Reviewing History Day/Coptic and Islamic Cairo

Babylon Fortress: Dr. Chahinda Karim, Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture at the American University in Cairo, served as the guide for for our Fulbright group today; she was terrific! And we started out with falafel patties in pita bread! First stop was Babylon. All that's left of the fortress founded in 30 BC and rebuilt in the 2nd century is part of a towered entrance. The site was closer to the Nile, which has shifted westward. The Romans brought Christianity to Egypt. Traditional religious beliefs in Egypt facilitated an acceptance of Christianity. Egyptians, for instance, recognized one supreme god; all others were manifestations of this, according to Karim. For example, a holy family, trinity, resurrection, purgatory, heaven, and hell were all concepts found in ancient Egyptian religion. Under Diocletian the streets of Alexandria were said to have run red with the blood of martyrs. However, with the conversion of Constantine, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. The Hanging Church: St. Mark is said to have brought Christianity to Alexandria in the 4th century AD and was martyred on the site of what is today St. Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in that city.

As many as twelve churches once existed within the walls of the old Roman fortress. St. George's Greek Orthodox Church is one that has survived. Most churches in Egypt today are Coptic, a denomination that split off from the Greek Orthodox Church. After three indecisive church councils, Egyptian Christians split with Greek Orthodoxy at the Council of Chalcedon. Copts today are called monophysites, since they believe in one nature of Christ, the divine, hence the focus on "mono." Since Christ was divine, the Virgin Mary in Coptic Christianity is also divine.

The Hanging Church is as old as the 3rd century AD. It's called hanging because it was built over a gatehouse and passages of Babylon Fortress. Logs of palm trees and layers of stones were constructed above the ruins of the Roman fortress to be used as a foundation. The Coptic Church still conducts its services in the Coptic language (usually repeated in Arabic), which is descended from ancient Egyptian. Hieroglyphics was reserved for the elite. Ancient Egyptians used first hieratic, then demotic, followed by Coptic written in Greek letters with six or seven additional demotic signs to account for sounds not in the Greek language. Eventually, with the Arab invasion in the 7th century, Arabic gradually replaced Coptic in Egyptians' daily speech.

Church of the Holy Family: No pictures are allowed in this church. However, it's believed that this is where Jesus and his parents stayed on their return from close to present day Assyut in Upper Egypt (where they received the news that Herod's edict had been lifted) to Palestine. The place is actually in a crypt below the present church, since street levels have risen tremendously over the years. The church, known in Arabic as Abu Serga, is dedicated to Sergius and Bacchus, who were soldier-saints martyred during the 4th century in Syria by the Roman Emperor Maximilian. Coptic churches always have a separate sanctuary, which only the priest can enter.

Ben Ezra Synagogue: No photos allowed here either. The synagogue is a historical monument and no longer used for services. Very few Jews reside in Egypt today. Professor thinks that Exodus didn't occur during the time of Ramses II, since his mummy has been found; and he lived to be 90. She thinks it occurred during the rule of his son, Merneptah and that he's the one who perished in the waters of the Red Sea. A stele in the Egyptian Museum inscribed by Merneptah includes the first probable occurrence of the name "Israel" in the historical record. Although some traditions date the synagogue to Moses (who accordingly may have been found by pharaoh's daughter in a nearby Nile tributary), more common is the idea that Jeremiah was the founder of the synagogue. Tradition marks this as the spot where the prophet Jeremiah gathered the Jews in the 6th century after Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Jerusalem temple. This was the synagogue whose geniza (or store room) was found in the 19th century to contain a treasure of abandoned Hebrew secular and sacred manuscripts. A balcony above the basilica-planned building is reserved for women. The famous medieval rabbi Moses Maimonides worshipped at Ben Ezra synagogue when he lived in Cairo.

Amr ibn al-'As Mosque: This mosque is the location of the oldest mosque in Egypt and all of Africa. Nonetheless, nothing of the original mosque remains above ground. The Arabs came to Egypt in the 7th century, having first conquered Syria and then traveling across the Sinai. They didn't choose to camp near Alexandria, since they were not a "sea" people, but chose a piece of desert north of the old fortress of Babylon. This became their capital, Fustat. The city's name comes from the Arabic word fusṭāṭ (فسطاط), which means a large tent or pavilion. The earliest mosques were enclosed areas with half-shaded (from palm trees) and half open parts. As heat was collected in the foliage of the palms trees, those coming for late afternoon and evening prayer late could utilize the cooler open space of the mosque. Friday is the only day Muslims are required to pray in a mosque. Early mosques did not have mihrabs, minarets, or minbars.

One corner of this mosque was thought to have been the burial place of the commander's son, although Muslims then were careful to erect mausoleums separately from mosques. Archeologists have found no traces of any burial in the earth below, although the latticed room signifying the alleged burial site in the mosque remains. The mosque has had several reconstructions. One important one in the 18th century changed the orientation of the aisles to make them perpendicular to the qibla (direction of Mecca) wall. Later, they were again reoriented.The mosque today attracts an overflow of Friday worshippers due to its charismatic Qur'an chanters and preachers (imams) of the Friday sermon.

