“The pride of the mosques of the Mamluk era.” This is what is described by the Mosque of Sultan Al-Muayyad Sheikh, Al-Muayyad Mosque, or Al-Muayyad Mosque, which is considered one of the most important ancient mosques in Cairo, and was built by Sultan Al-Muayyad because of an old “vot” he had promised.
Although the mosque still retains its features that testify that it is one of the important architectural masterpieces left by the Mamluks, it went through many horrors that slightly changed its shape and made it in need of restoration.
Let us learn together about the Al-Moayyed Mosque, and the story of the vow that was the reason for its construction.
Sultan Al-Moayad Sheikh Mosque
Al-Mu’ayyad was a Mamluk who was bought by Sultan Al-Zahir Saif Al-Din Barquq when he was young, then he freed him and took care of him and taught him the arts of war and equestrianism.
Destinies and his good management helped him to ascend the throne of the Sultanate, thus becoming the twenty-eighth Mamluk Sultan of Turkish origin, who ruled Egypt in 1412.
Al-Muayyad was fond of architecture, so he built a minaret in Al-Azhar, renovated the Al-Miqas Mosque, and built the Khanaqah Al-Kharubiyya, as well as several mosques, fountains, offices and other buildings in Egypt and the Levant. One of the most important mosques of the Mamluk era.
When al-Mu’ayyad died in 1421, the mosque’s dome was still under construction, yet the mosque was named after him after its construction was completed.
The mosque also included the tomb of al-Mu’ayyad, and the tombs of his sons, as well as al-Sarmi Ibrahim, al-Muzaffar Ahmad and Abu al-Fath Musa.
Description of Sultan Al-Moayyad Sheikh Mosque
The mosque has four iwans or destinations, three of which have recently been renovated in the same old style. As for the fourth main eastern destination, which still preserves its ancient archaeological details, it is a large, high-rise destination whose windows are decorated with marble.
The southeastern part of the mosque overlooks Al-Moez Li-Din Allah Street, with the main facade and the entrance. The northeastern part overlooks Al-Ashraqiyah Street. As for the northwest, it has a place for ablution and housing for students of knowledge, and the southwestern part overlooks the street under the quarter (currently Ahmed Maher Street). The southern corner of the mosque with the western tower of Bab Zuweila (one of the gates of Old Cairo).
The mosque has two towering minarets above Bab Zuweila, and a large dome built of stone and decorated with decorations. It includes two tombs, one of which contains al-Sarmi Ibrahim, al-Muzaffar Ahmed, and Abu al-Fath Musa, who are the sons of Sultan al-Muayyad, while the second tomb lies Sultan al-Muayyad Sheikh.
The Sultan Al-Moayad Sheikh Mosque is adjacent to several other archaeological mosques, such as Al-Saleh Tala’i Mosque and Zawiya Al-Nasir Faraj bin Barquq.
Al-Mu’ayyad Mosque was hit with cannons
Unlike the rest of his contemporary mosques, which have preserved many of their details, parts of the Sultan Al-Muayyad Sheikh Mosque were quickly damaged and needed restoration several times.
Some historians attribute this to the attack on the mosque in 1665, when Omar Pasha, the ruler of Egypt, after a referendum of scholars, ordered the mosque to be hit with cannons, in order to remove those who were holed up in it from the zarb, a group of corrupt tyrants at that time. them and killed.
It was restored for the first time by Ahmed Pasha, the governor of Egypt in 1690, and in the nineteenth century AD, the mosque had reached its worst condition, and it was restored again during the reign of Khedive Ismail.
Then many restoration works over the years followed, the last of which was in 2016.
Theft of the contents of the mosque of Sultan Al-Moayad Sheikh
The door of the Al-Moayad Sheikh Mosque, which is a masterpiece and dates back to the Sultan Hassan Mosque, was robbed 4 times.
The first time was the theft of part of the star dish with the left shutter, and part of the lower band with the same shutter, and the second time was the theft of one of the prominent copper parts in the door gaskets from the lower star dish, as well as from the star dish with the left shutter, and the theft of gaskets next to the lower star dish of the right shutter And also the entire lower bar of the door was stolen, part of which had already been stolen. The third time, the lower star plate was stolen with the left shutter, and the fourth time, part of the lower star plate was stolen with the right shutter.
Mosque minarets on Egyptian banknotes
Since the Al-Moayad Sheikh Mosque is one of the Egyptian antiquities of a special style, and as a kind of interest in tourist and archaeological attractions, the face of the Egyptian 100-pound banknote was decorated with a drawing of the mosque’s two minarets above Bab Zuweila in old versions that were printed during the period from March 1, 1921 to April 3, 1945 On the back of the paper, he carried a picture of a sailboat in the Nile River.
