The great Southern Cemetery, also called the Backstretches east of the Ibn Tulun mosque south of the Citadel and almost to the outskirts of Ma’adi (a Cairo suburb). This huge area contains many significant buildings and monuments worth visiting. One of them is Hosh al-Pasha. This is quite an important monument though it is rarely visited or mentioned in guidebooks, probably due to it's location and the relative difficulty in accessing it. Nevertheless, it is worth the effort to visit this monument for those who are interested in historic Islamic era monuments and their architecture.

Hosh al-Basha is an Arabic name meaning, ‘courtyard of the Pasha’, which was given to the Royal family graveyards and more specifically,the (many) descendents of Mohammed Ali’s family. The word Pasha is originally a Persian term meaning king and was associated with a high rank in the Ottoman Empire political system. It was typically granted to governors and officials,as well as to some army officers.