Mosque of Amr ibn al-As

The mosque was founded in about 642 on the site of the tent of Amr ibn al-As, the commander of the Arab conquest, at the new garrison town of Fustat that would grow into Cairo. That makes it the first mosque in Egypt and one of the first in Africa, though almost nothing of the original building is left: it has been enlarged, demolished, rebuilt and restored so many times over thirteen centuries that the fabric is essentially a record of every period since. What survives is scale and plan rather than antiquity, a vast open courtyard surrounded by arcades on reused columns of every kind, many of them Roman and Byzantine spolia gathered from older buildings, no two quite matching. It is a working mosque and a busy one, and Ramadan nights fill it completely.

History

According to tradition, a dove laid an egg in the tent of the commander Amr ibn al-As before he marched on Alexandria in 641, and on his return he made the spot the centre of the new capital, Fustat, the City of the Tents, building a mosque on the site of his tent in about 642. The governor Maslama ibn Mukhallad rebuilt it completely in 673 with a minaret at each corner, Abd al-Aziz ibn Marwan doubled it again in 698, and in 827 Abd Allah ibn Tahir enlarged it to its present size; in 1169 the vizier Shawar had Fustat and the mosque burned to keep them from the Crusaders, and Saladin rebuilt it in 1179. Emir Salar restored it after an earthquake in 1303, and in 1796 Murad Bey pulled down the dilapidated building and had it rebuilt, so that nothing of the original survives (Wikipedia, Amr ibn al-As Mosque).

What's there

• The great open courtyard - the plan of the earliest mosques, kept through every rebuild.
• Arcades on reused columns - Roman and Byzantine spolia, mismatched by the hundred.
• The Fustat setting - the mosque standing in the first Islamic city in Egypt.
• A working congregation - it is used, not preserved as a museum.

When to go

October to April, outside prayer times for a quiet visit. Ramadan evenings are extraordinary but crowded and not the moment for sightseeing. One hour is enough. Fridays around midday are best avoided by visitors.

Practical notes

Very little is original, so anyone expecting seventh-century fabric will be disappointed; the interest is the site and the plan. Shoes off, modest dress, and women should bring a scarf. There is no ticket office and no interpretation, so read before you go. The surrounding streets are workaday and unglamorous.

Nearby

Coptic Cairo is immediately south; the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization is a short drive.

Key facts