EL-HAKIM MOSQUE
This El-Hakim mosque, with its huge inner courtyard, is the second Fatimid mosque built after el-Azhar.
Built between 990 and 1013 by el-Aziz and his son el-Hakim. It is the second Fatimid mosque built after el-Azhar, based on a model with interior arcades. It was originally called al-Anwar, 'the brilliant', a name related to the symbolism of light, which is omnipresent in Shi'ite ideology. Much later it was renamed al-Hakim in honour of the important work carried out in the building by the Caliph. The imposing minarets owe their trapezoid-shaped base to a reinforcement of their frail primitive architecture. Their summit is not Fatimid but Mamluk. El Hakim wanted to be the only one to be able to admire the minaret up close, which is why it is surrounded by a wall and made inaccessible. A despised founder of the Druze Muslim family was honored at his death, his mosque was relegated to functions other than prayer. Its recent restoration was financed by the Baha'i sect in the 1980s. The Baha'i, numbering 10,000 in Egypt, are not recognized as a religion by the Egyptian authorities. In 2006, they made headlines by obtaining the right to have their sect name mentioned on the country's identity card. But since the computerisation of identity cards and the new 2012 constitution (which only recognises the three monotheistic religions), Baha'is have no official existence and are discriminated against. For its immense inner courtyard of dazzling white and for its rich and varied ornamentation, this mosque is worth the detour.
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