Al-Azhar Mosque, known in Egypt simply as al-Azhar, is a mosque in Cairo, Egypt in the historic Islamic core of the city. Commissioned as the new capital of the Fatimid Caliphate in 970, it was the first mosque established in a city that eventually earned the nickname "the City of a Thousand Minarets". Its name is usually thought to derive from az-Zahrāʾ, a title given to Fatimah, the daughter of Muhammad.
Al-Azhar Mosque
The courtyard of the mosque, dating to the Fatimid period. Above, the minarets date from the Mamluk period. From left to right: the double-finial minaret of Qansuh al-Ghuri, the minaret of Qaytbay, and the minaret of Aqbugha (behind the dome).
The dome above the entrance to the prayer hall, crafted around 1138 under al-Hafiz
Wooden mihrab in the al-Azhar Mosque with dedicatory inscription and inset carved wooden panels, 1125
Cairo is the capital of Egypt and the city-state Cairo Governorate, and is the country's largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East, the Greater Cairo metropolitan area, which is the 12th-largest in the world by population with a population of over 22.1 million.
Image: Cairo From Tower (cropped)
Image: Mosque of Ibn Tulun and spiral minaret of Mamluk Sultan Lajin, 1296, Cairo
Image: DSC 0003~2~2
Image: Complex of Al Sultan Al Zahir Barquq 009
