sixth
Fatimid The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The Fatimids, a dyna ...
caliph and 16th Ismaili Imam. Construction of the mosque was originally started by Caliph al-'Aziz, the son of
al-Mu'izz Abu Tamim Ma'ad al-Muizz li-Din Allah ( ar, ابو تميم معد المعزّ لدين الله, Abū Tamīm Maʿad al-Muʿizz li-Dīn Allāh, Glorifier of the Religion of God; 26 September 932 – 19 December 975) was the fourth Fatimid calip ...
and the father of al Hakim, in 990 AD. It was completed in 1013 by al-Hakim, which is why it is named after him. The mosque is located in
Islamic Cairo Islamic Cairo ( ar, قاهرة المعز, lit= Al-Mu'izz's Cairo), also called Historic Cairo or Medieval Cairo, refers generically to the historic areas of Cairo, Egypt, that existed before the city's modern expansion during the 19th and 20th ce ...
, on the east side of
al-Mu'izz Street Al-Muizz li-Din Allah al-Fatimi Street ( ar, شارع المعز لدين الله الفاطمي), or al-Muizz street for short, is a major north-to-south street in the walled city of historic Cairo, Egypt. It is one of Cairo's oldest streets as ...
, just south of
Bab al-Futuh Bab al-Futuh ( ar, باب الفتوح, , Conquest Gate) is one of three remaining gates in the city wall of the old city of Cairo, Egypt. It is located at the northern end of al-Mu'izz Street. The other two remaining gates are Bab al-Nasr (Victory ...
(the northern city gate). In the centuries since its construction the mosque was often neglected and re-purposed for other functions, eventually falling into ruin. A major restoration and reconstruction of the mosque by the
Dawoodi Bohra The Dawoodi Bohras are a religious denomination within the Ismā'īlī branch of Shia Islam. Their largest numbers reside in India, Pakistan, Yemen, East Africa, and the Middle East, with a growing presence across Europe, North America, South ...
s was completed in 1980, reopening it for religious use.


History


Fatimid construction and modifications

The mosque's construction was initiated by Caliph Al-'Aziz Billah in the year 990 and the first Friday prayers took place in it a year later, though the building was incomplete. This suggests that the prayer hall or sanctuary, the area where prayers were led, was probably built first. Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah and his overseer Abu Muhammad al-Hafiz 'Abd al-Ghani ibn Sa'id al-Misri, resumed construction work in 1002–1003. In 1010 the minarets were modified by the construction of large square bastions around them, which hid much of the original towers. The chronology of construction in the mosque's interior, and the determination of exactly which part was built by which patron, is uncertain. Finally, its inauguration took place in Ramadan of year 1013. It measured 120 meters by 113 meters when it was finished and was more than double the size of the
Al-Azhar Mosque Al-Azhar Mosque ( ar, الجامع الأزهر, al-Jāmiʿ al-ʾAzhar, lit=The Resplendent Congregational Mosque, arz, جامع الأزهر, Gāmiʿ el-ʾazhar), known in Egypt simply as al-Azhar, is a mosque in Cairo, Egypt in the histori ...
. Al-hakim allocated 40,000 dinars to the construction and then another 5,000 dinars on its furnishings. The Al-Hakim Mosque was also known by an epithet, ''al-Anwar'' ('the Illuminated'), similar in style to the name of the earlier Al-Azhar Mosque founded by the Fatimids. At the time of inauguration, Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah permitted a celebratory procession which made its way from al-Azhar to al-Anwar and from al-Anwar back to al-Azhar. The mosque originally stood outside the walls of Cairo, but when the Fatimid vizier
Badr al-Jamali Abū'l-Najm Badr ibn ʿAbdallāh al-Jamālī al-Mustanṣirī, better known as Badr al-Jamali ( ar, بدر الجمالى) was an Armenian Shia Muslim Fatimid vizier, and prominent statesman for the Fatimid Caliphate under Caliph al-Mustansir. H ...
rebuilt and extended the city walls in 1087 the northern side of the mosque, including its minaret, was incorporated into the northern city wall (between the newly-built gates of
Bab al-Futuh Bab al-Futuh ( ar, باب الفتوح, , Conquest Gate) is one of three remaining gates in the city wall of the old city of Cairo, Egypt. It is located at the northern end of al-Mu'izz Street. The other two remaining gates are Bab al-Nasr (Victory ...
and Bab al-Nasr).


