Egypt Day Two (Mosques and Mountains)

Mom and I woke up to a phone call at 5:45 a.m. Apparently Faiz gives you a Fajr (sunrise) wake up call. So nice of them.
I slept in, then went down to breakfast. There was paya (goat bone marrow stew), and so I didn't eat a thing.

We all got on a bus (everyone at Faiz) and drove to Old Cairo. Old Cairo's located inside a fort build around 9 A.D. and there's all these amazing historical mosques there.

We went into Masjid-Ul-Aqmar, where the guy talked (in Lisan Dawat) about the mosques history. I really couldn't understand all of what he was saying, except something about how the "Mehrab" was important.




We got back on the bus, left Old Cairo and went to Jamea Azhar (the Islamic University). We went inside their historic mosque, and the guy talked some more. I was so fascinated with the walls, that I kinda zoned out.


Who knew stained glass was used in mosques? Not me.

Next we went for ziarat and Rasu'l Hussain and Syeda Zeinab again (see last post). It was absolutely awful- we shoved, pushed, and hit our way through the sea of women to get to the zarih. Everyone smelled like they'd never heard of deodorant, and there was so much complaining and yelling that I wanted to simply walk out rather than participate.
Also, someone got shoplifted at Syeda Zeinab; I find it disgusting that you'd steal from someone in such a religious location.

By the time we were done, I was sweating bullets and trying to stay awake in the miserable heat. This random guy on our bus, from Reunion (the French island) came back with sugar cane juice in small plastic baggies. It was potentially the most delicious thing I've had.
We got back on our respective buses and drove to Masjid Ibn Tulun, where I saw these guys climbing this amazing tower.

I fully intended to climb it, but apparently the Faiz people weren't as keen. The tourists I saw climbing it were Polish, and said the view was amazing.

Masjid Ibn Tulun was probably my favorite mosque. This was the entrance to the mosque. The women are all wearing ridas.


The mosque was a huge rectangle with a courtyard in the middle that looked like this:



The courtyard is pretty common in the Fatimid mosques, I think (based on the five or so that I saw with courtyards).
The actual building has these long corridors inside it.




After which we drove around these small small little alleys, then walked up this path and reached these stairs to get to Masjidul Lo'lo'a. You could barely make out the pyramids there- the mosque was built on this mountain where it's believed that God himself can hear all your prayers (I'm not really sure who listens to your prayers otherwise). Masjidul Lo'lo'a literally looks like a tower five stories tall the size of my triple first year at MHC. Everyone crammed into one of the three stories (climbing was awful, stupid high ceilings) and prayed afternoon prayers.

The view from El Mokattam (the mountain we were on) shows these little dilapidated mud houses. Apparently dead are buried in there, along with their possessions there.
I was absolutely fascinated.



I spotted this mosque on the side of the mountain. I think that I'd pretty much love to spend the rest of my life looking at random mosques.



Although parts of going in a large group of Bohras was extremely frustrating -people just complained and were disagreeable about things beyond their control- I enjoyed the mosque tours a lot. It gives a rather different historical perspective in your life when see the original architecture that's been replicated in mosques for years and years after.