Dictionary of islamic architecture

See also:
Cairo, Fatimids
Further Reading:
D.Berhens-Abouseif, 
Islamic Architecture in Cairo: An
Introduction,
Supplements to Muqarnas, vol. 3, Leiden
1989, 71–4.
K.A.C.Creswell, 
The Muslim Architecture of Egypt,
Oxford
1932–40, 1: 241 ff.
C.Williams, ‘The Cult of 
Alid Saints in the Fatimid
Monuments of Cairo. Part I: The Mosque of Aqmar’,
Muqarnas
1: 37 ff., 1983.
al-Aqsa Mosque
The principal mosque of Jerusalem which forms part of
the sacred enclosure (haram) with the Dome of the Rock
at the centre.
The Aqsa Mosque is located on the southern part of
the Haram al-Sharif on an axis with the south door
of the Dome of the Rock. In the time of Umar a
mosque is known to have been built on the site
although it appears to have been a semi-permanent
structure made out of re-used material, hastily put
together to form a covered prayer area with a shed
Principal street, Anjar, Lebanon
al-Aqsa Mosque

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Plan of mosque of al-Aqmar, Cairo (after Williams)
Mosque of al-Aqmar, Cairo, © Creswell Archive, Ashmolean Museum
al-Aqsa Mosque

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roof. During the reign of al-Walid the mosque was
rebuilt with its present alignment. Only a small part
of al-Walid’s mosque survives but this indicates that
the aisles all ran perpendicular to the qibla wall (as
they do today). This arrangement is unusual and
recalls the arrangement of Byzantine churches such
as the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
The earthquake of 748 severely damaged the
mosque which was subsequently rebuilt by the
Abbasid caliphs al-Mansur (759) and al-Mahdi (775).
The mosque of al-Mahdi had a raised central aisle
leading to the mihrab in front of which he built a
wooden dome; either side of the central aisle were
seven side-aisles. An earthquake of 1033 destroyed the
mosque and it was once again rebuilt by the Fatimid
caliph al-Zahir in 1035. This mosque had a total of seven
aisles, a central aisle with three aisles on either side.