Post-Fatimid era

In 1303, during the
Mamluk Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...
period, the mosque was severely damaged by an earthquake and was subsequently restored by Sultan Baybars II al-Jashankir. By that time, the mosque was also being used as to teach Islamic law from the four Sunni '' maddhabs''. In 1360 the mosque was restored again by Sultan Hasan. In the 15th century a merchant sponsored the construction of a third minaret for the mosque, though this minaret has not been preserved. The interior of the mosque fell into ruin over many centuries until its modern renovation, and the building was only intermittently used as a mosque. At various times, it was used as a prison for captured Franks (i.e. Latin crusaders) during the
Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...
, as a stable by
Saladin Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سه‌لاحه‌دین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt and ...
, as a fortress by
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
, as an Islamic arts Museum in 1890, and as a boys' school in the 20th century during Nasser's presidency. In the early 19th century the mosque underwent a restoration sponsored by ' Umar Makram. The restoration also added a small mihrab to the interior that is still preserved today, dated to 1808. In 1980, the mosque was extensively reconstructed and refurbished in white marble and gold trim by
Mohammed Burhanuddin Mohammed Burhanuddin (6 March 1915 – 17 January 2014) was the 52nd Dā'ī al-Mutlaq of Dawoodi Bohras. He led the community for 49 years in a period of social, economic, and educational prosperity; strengthened and re-institutionalized the fu ...
the head of the
Dawoodi Bohra The Dawoodi Bohras are a religious denomination within the Ismā'īlī branch of Shia Islam. Their largest numbers reside in India, Pakistan, Yemen, East Africa, and the Middle East, with a growing presence across Europe, North America, South ...
, an international
Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mo ...
sect based in
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. The restoration took 27 months and the mosque was officially re-opened on 24 November 24 1980, in a ceremony attended by Egyptian president
Anwar Sadat Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat, (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 ...
, Mohammed Burhanuddin, and other high-ranking Egyptian officials. Remnants of the original decorations, including stucco carvings, timber tie-beams, and
Quranic The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , si ...
inscriptions have been preserved, but most of the mosque's present interior dates from this reconstruction. Among other things, the restoration introduced a new marble mihrab whose motifs imitated the appearance of the Fatimid-era stucco mihrab in the al-Azhar Mosque. It also involved the demolition of the Mamluk-era tomb of Qurqumas, which stood right in front of the mosque and which was subsequently relocated to the Northern Cemetery. The use of "unauthentic" materials and additions during the restoration has been criticized by scholars and conservationists, particularly when judged by the standards of the
Venice Charter ''The Venice Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites'' is a set of guidelines, drawn up in 1964 by a group of conservation professionals in Venice, that provides an international framework for the conservation and rest ...
. The issue has elicited scholarly debate about the relative merits of different philosophies on restoration and reconstruction of historic sites. Some scholars, like James Roy King and Bernard O'Kane, have noted that the restoration has at least had the benefit of converting the building from a ruin to a functioning mosque that can be visited by anyone, even if some of the details of the restoration remain problematic. Today the mosque is open as a place of worship and a tourist attraction.


Architecture


General layout

The facades and minarets of the mosque are made from stone, while the rest of the structure is made of brick. The mosque's rectangular layout consists of an open courtyard surrounded by arcades ('' riwaq''s) on four sides. Behind these arcades are roofed areas divided into aisles by more arcades that run parallel to the sides of the courtyard. The space on the northwest side of the courtyard (the entrance side) is two aisles deep, the spaces along its southwest and northeast sides are three aisles deep, and the main prayer hall on the southeast side is five aisles deep. This layout is similar to the layout of the older Ibn Tulun Mosque and the Al-Azhar Mosque. A special aisle, running perpendicular to the others, cuts across the five aisles of the prayer hall and leads towards the '' mihrab'' (niche indicating the ''
qibla The qibla ( ar, قِبْلَة, links=no, lit=direction, translit=qiblah) is the direction towards the Kaaba in the Sacred Mosque in Mecca, which is used by Muslims in various religious contexts, particularly the direction of prayer for the ...
'' or direction of prayer). This central aisle is further emphasized by its greater width and height, as well as by the presence of a dome, carried on
squinches In architecture, a squinch is a triangular corner that supports the base of a dome. Its visual purpose is to translate a rectangle into an octagon. See also: pendentive. Construction A squinch is typically formed by a masonry arch that spans ...
, that covers the space directly in front of the mihrab. In addition to the main mihrab (which dates entirely from the 1980 restoration), another smaller mihrab to the right, covered in polychrome marble, was added by 'Umar Makram in 1808. An unusual feature of the mosque is the monumental main entrance (on the western side) with its projecting stone portal, similar to the older Fatimid-built Great Mosque of Mahdia in present-day
Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...
. File:Al-Hakim Mosque main entrance 2019 Cairo Egypt.jpg, alt=, Main entrance of the mosque File:Al-Hakem b Amr-Allah mosque - Moez street.jpg, alt=, Courtyard of the mosque, looking towards the southeast to the central aisle of the prayer hall File:Cairo, moschea di al-hakim, interno 07.JPG, alt=, Interior of the mosque's prayer hall (mostly reconstructed in the 1980 restoration) File:Moez Mosque (3).JPG, alt=, The central aisle leading to the mihrab File:محراب مسجد الحاكم بأمر الله 1515852.jpg, alt=, Main mihrab of the mosque (dating from the 1980 restoration) File:ليست قطعه بورسلين ولكنها القبه اعلى منبر مسجد الحاكم بأمر الله.JPG, alt=, Dome in front of the mihrab File:Cairo Al Hakim 4.jpg, alt=, Smaller mihrab dating to 1808, near the main mihrab


