Islamic heritage · Cairo
Al-Salih Tala'i Mosque
The last great Fatimid mosque of Cairo, known as the "hanging mosque" for standing above street level beside Bab Zuweila.
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The story
The mosque was commissioned by the Fatimid vizier al-Salih Tala'i ibn Ruzzik in 1160 CE (555 AH), who served the caliph al-Fa'iz and then al-'Adid. The vizier intended it to receive the head of Imam Husayn, but the caliph chose to keep the relic inside the Fatimid palace. The building became a congregational mosque for Friday prayer only about a century later, under the Mamluk Sultan Izz al-Din Aybak. It stands in Al-Darb al-Ahmar by Bab Zuweila and is called the hanging mosque because it rises above street level, with Quranic inscriptions in Kufic script on its walls and columns.
Good to know
- It is the last mosque built in Cairo during the Fatimid era.
- Shops beneath the mosque help cover its financial needs.
- Quranic inscriptions in Kufic script decorate its walls and columns.