Ahmad ibn Tulun

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The Umayyad Caliphs ruled Egypt through their governors and their rule lasted for ninety-five years. The average duration of the rule of a governor was one-and-a-half years, but never exceeding five years. They appointed a majority of governors in the early period from the Arab tribes. When the Abbasids came to power, they started recruiting Turks from Central Asia to join the ranks of the army and their courts. Consequently, they were appointed as governors of certain Arab countries and one among them was Ahmad ibn Tulun who was sent to Egypt. Ibn Tulun was of Turkish origin and the son of a Turcoman slave from Bukhara. Caliph Mamun appointed him as the Governor of Al-Fustat in recognition for his brave action in the service of the State. Once established, he managed to extend his authority to cover the entire country of Egypt. He not only broke loose from the Imperial ties, but also gave Egypt possessions in Syria and Palestine.

His reign marked an important turning point in the political situation of the Governors of Egypt. After becoming a Governor, he sought Egypt’s independence from the Caliph’s authority. He achieved partial independence for a period of 12 years, and became completely independent for a period of approximately five years before his death in 270 AH (883 CE) and established the Tulunid Dynasty, which ruled Egypt for about half a century. Egypt’s resources enabled him and his successors to live, together with their courts and armies in complete luxury, competing with the Caliph’s luxurious style of living in Samarra and Baghdad. Ibn Tulun added a new suburb to Al-Fustat in 872 CE and offered his soldiers pieces of land in the new district.

According to Marqizi, Ibn Tulun built a hospital in the year 873 CE meant purely for civilians suffering from all kinds of diseases who were treated there free of cost. Regulations of the hospital included that a patient had to stay there and was not allowed to leave except after being completely cured. As a test, he had to eat a full meal consisting of one whole fried chicken together with a good number of loaves of bread. If there were no complications, the patient was allowed to leave. Ibn Tulun took a keen interest in visiting this hospital and supervising the affairs of the hospital.

Later, he had a magnificent palace built for himself in 876 CE at Rawdah and supplied it with all articles of luxury and surrounded by vast gardens, orchards and pools. The military suburb of Al-Katai had seven gates leading to the castle. One of the gates had two lions in plaster surmounted on it and was named as the Gate of the Lions. He built his great mosque on Yashkur Hill.

Ahmad ibn Tulun built his mosque when the people of the city complained of insufficient space within the Al-Askar Mosque. The mosque of Ibn Tulun, now over a thousand years old, at approximately 26, 318 square meters (6.5 acres) in size, comprises of a square unroofed courtyard surrounded by porticos from four directions. The Qiblah is located under the largest portico. There are also three external porticos between the walls of the mosque and the perimeter. These external porticos are called increments. The construction of the mosque was completed in two years in 267 AH (877-879 CE) as recorded in the Kufic inscription in the foundation panel attached to one of the piers inside the Qiblah portico. Ibn Tulun selected for the site of the mosque, the plateau that overlooked the Al-Askar Mosque, in the vast Maidan (square), which came first on the way to his great palace near the military suburb. Accordingly, the mosque was named at that time as the Maidan Mosque. Some historians believe that he built the mosque after the fashion of those he had seen while receiving his military training at Samarra and while residing in Baghdad.

The mosque built by Ibn Tulun was of vast proportions and, although on similar lines of the Mosque of Amr, it had an advanced architectural style, and for the first time did not use any columns after the style of the Byzantine and Roman buildings present at that time in Egypt. Their place was taken instead, by built piers and angle shafts to support the pointed Islamic arches, and like the mosque of Amr all the arcades were arranged parallel to the Qiblah wall. Obviously influenced by the mosques of Baghdad and Samarra, the entire construction of the mosque was done in extensive use of brick faced with plaster, and covered with Arabic inscriptions written in Kufic style and enlivened with color. The windows were filled up with grilles of intricate geometrical tracery to reduce the glare of the sun from the continuous range of windows in the perimeter walls. The arcades of the courtyard with some of the earliest pointed arches in existence, the frieze of medallions on the walls, and the openwork balustrades of the mosque join together in producing a work of exquisite beauty.

For the first time, an outer enclosure to the mosque was built in Egypt after the style of the mosques of Baghdad and Samarra. The purpose of this feature was to provide an area for informal activities and to cut of the mosque from the din and bustle of the bazaar. However, so as not to make it completely remote from the city, numerous entrances were left in the enclosure wall opposite to the many entrances to the mosque proper. The total area of the enclosure occupied by the mosque is that measures 118 X 138 meters, including the bare walled spaces that surround it on three sides excluding the Qiblah site. Surrounding the mosque on all three sides are narrow enclosed wings called the ziyadas, measuring about 19 meters to ensure a peaceful atmosphere to the worshippers in the mosque.

Its unique minaret, with its external spiral ramp, located in the northern ziyada of the mosque, also distinguishes Ibn Tulun’s Mosque, which is absolutely different from any other minaret in the Islamic world. This is due to its unusual architectural design. The present minaret resembles in some respect the minaret of the Great Mosque in Samarra in Iraq. It is also said that Ibn Tulun sat one day amusing himself by twisting a piece of paper around his finger and while pulling it, it took the shape of a spiral cone. He then directed his architect to build a minaret in that shape.

The present minaret was completely rebuilt at the end of 7th century AH (13 th century CE) for the third or fourth time is 131 feet in height. Arab historians mention that the first minaret built by Ibn Tulun was made up of burnt bricks like the rest of the mosque. The minaret found today is entirely built up of dressed stone by the Mamluk Sultan Lajin in 696 AH (1296 CE) and since then it has retained its present shape. Its architectural elements are a mixture of Iraqi stairs that encircle the minaret from outside. It rests on a high square base, and the Egyptian influence is evident in the high double pavilion and the incense burner at the terminating part of the minaret.