The minarets

The most spectacular feature of the mosque are the minarets on either side of the facade. The northern minaret is 33.7 meters high while the southern minaret is 24.7 meters high. The minarets were originally built in 1003, but the massive bastion towers or salients (referred to as ''arkān'' in Arabic sources) that define their lower parts today were added in 1010, after their initial construction, for reasons that remain unclear. The two bastions, built of brick, are shaped like two superimposed cubic sections with an austere appearance and little decoration. The center of these bastions are hollow, as they were built around the original towers, whose original lower levels have been preserved inside. The inner towers are braced against the outer towers by supporting arches between them. The outer wall of the southern encasing bastion also features an Arabic inscription in foliated
Kufic Kufic script () is a style of Arabic script that gained prominence early on as a preferred script for Quran transcription and architectural decoration, and it has since become a reference and an archetype for a number of other Arabic scripts. It ...
carved in marble, from the Fatimid period. The top edge of this bastion's lower section also has ornate crenellations designed in an interlacing motif that resembles the crenellations found at older Ibn Tulun Mosque. The northern minaret was later incorporated into the city wall by Badr al-Jamali in 1087, at which point the Kufic inscription on its encasing bastion was either moved to or recarved on the outside of the city wall. The inner (original) minaret towers have a multi-tier design with different forms: the northern minaret has a square base and a cylindrical shaft above it, whereas the southern minaret is composed of a taller square base with an octagonal shaft above it. These sections, now hidden, have extensive carved decoration: the northern tower with horizontal bands with lozenge motifs, whereas the southern tower has decoration similar to the mosque's main entrance, including a carved inscription in floriated Kufic that mentions al-Hakim's name and the date of construction. The design of these towers was highly original and would have made them distinctive from other minarets that existed in this part of the Islamic world at the time. The reasons behind al-Hakim's decision to encase the original minarets in thick outer walls, while still preserving the original towers inside, has been debated by scholars. Bernard O'Kane has proposed that the reason for the unusual decision to encase the minarets in these bastions may have been political and symbolic. At the time of construction, the only other mosques that had multiple minarets and that had minarets with multi-level designs were the
Haram Mosque ''Haram'' (; ar, حَرَام, , ) is an Arabic term meaning 'Forbidden'. This may refer to either something sacred to which access is not allowed to the people who are not in a state of purity or who are not initiated into the sacred knowle ...
in
Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow ...
and the
Prophet's Mosque Al-Masjid an-Nabawi (), known in English as the Prophet's Mosque, is a mosque built by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the city of Medina in the Al Madinah Province of Saudi Arabia. It was the second mosque built by Muhammad in Medina, after Q ...
in
Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...
, both located in the
Hijaz The Hejaz (, also ; ar, ٱلْحِجَاز, al-Ḥijāz, lit=the Barrier, ) is a region in the west of Saudi Arabia. It includes the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif, and Baljurashi. It is also known as the "Western Provi ...
under Fatimid control at the time. O'Kane suggests that the minarets of al-Hakim's Mosque were designed to reflect and symbolize Fatimid sovereignty over those holy sites at the time. However, by 1010 the ruler of Mecca had rejected Fatimid authority in support of a rebellion in the Palestine region, thus undermining Fatimid claims over those sites. Accordingly, al-Hakim may have ordered the new minarets in Cairo to be hidden in order to obscure this embarrassing political setback. In another analysis, art historian Jennifer Pruitt has suggested that the modification to the minarets was due to al-Hakim's shifting ideologies and policies in his later reign. Both Pruitt and
Jonathan Bloom Jonathan Max Bloom (born April 7, 1950) is an American art historian and educator. Bloom has served as the dual Norma Jean Calderwood University Professor of Islamic and Asian Art at Boston College, along with his wife, Sheila Blair. Career Bloo ...
note that the inscriptions on the original minaret towers (from 1003), which include Qur'anic verses that feature prominently in the Ismai'ili '' ta'wīl'' of the Qur'an, differ strongly from the inscriptions on the outer towers (from 1010), which include Qur'anic verses that are focused on universal justice and on criticizing unbelievers. According to Pruitt, these latter inscriptions are relevant to al-Hakim's puritanical policies in his later years as well as his unusual order to destroy the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which happened around the same time in 1009 or 1010. She also notes the austerity of the encasing bastions in contrast with the richly-decorated original towers, as well as their resemblance to other Sunni (i.e. non-Fatimid) minarets of the era. Accordingly, she suggests that al-Hakim's decision to obscure the original minarets was part of his complex shift away from traditional Fatimid Isma'ili doctrines, his re-imagining of himself as a universal ruler and purveyor of justice, and his will to symbolize this in his architectural program. The upper parts of the minarets, which extend above the thick square towers that encase their lower sections and are visible today, have octagonal bodies culminating in a "''
mabkhara A mabkhara ( ar, مبخر or ) is a censer found across the Arab World and Turkey. The mabkhara was traditionally made from clay or soft stone. Most mabkharas (or ''mabakhir'', the Arabic plural) have a square pedestal base with inward sloping s ...
''"-style head with carved ''
muqarnas Muqarnas ( ar, مقرنص; fa, مقرنس), also known in Iranian architecture as Ahoopāy ( fa, آهوپای) and in Iberian architecture as Mocárabe, is a form of ornamented vaulting in Islamic architecture. It is the archetypal form of I ...
'' decoration. They are similar in design but not identical. These tops were rebuilt by the Mamluk sultan Baybars II al-Jashankir after an earthquake in 1303 and reflect an early Mamluk style instead of an original Fatimid style. An Arabic inscription band in Naskhi script on the outer eastern flank of the northern minaret is likely dates from the time of Baybars II.


