Raffih Mosque
The mosque directly opposite the Sultan Hassan Mosque is the Raffih Mosque.
construction of this mosque started in 1867,
500 years later than the Sultan Hassan mosque and was completed in 1912, most members of the modern
royal family are buried here. Finally, the Shah of Persia is buried here,
because that was not possible in his own country as he was exiled.
Furthermore, he was once married to a daughter of King Fouad,
Princess Fawzia who was Empress of Persia,
is located on Citadel Square.
adjacent to the Cairo Citadel.
Now it is also the royal mausoleum of Muhammad Ali’s family.
The building is located opposite the Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan,
which dates from around 1361, and was architecturally conceived as an addition to the older structure.
This was part of an extensive campaign by Egypt’s 19th-century rulers to establish both
to associate it with the supposed glory of earlier periods in Islamic history
of Egypt as to modernize the city.
The mosque was built next to two large public squares and along several boulevards
European style that were constructed around the same time.
was built in two phases between 1869 and 1912,
when it was finally completed. It was originally commissioned by Hoshiyar Qadin,
the mother of the 19th century Khedive Isma’il Pasha, to expand and replace the pre-existing zawiya (shrine) of the medieval Islamic saint Ahmed al-Rifa’i.
The zawiya was a place of pilgrimage for locals who believed the grave had mystical healing properties.
Hoshiyar saw a dual purpose for the new structure as a home for local traditional Sufi relics
and also as a mausoleum for the royal family of Egypt. During the course of construction, the architects,
the design and purpose changed.
