Imam Hussein bin Ali Mosque, located in Old Cairo in the neighborhood named after the Imam (Al-Hussein neighborhood) and next to the mosque there is the famous Khan Al-Khalili and Al-Azhar Mosque.

History of the mosque:

The mosque was built during the Fatimid era in the year 549 AH, corresponding to the year 1154 AD, under the supervision of Minister Al-Saleh Talaa. The mosque includes 3 doors built of white marble overlooking Khan Al-Khalili, and another door next to the dome, known as the Green Gate.

In the year 1171 A.D., Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi  has established a school next to the shrine known as al-Mashhad, which was later demolished, and the current mosque was built in its place.

At the end of the Ayyubid era and in the year 1235 A.D., Sheikh Abul-Qasim bin Yahya bin Nasser Al-Sukkari, known as Al-Zarzour, began building a minaret above the Gate of Al-Mashhad, currently known as the Green Gate.

Abul-Qasim bin Yahya died before the minaret was built, so his son completed it in the year 1236 A.D. And what remains of this minaret is its square base, and on it are two memorial slabs of marble that include the date of the construction of the minaret and the name of the builder.

In the year 1862, Khedive Ismail ordered the renewal and expansion of the scene and the building of the current mosque, and the mosque was built in 1873, and its current minaret was built in the style of Ottoman minarets in the year 1878 AD.

Ali Mubarak gave a full description of the Al-Hussein Mosque, and said that Khedive Ismail ordered its renovation and expansion, and the expansion of its vastness and roads.

In the year 1893, Khedive Abbas Helmy II ordered the construction of a room on the southern side of the Dome of the Mashhad, dedicated to preserving the honorable prophetic relics, which include a piece of the Prophet Muhammad’s shirt, a kohl, two robes, a piece of his stick, and two hairs from the honorable beard, in addition to two holy Qur’ans, one of which was attributed to the third caliph, Othman bin Affan, and attributed the second to the fourth Rashidun caliph Ali bin Abi Talib, and pointed out that the first thing that was known about the prophetic antiquities in Egypt was that it was the property of Bani Ibrahim in the city of Yanbu in the Hijaz, then the companion minister Taj al-Din Muhammad bin Hanna Khadr al-Din bought it, transferred it to Egypt, and built it.

 It has a mosque known as “Ribat al-Athar” in the Athar al-Nabi neighborhood in present-day Old Cairo, in the early 14th century AD.

Naming the mosque after Al-Hussein:

The mosque was named by this name based on the narrations of a section of Egyptian historians with the presence of the head of Al-Hussein bin Ali buried in it, as these narrations mention that with the beginning of the Crusades.

Egypt’s ruler the Fatimid caliph feared the honorable head of the harm that might befall it in its first place in the city of Ashkelon in Palestine. So He asks for the head to come to Egypt and carry the honorable head to Egypt and bury it in its current location, and the mosque is built over it.

Building description:

The building includes five rows of arches borne on marble columns. Its mihrab built from small pieces of colored faience instead of marble. It was made in 1303 AH. Next to it is a wooden pulpit adjacent to it, two doors leading to the dome, and a third leading to the waste room, which was built in 1311 AH.

 The mosque is built with red stone in the Gothic style.

 As for its minaret, which is located in the western tribal corner, it was built in the style of the Ottoman minarets, and it is cylindrical in shape. It has two rounds and ends with a cone.

The mosque has three doors on the western side, a door on the tribal side, and a door on the sea side that leads to a plate containing the place of ablution.

Renovation works:

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi inaugurated the Al-Hussein Mosque on April 27, 2022, after the comprehensive renovation and rehabilitation works of the mosque for the purpose of expanding and restoring it from the inside and decorating the shrine of Ras Al-Hussein bin Ali with a new window.

The inauguration was in the presence of the Sultan of the Bohra sect Mufaddal Saif Al-Din from India.

The official spokesman for the Presidency of the Egyptian Republic said, “The development of the mosque of our master Al-Hussein comes within the framework of the President’s directives to restore and renew the shrines and shrines of Aal al-Bayt, especially the tombs of our master Al-Hussein, Sayyida Nafisa, and Sayyidah Zainab.”

 He added, “Within the framework of the historically close relations between Egypt and the Bohra sect, the Sultan of Bohras has an appreciated efforts in restoring and renovating the shrines of Aal al-Bayt and a number of historical Egyptian mosques.”