The First Mosque in Cairo:
The Mosque of 'Amr Ibn al-'Aas (641-2 AD)

June 17, 2006

The excitement of visiting this mosque lies in the knowledge that this was the place where the Muslim forces set up their capital after the conquest of Egypt. The capital at the time of the conquest was Alexandria, but.. so the story goes.. the Muslims did not want to be separated by a large body of water (the Nile) from the other forces in Arabia, the Levant, and Iraq. This city was named Fustat, or "tent", supposedly after the tent pitched by the commander of the Muslim forces, 'Amr ibn al-'Aas. As was the pattern, this was more of a garrison than anything we would recognize as a city.. but in time it became a vibrant city.. and in time this city would expand to the north and become Cairo.

But as to the actual structure standing in this place.. it is not historically important. Doris Behrens-Abouseif provides an overview:

The mosque of 'Amr in its present form is of no particular interest for the art historian, for its configuration is the result of a series of enlargements, restorations and reconstructions that include only one wall from the medieval period, and even that is not original but a ninth-century addition. For the historian in general and the urban historian in particular, the mosque's importance today is that it indicates where 'Amr's house, built near the original mosque, once stood. [47]

But while that is somewhat depressing to the visitor, the mosque does make for an enjoyable visit. If not for its historical features, then for the fact that it presents a textbook case of a mosque in terms of structure and use.

An enjoyable aspect of the mosque is the informality of the structure. There is nothing to steal.. no expensive silver chalices or ornate pews.. it is just an open space. Often I have stepped into a mosque from a crowded street and immediately felt a sense of calm. Locals obviously appreciate this as well.. men sit reading the Qur'an.. or even sleeping. In a world without parks and public space, the mosque is a welcome relief.

The one essential item in a mosque.. the one thing without which there is no mosque.. is the qiblah informing believers of the direction of prayer. The earliest mosque would have had some kind of simple marker.. Behrens-Abouseif reasons about the original qiblah (based on a note from a medieval Egyptian historian):

The presence of four columns suggests that a flat niche might have existed, composed of two pairs of columns with an arch drawn between them. [47]

The present qiblah is a long ways from that earliest version. Notable about this later one is the mimicry of marble designs through paint. We can note also the names Allah and Muhammad in the circles on the right and left..

Along the ground is this series of repeating prayer carpets.. each helpfully pointing in the direction of the qiblah. These mark out spaces for Muslims as they arrive for prayer.

One other important element of a mosque is the minbar, or pulpit. It is from here that the preacher gives the Friday sermon. The triangular shape is distinctive.. and seen everywhere.. but I cannot say where that comes from. The definition of a Jami', or congregational mosque, is that a Friday sermon is delivered from it.. at one point each city or neighborhood only had one such Jami'.. but I think that has been watered down.

This wooden wall separates the women's area of the mosque from the men's area. The fact that these kinds of walls are always movable.. i.e. not physically built into the mosque itself.. tells me that these kinds of divisions between the sexes do not go that far back in time. I am curious.. I could also be that in the past women generally did not come to mosque in the same numbers? But at any rate it is enough of an issue now to warrant an actual barrier.

Each of those books look different.. but they are all Qur'ans. These are something like a pew Bible in a church. Visitors can feel free to grab a Qur'an and look through it.. read a favorite sura. I have never found a mosque that has an impressive variety of books on display. Qur'ans and commentaries on the Qur'an is about the limit. Even in a mosque where a famous writer/poet has been buried.. one does not see the complete works of that writer, but the same rows of Qur'ans.

The courtyard now follows a familiar design.. a central station for ablutions stands in the middle. The floor is again of marble.. and it is obvious that a lot of money has been spent restoring this first mosque. It is down near Coptic Cairo, where a lot of tourists come to see the Christian sites.. so maybe someone felt that there needed to be a tourist-worthy Islamic site nearby?