According to contemporary sources, the early minarets of Egypt were not used for giving the call to prayer, but were used to warn people of the city of impending dangers from outside. Uprising and revolts on the southern borders of Egypt compelled the Umayyad and Abbasid governors to take security measures to end them. One of these measures was building a fort for guards. From the minarets of the small mosques inside the forts, signals of the movements of rebels were sent. Such warnings were relayed from one minaret to another until they reached the main garrison commanded by the governor, in order to send support to suppress the uprisings. The site of each fort was carefully selected along the Nile bank in such a way and on an elevated location that made each minaret clearly visible to others. It is possible that Ahmad ibn Tulun could have led the way for the building of high minarets in Egypt.

According to some authorities, Ahmad ibn Tulun was inspired to construct the minaret of his mosque after the model of ancient Pharos, or Lighthouse of Alexandria. It is believed that in the year 700 CE, a huge earthquake caused serious damage to upper portions of the ancient Lighthouse. But, few repairs were made to it and the Arabs continued to operate it as before, until the reign of Ahmad ibn Tulun. Ibn Tulun had acquired a taste for public works and had constructed many parks and buildings in Alexandria. He also undertook the first major restoration of the damaged Pharos in the year 880 CE and in place of the former lantern, erected a small mosque crowned with the Islamic crescent, and Ibn Jubayr, who toured the lighthouse in 1183 described the first level as maze-like filled with "stairways and entrances and numerous apartment, so that he who penetrates and wanders thorough its passages may be lost. A parapet wall surrounded the terrace at the top of the tier, and marble tritons were located at each of the four corner. Inside a wide ramp spiraled upward to the terrace.” And, a mosque had been built on top of the lighthouse and Ibn Jubayr records that he prayed two rakahs inside this mosque.

The construction of the minaret was accompanied by another addition, an ablution tank built in the center of the court. According to Maqrizi the fountain was octagonal in shape, in the center of which was a spout of water or fountain for the traditional ablution before prayers, there was a verandah on columns around it, and a balcony with a balustrade on the roof. Muqaddasi says that this domed fountain was constructed on the model of that of Zamzam at Makkah.

One of the stories related to the Great Mosque of Ibn Tulun is that people at first refrained from using it for prayers because of the enormous cost incurred while constructing it. They also had misgivings that they would be taxed to recover the amount spent on the mosque. When this matter was brought to Ibn Tulun’s notice, he had it announced to the people that he had discovered a treasure during one of his campaigns in Upper Egypt. He said that the hoofs of his horse had struck a hole, which had led to the discovery of a huge treasure. This story may be true, because Upper Egypt contained and still contains many Pharonic tombs full of treasures buried with the mummies of Ancient Egyptian monarchs and dignitaries.

Twenty-six years after the completion of the mosque, the Tulunid Dynasty collapsed. Relations between the Tulunids of Egypt and the Abbasid Caliphs were tense for a long time and had soured over the years. After the death of Ahmad ibn Tulun, his son Khumarawaih tried to mend relations with the Abbasid Caliph. He went as far as to give Qatr an-Nada (Dewdrops) in marriage to the Caliph himself. According to historical records he sent her to Baghdad accompanied by fabulous riches. However, the efforts exerted to gain the friendship of the Abbasid Caliph and the legendary and fabulous amount of money spent on the marriage of Qatr an-Nada did not last long. The Abbasids never forgave Egypt her independence, which made the Abbasid treasury suffer acutely from the absence of traditional tribute paid to it by Egypt.

Finally, an army sent by the to defeat the last of the Tulunids achieved success. After entering the city, the Abbasid army’s first task was to burn the military suburb of Al-Katai and the Maidan Palace, adjoining the mosque, which was a model of good taste and luxury and considered as one of the architectural wonders of the world. The Great Mosque of Ibn Tulun was however spared. A great number of Tulunid monuments perished, among which were countless pieces of art and marvels of architecture in addition to valuable documents related to Egypt relating to this period and the earlier periods. The weakness of the country was enhanced as a result of this destruction, which encouraged Fatimids in the West to try and conquer Egypt, and in the end they achieved their goal.

Ahmad ibn Jubayr, the Muslim traveler who visited Misr (Old Cairo) in 1183 during the course of his Hajj notes in his travel diary that Sultan Salahuddin Ayyubi used the Mosque of Ahmad ibn Tulun as a retreat for the travelers from Maghrib Countries (Western part of Barbary and Spain) where they might live and receive lectures; and for their support he granted them a generous monthly allowance. The Sultan had entrusted to the people who lived and prayed in the mosque the affairs of their own management, without outside interference. They elected their own leaders, whose orders they obeyed and to whom they could appeal in times of sudden contingencies. They lived in peace and satisfaction in the mosque, devoting their time exclusively to the worship of their Lord, and had found favor of the Sultan, the greatest help to the good on whose path they were set.

Over a period of years the city of Cairo prospered and the center of the city moved away fro the Mosque of Ibn Tulun and the mosque fell into disuse. At the behest of the Mamluk Sultan Lajin (1296 CE) the building was restored and used as a madrassah. During the 19th century, Ibrahim Pasha used this mosque as a military hospital.

The mosque of Ibn Tulun was for a long time in a sad state of disrepair. It was also restored in the later periods and is still being restored today as a major tourist attraction in Egypt.