The Architecture of the Divine

Trip Start Sep 07, 2008
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Trip End Dec 09, 2008


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Flag of Egypt  ,
Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Then we went into the "Islamic Cairo" neighborhood of the city and visited the Citadel. The Citadel was built by Salah al-Din, who reigned from 1172 to 1193 CE and foiled the Crusaders, who called him Saladin. It was used as the royal residence, and later as the garrison for the Mamluke army.

In the Citadel complex, we first stopped at the Mosque of Al Nasir Mohammed Ibn Qalaun, built by a Mameluke sultan. I don't think I've ever been inside a mosque before. We covered our heads with our hijab scarves and took off our shoes (those are the Islamic rules for mosques) and we were allowed to go in, look around, and take pictures. This mosque was noteworthy for its architecture and its austerity. The walls used to be covered in marble, but the panels were carted off to Turkey. Islam forbids depictions of living things in artwork, so without images of people, animals, or plants to fall back on, Muslim architects and artists have made breathtaking achievements in arches, domes, colors, and tesselating geometric patterns in paint and tile. There was a group of Egyptian school kids on the far end of the mosque getting a lesson about the building. I wish I could understand what their teacher was saying in Arabic. Where's Indy when you need him? We've been horribly spoiled for guides to monuments!

We found the women's room, and met two Egyptian school girls by the sinks. Wreath of Roses asked one of the girls, whose name sounded something like "Straw," how to wrap her hijab scarf. Straw was so gracious, she folded Wreath's hijab around her head in a complicated maneuver and secured it with a single pin, and it looked perfect when it was done. I watched the whole thing and I still don't know how to reproduce the look. But we smiled and clapped and said "shokran" [thank you], which is the one word of Arabic we know. We saw Straw and the other school girls at the next mosque we visited at the Citadel, and we talked with her several more times. We told them how much we love Egypt and what a great time we're having in Cairo.

Then we visited the Mohamed Aly Mosque. Tourists mixed with devout men and women praying in the Muslim stand-kneel-forehead to the floor-stand poses. Really I need a larger vocabulary to describe the exquisite beauty of this mosque. There were five domes and at least two minarets on the exterior, and the interior featured Egyptian rugs on the floors, stained glass, painted patterns on the inside of the domes, huge chandeliers, gilded calligraphy on the walls, an ornate staircase at the front leading up to what looked like a Quran [the holy book of Islam which the Muslims believe was dictated by an angel to the Prophet Muhammad, who exhorted his followers to honor Jesus and Moses as prophets] on a throne... I'm just speechless. I could feel the reaction to such beauty physically as well as emotionally. It was so easy to recognize the Divine in that place.
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