Mosque of Ibn Tulun

The mosque of Ahmed ibn Tulun in Cairo is an Islamic architectural marvel and a proof of Islamic art and brilliant architecture as it’s one of the largest, oldest, and one of the most preserved mosques in the Islamic world.

Who is Ahmed Ibn Tulun?

Ahmed ibn Tulun is a very important man in Islamic history; he is the founder of the Tulunid dynasty and the builder of the ibn Tulun mosque; he was the one who ended the Abbasid dynasty in Egypt and started the Tulunid dynasty and made Egypt an independent country, he was born in ” samara, “he was born in 835 AD, it’s said that he died when he was 48 years old (between 883 and 884 AD), he ruled Egypt from 863 to the time he died.

 

Where is the mosque of ibn Tulun?

The mosque of ibn Tulun is located in Cairo, Egypt in the ” Tulun area.” The Tulun area is a name people say about that location and is a sign of the importance of Ahmed ibn Tulun and his mosque.

When Mosque of Ibn Tulun was built?

The construction of this mosque of ibn Tullun began in 876 AD, and it was completed in 879 AD, which indicates the sincerity of the workers.

Mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo, Egypt

Now, after we know who ibn Tulun is, where, and when the mosque was built, we need to get to the real information about it.

Ibn Tulun mosque is the second mosque built in Egypt, but it’s the only one maintaining its original construction with no new expansions, and it’s still maintaining its decorations from when it was first constructed; it’s one of the largest mosques in Egypt, it has a minaret that you can only see in this mosque and it doesn’t exist anywhere else even in Egypt because it has a little curve to it like the samara mosque in Iraq (this minaret is now demolished ), it’s said that mosque of ibn Tulun was influenced by samara mosque.

 

The courtyard of the Mosque of Ibn Tulun is like the whole building, with very classical construction, many arcades surrounding it, and one of the most beautiful things is the fountain in the center. Their simplicity and lack of obscurity distinguish the four sides of the mosque.

The types of decoration are only a row of empty windows With Various shapes and different eras, and in front of every door of The doors of the mosque, there is a door in the additional – outer – wall; in addition to a small door opened in the Qibla wall, It leads to the Emirate House established by Ahmed Ibn Tulun in East of the mosque.

 

In the middle of the qibla wall is the large mihrab, of which nothing remains. Its original features are its cavity and the marble columns. A dome surrounds it, and at the top of the part in front of the mihrab is a dome. Small, made of wood, surrounded by hollow plaster windows. It is filled with colored glass, and next to the mihrab is a pulpit made of wood in geometric shapes.

 

Sweetened fillings with prominent decorations surround them, and this is considered one of the oldest pulpits in Cairo’s mosques after the mosque’s pulpit Located in the Monastery of Saint Catherine in Sinai. The number of entrances to the Ibn Tulun Mosque is 19, except that The main entrance is currently next to the museum of Jair Anderson.

 

As for the decorations, various frescoes, and decorations were used in The doors, and it is noted that they are greatly influenced by the Samarra Mosque, where the Tuluind dynasty used to exist before establishing their new government in Egypt. There is also a pulpit, which Sultan Lajin also commissioned, and it was resolved. The place of the original pulpit was made of wood, and this pulpit is considered one of the oldest mosque pulpits in Cairo; It is considered the third existing pulpit.

This mosque is one of the reasons why Cairo is called the city of a thousand minarets.

Ibn Tulun mosque is flood water-resistant and fireproof, and the request of Ahmed ibn Tulun himself is a wish for the immortality of this mosque.

The mosque has this red-brick look, which gives it a terrific sight to see and adore.

The mosque of ibn Tulun has been restored a couple of times by Sultan Hossam Eldin.

 

In modern times, the mosque of ibn Tulun was used as a belt factory and then as a shelter for the disabled until the committee of the arab preserve of Antiquity began repairing it; king fouad first requested it to resort again with its surroundings and established a whole project based on it, the last time was in the late 90s when the Egyptian ministry of culture restored it as one of 38 mosques among the historic Cairo project.

 

After the Tulunid dynasty ended, there was a comeback to the Abbasid dynasty. However, after some years, Egypt came under the Fatimid’s arms as the new Islamic empire Egypt; with the Fatimid dynasty came many architectural marvels as it was a very powerful empire.

 

Conclusion

Egypt is the window to different empires and kingdoms that were very powerful at different times. Egypt has monuments for every single empire that has ever ruled Egypt, like the ancient Egyptian times, the greek-roman period, the Christian period, then the Islamic time; in the Islamic age, many empires ruled Egypt, and one of them is the Tulunid dynasty that followed, the Abbasid dynasty, the tulunid dynasty came from Ahmed ibn Tulun who was its founder and the builder of the mosque that carries his name and carries the memories of that golden time, Ahmad ibn Tulun mosque

It is a monument for all Egyptians and foreigners from around the world to admire. This is not the last monument in Egypt; there are hundreds of years’ worth of monuments to see and study. That’s Egypt and its greatness.