History of Al-Hussein Mosque in Cairo

The Mosque of Sayyidna Al-Hussein or Jame Sayyidna Husayn was built between 1873 and 1878 and replaces a twelfth century mosque.

This mosque is the reputed burial place of the head of Hussein, the grandson of Prophet Muhammed. Originally it was built in 1154. Most of the building dates from about 1870, except for the beautiful 14th-century stucco panels on the minaret.

The mosque is located in Cairo, Egypt, near the Khan El-Khalili bazaar, near-by the famous Al Azhar Mosque, in an area known as Al-Hussein.

Al-Hussein was the son of 'Ali, the Prophet Muhammad's son-in-law and the fourth and last of the orthodox caliphs. After 'Ali was assassinated, the caliphate passed to a claimant from the rival Umayyad clan. Al-Hussein led a revolt to recover the caliphate, but he was killed in 680 at the Battle of Karbala, which is located in present day Iraq.

In 1153, Al-Hussein’s head was brought to Cairo to keep it out of the hands of the Crusaders. The Fatimids built a mosque-shrine for the head on the site of the current mosque. Of this original Fatimid architectural structure, only the lower part of the south side gate called Bab Al-Akhdar remains original in the mosque today.

In 1187, Ibn Jubayr, a tourist in Cairo, recorded his impressions of a visit to the shrine: "We observed men kissing the blessed tomb, surrounding it, throwing themselves on it ... calling out invocations ... and offering up humble supplications such as would melt the heart and split the hardest flint.”

A couple years later, a minaret was added to the original Fatimid gateway by Ayyubid Salih Nagm al-Din in 1237.

Finally in 1874, Isma'il Pasha reconstructed Al-Hussein mosque inspired by the Gothic Revival Architecture. Isma'il Pasha was the first to acquire the title Khedive from the Ottoman sultan, and during his reign the Suez Canal was completed in 1869.
History of Al-Hussein Mosque in Cairo

Early History of Fatimid Dynasty

The Fatimids rose to political dominion in North Africa in 909 AD after a long period of clandestine struggle in various regions of the Islamic world. The Fatimids formally proclaimed their caliphate soon after in 910. 

The new caliph, Abu Muhammad Abdallah al-Mahdi was the 11th Imam of Shi’a Ismailia but, until then, he had not actually rule a politically defined territory.

In 969 they succeeded in peacefully conquering Egypt, where they founded Cairo as their new capital. Cairo with its magnificent palaces and grand mosque was an imperial city designed for imperial pageants. 

The third Fatimid caliph, al-Mansur built a new capital city named Mansuriyya, after himself. Situated near Sabra to the south of Qayrawan, Mansuriyya served as the Fatimid capital from 948 until 973.

As a dynasty of caliphs, the Ismailia imams were called Fatimids because they traced their genealogy to the Prophet Muhammad’s daughter Fatima and hence to Prophet himself.

The reign of the Fatimid imam caliphs was one of the most brilliant periods of Islamic history both politically and in terms of its literary, economic, artistic and scientific achievements.

In 1171, over two hundred years and sixty years after the foundation of Fatimid dynasty, Salah a-Din, the most famous of the Muslim opponents of the Crusaders, who was at that time wazir to the last of the Fatimid imam-caliphs, finally abolish the dynasty.
Early History of Fatimid Dynasty