On our first day, our first stop of the morning after crossing to the east side of the Nile from Giza was at the Mohammed Ali Mosque. This mosque, which was built by Mohammed Ali in the mid-19th century, is housed in a much older structure: the Cairo Citadel, the construction of which was started by Salah Ad-Din (Saladin) in the late 12th century. Parts of the citadel afford a great view of the sprawl of downtown Cairo.
On the subject of Saladin: You've likely heard that there's a lot of tension between Arabs and Kurds in Iraq and also Turks and Kurds. (The Kurdish terrorist organization PKK frequently kills Turkish troops near the border with Iraq/Kurdistan; Turkey made a small incursion into Kurdistan in retalliation to one such attack while I was in Istanbul.) As it turns out the great Muslim warrior and vanquisher of the Crusaders Saladin was a Kurd himself. I wonder if his heritage gets downplayed in modern Islamic history classes or if he's seen as an exceptional "good Kurd".
Here are some more of the pictures I took of the mosque and citadel.
No comments:
Post a Comment