Sultan Hassan Mosque: First stop in Islamic Cairo is Sultan Hassan Mosque and Madrasa near the Citadel. Under the Mamluks, mosques came to incorporate madrassas (schools). This mosque was designed to include provision for the study of all four of the Sunni divisions of law: Shafi'i, Maliki, Hanafi and Hanbali. Each had its own iwan (alcove). The Hanafi came to dominate in Egypt during the Mamluk era. The exterior of the entry doors were originally covered in embellished metal. They were confiscated by an admiring ruler. Next to the mosque was a covered market area and waterwheel to support and provide for the scholars in the schools of law. During the medieval era, an open space connected the mosque and the Citadel. The never used mausoleum was placed directly behind the prayer hall. By this time, such placement was no longer considered profane. A pattern based on the geometrical elements of a star and polygons is a characteristic decoration scheme of the Mamluk years. Fused marble is noticeable in the decoration above the schools' entrances–an exquisite architectural innovation at the time. Although its main function was

that of a school, its size and the beauty of its prayer hall meant that it was recognized as a congregational mosque as well. Al-Rifai Mosque: Just next to the Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hasan is the huge mosque complex from the modern period built to honor a medieval Sufi saint. A man had his head pressed against the latticed framework around the green velvet mausoleum of the saint decorated with gold-embossed verses from the Qur'an. It was originally commissioned by Khushyar Hanim, the mother of the 19th century Khedive Isma'il Pasha, to expand and replace the preexisting zawiyya (shrine) of the medieval era Islamic saint Ahmad al-Rifa'i. The zawiyya was a pilgrimage site for locals who believed that the tomb had mystical healing properties.

The building contains a large prayer hall as well as the shrines of Al-Rifa'i and two other local saints. The mosque is the resting place of Khushyar Hanim and her son Isma'il Pasha, as well as numerous other members of Egypt's royal family, including King Fuad and his wife, King Farouk, Egypt's last reigning king, whose body was interred here after his death in Rome in 1965. The mosque served briefly as the resting place of Reza Shah Pahlavi of Iran, who died in exile in South Africa in 1944, and was returned to Iran after World War II. Part of the burial chamber is currently occupied by Reza Shah's son Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who died in Cairo in 1980. His first wife was the daughter of King Farouk. In these last two mosque complexes, European influences begin to emerge with the use of domes and stained glass windows. Extensive use of marble points to the further reaches of Egyptian power. Egypt has no marble itself; it had to be imported from Syria.

Historical Span: With the Roman conquest, Egypt became a province of an empire. With the rise of Ibn Tulun (868 and 905 AD), scholars could begin to talk again about an Egyptian history. A tremendous experience to follow Egypt's Islamic history starting with a picture of the very simple building of Amr ibn al-'As, which measured 56 x 95 feet, had walls built of mud brick and a roof constructed of split palm trunks–supported by palm trunk columns, covered with a thatching of palm leaves and mud. The floor was strewn with pebbles. Nothing whatever remains of the first mosque, on account of the numerous re-buildings. From there it was a leap to the Sultan Hassan Mosque-Madrasa, regarded as the most important of all Mamluk buildings, in terms of both size and magnificence.

From these mosques representing the Orthodox Caliphate and Mamluk periods, the last mosque on the tour, the Al-Rifai, was constructed during the modern period. The section reserved for prayers is a square, covered by a dome with beautiful stalactites, supported on four arches, resting on four biers. At the corners of each bier are four marble engaged columns, the capitals of which are carved and gilded. The dome is surrounded by wooden roofs, the ceilings being decorated with beautiful gilded ornamentation. Various periods succeeded one another beginning with the Arab conquest (640 AD). Each of these periods had its own conditions and its own architectural features. Periods not specifically covered were the Tulunid, Ayyubid, Ottoman, and Muhammad Ali eras, although these influences are prevalent due to reconstruction, extended areas of structures, or at a distance. Fatimid architecture is talked about in the next blog. I included photos reflective of various ways Egyptians utilize a mosque–to rest, to wind down, to study and reflect, to pray while checking a smart phone.

Comments: Screens separating areas for women were visible in some mosques. This is a recent innovation. Although women did enter and sit in areas different from the men in mosques traditionally, the concern with even greater separation of the sexes and invisibility is new. Wearing a headscarf and taking off one's shoes is mandatory in a mosque. Some of the women in our group had also to put on a long hooded cloak because the clothes they were wearing were considered "too tight." In a September 22 interview with the NYTs, President Muhammad Morsi repeatedly promised to uphold equal citizenship rights of all Egyptians, regardless of religion, sex or class. Yet he defended the religious arguments he once made as a Muslim Brotherhood leader that neither a woman nor a Christian would be a suitable president. “We are talking about values, beliefs, cultures, history, reality,” he said. Regardless of his own views or the Brotherhood’s, he said, civil law was another subject. “I will not prevent a woman from being nominated as a candidate for the presidential campaign,” he said. “This is not in the Constitution. This is not in the law. But if you want to ask me if I will vote for her or not, that is something else, that is different (NYT, 9/22/12)."