The Amr bin Aas Mosque, named after the Arab general who led the invasion of Egypt in AD 639, was the first Mosque built in Egypt – as well as the continent of Africa. It is not considered the oldest surviving Islamic monument in Egypt, as it has been rebuilt several times; thus none of its original structure remains.
General Amr himself built the First Mosque in Fustat in AD 642, where he located it just west of the Nile. It was a small mosque (measuring 17 x 20 meters), modeled after the Prophet’s mosque at Medina (Hijra city of Arabia). The mosque’s structure was constructed in unbaked bricks, while the prayer hall used palm trunks in place of pillars, and covered in thatches palm leaves and mud. The initial construction had no courtyard, nor minaret, nor mihrab. The mosque’s central location allowed it to act as a nucleus to the city, where the local (including General Amr) built their houses surrounding it.
Early Reconstructions of Amr bin Aas Mosque
The growing Muslim community found the mosque too small, which prompted governor Maslama bin Mukhalled to double its area in AD 673. Among his additions, he placed mats on the floor and plaster on the walls, and added minarets at each of the building's four corners, each reaching by outer staircase – similar to the minarets that stood at the corners of the old temple of Damascus.
This provided an arrangement that allowed the call to prayer (the adhan) to be heard on all sides. The call to prayer was to be announced with the naqus (the bells used by Coptic Churches in the area). This addition would later allow minarets to be added to all other mosques in Fustat, and to be used as examples and precedents for later mosque construction.
The second reconstruction was undertaken in AD 698, under prefect Abd al-Aziz bin Marwan; however, André Raymond claims that little has been discovered about it. The prefect Kurra initialized the third reconstruction in AD 711. The mosque finally received its semicircular niche (mihrab), which indicated direction of prayer. Raymond associates the mihrab’s addition to the mihrab built in the mosque of Medina by Caliph Walid (AD 705 – 715).
The Fourth Reconstruction was by Abbasid governor Abd Allan bin Tahir in AD 827. During this reconstruction, the mosque attained its present dimensions (112 x 120 meters). Transformed into a hypostyle construction (flat ceiling supported by columns), the mosque now consisted of an open sahn, surrounded by four riwaqs. It incorporated carved wooden architraves that connected the arcades of the Antique marble columns (spoglia) on the sidewalls preserved on qibla walls.
The Amr bin Aas Mosque’s Status Today
The mosque massively deteriorated under the Ottomans (who reigned in Egypt from 1517 until the French occupation in 1798). Murad Bey extensively repaired it in AD 1797, yet erroneously rebuilt the arcades perpendicular to the qibla wall.
Raymond and Janet abu-Lughod mention that the mosque of Amr in it’s present form is of no particular interest for art historians; its current configuration is a result of a series of enlargements, restorations and reconstructions. It does include one wall from the medieval period, yet it is not original but a ninth-century addition. The mosque's current importance to academia is the location as it is an indication of where General Amr's house once stood.
References
- Abu-Luhod, Janet L. Cairo: 1001 Years of the City Victorious (Princeton University Press, 1971).
- Meinecke-Berg, Viktoria, "Key Monuments of Islamic Architecture: Egypt", Architecture of the Islamic World (Thames and Hudson LTD, London, 1978)
- Raymond, André, Cairo, City of History (American University in Cairo Press, 2000)
Mahmoud Riad - Mahmoud Riad is an Architect / Musician who graduated from the School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at the University of ...
Join the Conversation