Al Rifa’i Mosque is not a very old mosque, for it dates to 1912. However, the mosque’s order of construction and design date back to 1869. The mosque was ordered to be built by Hoshiar Qadin, the wife of Ibrahim Pasha. The job was given to the architect Hussein Fahmy Pasha, and he began his job with a vision in his mind of building a mosque that would be similar in greatness to Sultan Hassan mosque. However, Hoshiar Qadin died in 1885 and the construction stopped (might be for reasons related to her death or other reason) for 25 years until the construction was resumed again under the Austrian architect Max Herz, who completed the mosque in 1912.

The Rifa’i mosque is a huge mosque, with an area on the inside of 6500 m². The mosque’s entrance is gigantic, with huge pillars and large windows in the entrance and on the sides. The mosque is divided into a vast space for praying and other sections for burials and ceremonies. One of the most important people buried in the mosque is the Sufi saint Ahmed Al-Rifa’i, whom the mosque is named after. The mosque is also very rich with luxurious designs and decorations on the inside, made from gold, silver and marble.