Shaarih al-Khalifa: Shi'a Monuments

Shaarih al-Khalifa: Shi'a Monuments

Mausoleum dome of Sayyida 'Atika (and Muhammad al-Ga'fari); exterior mihrab of Mausoleum of Sayyida Ruqayya (cenotaph at right of Agha 'Uthman, Ottoman restorer of the shrine); second exterior mihrab of Sayyida Ruqayya; mihrab cowl detail showing high-craft Fatimid stucco decoration (note muqarna-type carvings and vegetative tracery); secondary interior mihrab of Sayyida Ruqayya; detail of primary interior mihrab of Sayyida Ruqayya; squinch band below Sayyida 'Atika mausoleum dome (note tripartite window to right, tripartite muqarna at center, corner of dome)

These monuments enshrine ahl al-bayt (al-ashraf), or members of the family of the Messenger. The entombed were not Shi'a, since the distinction between Shi'a and Sunni was not so clearly cut at the time of the burials. Nor are Shi'a Muslims the sole visitors the gravesites. Veneration and visitation of the dead would not have taken such enduring hold on Cairo, nor created the Southern Qarafa, for which these mausoleums form the western edge, if Sunni Muslims did not take part. But the tombs as seen today are currently maintained and staffed by an Isma'ili Shi'a sect, the Daewood Bohras. Most importantly, they were built by the Isma'ili Shi'a Fatimid caliphate. Al-Malik al-Afdal ibn Badr al-Gamali Shahanshah used his wazierate (AD1074-1094) to initiate an 80-year campaign to strengthen the caliphate's connection with ahl al-bayt and 'Ali, the fourth caliph, for religious reasons and, given that Cairo's population was (and is) substantially Sunni, to proslytize and appeal through 'Ali to Sunnis who might otherwise reject Shi'ism. What remains is what Caroline Williams terms "the largest related group of funerary monuments from the first six centuries of Islamic history," and a principal Fatimid survival.

Sayyida 'Atika was reputed to be the Messenger's aunt. The Fatimids rebuilt her shrine first, in AD1122. It is brick, and the earliest fluted dome in Cairo. Sayyida Ruqqaya is the daughter of 'Ali, who was husband of Fatima, the Messenger's daughter. It is particularly imporant to the 'Alid cult that al-Gamali embraced, given that Ruqqaya is a blood relative of 'Ali, but not of Fatima. She was a companion of Sayyida Zeinab, her stepsister, who is revered in a more prominent location: the Ottoman khedival government elevated Zeinab to the highest station of all Cairene visitation sites. Ruqayya's shrine was constructed in AD1133. It was restored by an Ottoman agha in AD1824 and again by the broader government in AD1916.

While some of the tomb elements are now part of the collection of the Museum of Islamic Art, the rich stucco mihrab remain in place. Given that these mihrab have not been entirely replaced by new stucco ornament by the Daewood Bohras (in the modern era) or by the Mamalik, as have the ones in the Fatimid walled city with the exception of a mihrab at Masged Gumm'aa al-Azhar, this is a particular distinction.

Cairene Fatimid Caliphate (AD969-1171)

October 2009 Cairo Historic Buildings Survey

Brian Carter Broadus LLC

AD1122 (Sayyida 'Atika); AD1133 (Sayyida Ruqqaya)

Brian Carter Broadus AIA

Creative Commons 3.0 USA: Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works

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Visual

Digital image

Shaarih_al-Khalifa_18; Shaarih_al-Khalifa_19; Shaarih_al-Khalifa_20; Shaarih_al-Khalifa_21; Shaarih_al-Khalifa_22; Shaarih_al-Khalifa_23; Shaarih_al-Khalifa_24

CCMAA/SCA Monument: 273 (Sayyida Ruqayya); CCMAA/SCA Monument: 333 (Sayyida 'Atika)

Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus: 300007547

Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names: 7001215