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Amr ibn Al-A'as Mosque : Islamic
The Mosque of Amr ibn Al-As is the first mosque built in Egypt and all of Africa; it was built in 641. The mosque, which is also called Taj Al Jawame’ (Crown of the Mosques) and Masjid Ahl Al Raya (Mosque of the Flag Bearers), was built by the Arabs when they first came to Egypt. The mosque was built as the centre of the Arabs’ new Capital of Egypt, Fustat. The location of the mosque was also the site of the tent of the Arab commander and leader of the army that conquered Egypt, Amr ibn Al-As, which is currently located in Old Cairo.
The original mosque was a very humble one. It was 29 meters in length by 17 meters wide. It had a roof of wood and palm leaves which were raised on split palm tree trunks. The mosque had no minarets and the direction of prayer was indicated by four columns. The mosque was rebuilt in 673 and four minarets, at each corner, were added to the mosque and its size was expanded. The mosque was then improved and added on in the following years, such as adding a concave prayer niche, building and adding seven aisles that were made of an arcade of columns and adding more space to the mosque. In 1169, the city of Fustat and the mosque were destroyed by the fire that was started on the order of the vizier Shawar, to prevent the city from being captured by the Crusaders. After the defeat of the Crusaders, Saladin rebuilt the city and the mosque. In the 18th century, the mosque was ordered to be destroyed and rebuilt, and it was rebuilt just before the French’s arrival in Egypt. The mosque had minarets added to it and had the orientation of the aisles changed to be perpendicular to the qibla, along with decreasing the number of rows of columns to be six instead of seven. Unfortunately, after the mosque’s renovation, most of its interior wooden decorations were taken by the French army for firewood. In 1875, the mosque was rebuilt and another round of fixing was done in the 20th century. Today, the only thing in the mosque that was present from its original time can be seen in mosque’s architraves that were probably added in 827; they are on the southern wall of the mosque.
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