Inscriptions

One of the artistic elements of the mosque are
Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...
ic inscriptions done in floriated Kufic script – many of the inscriptions are preserved while many are lost. Of those lost, many have been replaced or restored. Due to various restorations made, the Kufic styles have differed from time to time. The mosque is said to have had twelve thousand feet of Kufic adornment. Kufic inscriptions feature on all four sides of each of the five bays of the prayer hall. The square bases of the three domes and the ''qibla'' wall (southeast wall) underneath the windows also carry the Kufic gypsum band of Quranic inscriptions. At the top, colonnades of the arches of the mosque are embellished with a gypsum band of floriated Kufic inscriptions of the Quran which averages approximately 52 cms in width.


See also

*
List of mosques in Cairo Cairo holds one of the greatest concentrations of historical monuments of Islamic architecture in the world, and includes mosques and Islamic religious complexes from diverse historical periods. Many buildings were primarily designated as madrasa ...
* Lists of mosques * List of mosques in Africa *
List of mosques in Egypt There are 114,000 mosques in Egypt as of 2016, of which 83,000 are affiliated with the Ministry of Endowments. This list includes notable mosques within Egypt. See also * Islam in Egypt * Lists of mosques ** List of mosques in Cairo Refe ...
*
List of Historic Monuments in Cairo The historic monuments of Cairo have been listed in several iterations dating back to the late nineteenth century that were produced by the Comité de Conservation des Monuments de l'Art Arabe ( ar, لجنت حفظ الاثار العربية‎, ...
*
History of medieval Arabic and Western European domes The early domes of the Middle Ages, particularly in those areas recently under Byzantine control, were an extension of earlier Roman architecture. The domed church architecture of Italy from the sixth to the eighth centuries followed that of the ...


References

{{Islamic Cairo Hakim Fatimid architecture in Cairo 10th-century mosques Muizz Street 10th-century establishments in the Fatimid Caliphate Historical Monuments in Cairo