Mosque of Ibn Tulun (for real, this time)

On Friday, I walked out of the dorm and it was sprinkling. It was the first time I had experienced rain in Egypt. There was another time when I came out of a class and it appeared to have rained, but I did not get to see it actually . As I was waiting for a cab to drive by, I was shocked to see everyone in panic-mode. People were running into the church across the street (I think there was a service happening around that time). Others were driving noticeably sloppy. The dorm staff were hurrying to get the mats inside the building. All of this for a very light sprinkle. That is what happens when you live in the desert, I thought. Out of nowhere it started pouring, then quickly turned into hail. There were not any cabs in sight so I ran back to the dorm. It then occurred to me that the people in the street probably knew what was about to happen- that is what happens when you live in the desert.

My weather-update which normally looks like this:

Looked like this:


Friday was spent working on a research paper, but Saturday was I-am-sorry-for-making-us-miss-the-field-trip-to-the-Mosque-of-Ibn-Tulun Day for Jessica and me. We took a cab over to Islamic Cairo and had our own mini-field trip (there was not a scheduled field trip this weekend).

We did not find the entrance right away to the mosque. In fact, we went into another mosque by accident, thanks to the urging of the mosque's doorman. From the second we stepped inside it was clear that this was not the largest mosque in Cairo (Ibn Tulun). It was very small, but the man who got us to come in insisted on showing us around. By showing us around, I mean he took us to a room where he told us to each pay twenty pounds to "go up in the tower". We declined, he lowered the price, and then we told him we just wanted to look around the mosque. Forty-Five seconds later we were outside trying to figure out how to get into Ibn Tulun. We ended up walking around the walls of the mosque, going through the surrounding neighborhood. It was a classic Cairo neighborhood- narrow streets filled with young men driving young women on Vespas, blasting music, old men sitting outside shops, smoking and drinking tea watching middle-aged men work on cars as groups of women walk by, all complete with variety of smells ranging from fresh pita to the meat shops that are making me inch closer and closer to vegetarianism.

Reminder: all of the pictures can be viewed larger if you click on them

A couple of tour buses came in sight- we figured they must be near the entrance of the mosque!

Approaching the mosque:

There is an outer wall that surrounds the actual walls of the mosque. It was meant to separate the outside-world from the mosque:
(To the right is the mosque, to the left is the barrier-wall

The mosque's minaret is very unique for Cairo. If you notice, its steps are on the outside and spiral up. Although this minaret is not thought to be the original, it is believed that it is based on the design of the original minaret. It looks this way because Ibn Tulun, founder of the Tulunid Dynasty which briefly ruled over Egypt and Syria (868-905 AD), grew up in Samarra (in modern day Iraq) when it was the place to be, causing him to be influenced by the design of the mosque in Samarra (it also had a spiral minaret - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malwiya).

Another view, from on top of the wall of the mosque:
From the wall, looking into the mosque:
(This fountain is gigantic, but the walls are, too, so you cannot get a feel for the size of everything)

None of the decorations on the sides of the smaller arches are identical- they go all around the mosque. Also, notice the decorative script that outlines the arches:

The view from the minaret was incredible:
(That is the Citadel to the right. The dome and minarets to the left may also be a part of the Citadel's complex, but I am not sure.)

Close-up of the Citadel:

A series of me trying to get a picture with the Citadel in the background (it was windy):

Looking down at the mosque:
(Those are people- you can start to get a feel of the size of everything)

More of the panaroma:(Up on the mountain, to the left, you will notice a lighly colored building. I think I have learned about this in my architecute class. I believe it is the Mashhad al-Juyushi. There are differing opinions on the roots of the name and what the purpose of the building was. It may have served as a watch tower over Cairo- it is on a mountain. However, it has all of the features of a mosque: minaret, mahrab, etc. Then again, it is very small and would be difficult to fit an entire congregation in it. Of course, this may not even be the right building.)


I think that yellow and green structure is a pigeon coup (if that is the proper term). When I ride back from school in the evenings, I have noticed people standing on top of them waving flags with a large flock of pigeons circling it in the air.
A look down on the mosque we went in by accident:


In the mosque:
(those are grown-adults standing next to it)

The arcades:
and for a size comparison:

This is called a dikka. It is used for the prayer recitations and sermons when there is a large crowd.

The mihrab:
I was trying to get a picture of the kufic, decorative-script, that outlines the arches and accidentally ended up with an example of old meets new (I did not see the lightbulb when I took the picture):

Inside the fountain:

Qur'anic script outlining the dome: