Fatimid Cairo

This weekend my Art and Architecture of the City of Cairo class went on a field trip to Fatimid Cairo.

The Fatimid rule began in the early 900s, and they fortified Cairo as their capital city. The Fatimid dynasty was a Shi'ite dynasty, which is subtly reflected in the architecture. Today each of the four mosques we visited are Sunni mosques (the overwhelming majority of Muslims in Egypt are Sunni), including Al-Azhar mosque.

This first picture is from a mosque that we walked past and didn't discuss because I believe it is from another time period (maybe Mamluk dynasty). It was the most intricate and beautiful carving of the trip.

This second picture is from Al-Azhar mosque, which is the center of Sunni Islamic scholarship. There weren't too many people in the mosque when we visited, but there was an imam instructing a group of about 20 men at the main mihrab. There was also a woman who was listening, but as dictated by Islamic practice, she was separated from the men by a sheet strung between two of the columns.

The third picture is the entrance to Al-Azhar mosque from the barber's gate, which is where all of the men used to be shaved before they entered the mosque. Again, the carving here was simply incredible.

On one of the walls the mosque had a bookshelf with free literature. I picked up a little book called, "The True Message of Jesus Christ" by Dr. Bilal Philips. I haven't read the whole thing yet, but so far I haven't been impressed by his arguments. I will probably respond to this book in a future blog post because I love the topic of comparative religion.

It seems like it's gotten a little bit cooler here--now it only gets into the mid-80s during the day, which is quite pleasant. I'm certainly going to miss the mid-western autumn, especially seeing the leaves change colors. For some reason I don't think palm trees really change colors...

Have a good Saturday!