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A Tour In Egypt's Mohammed Ali’s
Mosque
By Muhammad "Gogo" Hegab
Welcome to Egypt… Welcome to Cairo…
"You must be longing to see
Egypt. For that you’ll refuse to go to the hotel, and you’ll
prefer to start from this moment. I know you want to see the
Pyramids, now. It’s your life’s dream. Well, but do you
think you’re able now to ride a horse, or a camel in the desert
of Pyramids? Will you be able to descend deeply inside Pyramids to
see if those great kings lay there? Probably not today, and I’m
sure you don’t want to miss that. I’ll advise you to suspend
that until tomorrow. You need some rest now. What’s a better
place than a Citadel to find rest and safety?! Well, lets go!
"Look! We’re still far
away, but you can see it clearly. This Citadel that rises on The
Hill of Al-Moqattam, in one of the highest areas in Cairo. What a
perfect place for a Citadel! It’s called: Qal’et El-Gabal
(Citadel of The Mountain) or Qal’et Salah El-Deen Al-Ayouby
(Citadel of Salah El-Deen Al-Ayouby). It’s about 800 years old,
but still firm and grand. It dominated the landscape for
many centuries.
 "It’s too vast to be
explored in one day, but we can have a quick look around. You may like
to enter this mosque or that. Many mosques have been built on it
through all these years. You may also like to enter this museum or
that, to discover the Modern History of Egypt. You must be
wondering at the wonderful weather and the pure air. That’s
because the site that was chosen very carefully. When they thought about building the Citadel, they hung pieces of
meat in many places. The healthiest area was where the meat took a
longer time to decay. No wonder that it’s still alive. You can
easily imagine the soldiers in the towers and on top of the walls,
ready to spend their souls to save this place.
"Do you see this great
mosque? It’s called Mohammed Ali’s Mosque. He was one of the
greatest governors of Egypt in the modern age. When he came to
power in the
19th century, he saw that it was necessary to build a big mosque
in The Citadel to be a place for prayer and other tasks. With its two
high minarets and huge dome, you can easily see it from many
places in Cairo and it dazzle eyes everywhere.
 "Do you know why
you might find it familiar? Because it was designed by the
famous Turkish engineer,
Yousof Boshtaq, so it came as a mix of Al-Sultan Ahmad’s Mosque
and Aya Sofia’s Mosque in Turkey. If Pyramids are the mark of
Ancient Egypt, and if Al-Azhar Mosque is the mark of Islamic
Egypt, Mohammad Ali’s Mosque iscertainly the mark of Modern
Egypt.
"The mosque consists of
two parts: The covered space (The place of prayer), and the open
courtyard. Lets explore the covered space first. How big is it?!
It’s about 41x41 meters. Lets go to the center, between these
four huge columns. Look up! This is a big dome from inside. It
extends up 52 meters and is 21 meters in diameter. It
is surrounded by four half domes, with the same diameter, but less
in height. The four corners of the mosque are covered with four
small domes.
"Lets go now towards the
northeast side of the mosque to see this part that’s
bulging-out, It’s the space of the "qeblah" (niche).
It is covered with another half dome. Look around! Do you see
these two "menbers" (pulpits)? This small one beside the
niche is made up of marble. This green one is the biggest pulpit
in Egypt. Please don’t touch it in order not to affect its gilt.
It’s so precious!
"Do you notice these
colored lights? They come from these big and high windows with
stained glass in the walls. Do you see these small windows in the
big dome, half domes, and the small domes? They are so nice. They
give a beautiful effect, but you don’t need to count them. If
you asked me, I would tell you there are 136 windows. I see you’re
dazzled by these wonderful colored decorations in the walls and
domes. Well, you have the right to be dazzled, but we aren’t
going to spend all day here. We still have a lot to see.
"Let’s go out through the
main door in the back wall. Now we are in the open courtyard, the
other part of the mosque. Do you feel its size? Yes, it’s about 53x54
meters, larger then the mosque. What’s this thing in the
center of the court? It’s a fountain! It would have been used
for rinsing before prayers. This bulge beside it is the mouth of
the water tank.
"Look around! You see that
the courtyard is surrounded by arched arcades and covered by small
domes. Don’t you think that these 47 domes are very beautiful?
Look at this small tower, in the back of the court. It’s made of
laced brass & colored glass. This clock inside it was a gift
from Louis Felipe, King Of France to Egypt, because Mohammed  Ali
had presented France with the Egyptian obelisk that is currently
in the Place de la Concorde, Paris.
"Well, let’s walk around
the mosque. May be you don’t read Arabic, but I’m sure you’ll
like these inscriptions on the inner and outer walls. Would you
like to have a photo of these high minarets? You shouldn’t miss that.
They are the highest minarets in Egypt, at 82 meters tall. We are near to the Citadel’s walls. From here, you can see most of
Historical Cairo, and on a very clear day, you may be able to see
Pyramids too!
"Well, after you saw this
great mosque and its position in the Citadel, I think you can
understand why some people become confused. The Citadel is
sometimes mistakenly called
Mohammed Ali’s Citadel! But the novel thing, and what they don’t
know, is that there really is a citadel called Mohammed Ali’s
Citadel, near to Salah El-Din’s Citadel!! We hope to visit it
one day.
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